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"Yes," I nodded

"If you feel yourself being--how shall I put it?--drawn in," Albert said, "oppose it with all your strength I’ll try to help you but--"

I broke in "Help me?"

"Do what I can to assist you while--"

My expression must have stopped him He looked at me in alarm "Chris, no," he said "You mustn’t"

"Yes" I looked up at the house, the roof of which was just visible on the hilltop "I don’t knohat’s up there or what’s going to happen But I have to help her by azed at me in deep distress

"I feel it," I repeated "I can’t explain it but I know it’s so"

He stared atwhether he should try to argue with me

Finally, without a word, he stepped forward and e while, then stepped back, hands still on ed a smile

"Remember you are loved," he said "There is a home for you and people who care"

He let his hands drop from my shoulders "Don’t let us lose you,’’ he said

I had no reply There was no way ofwhat I’d face on the hill I could only nod and try to return his s froht, then turned and started up the driveway toward the house A sudden thought occurred Driveway? Did she have a car? And, if she did, where could she drive it?

I stopped and looked around, the answer readily apparent There was no neighborhood, no houses in the distance, no Hidden Hills, no nothing The house was isolated

I listened towas cracked and grih

I thought, again, of what Albert had said before he’d left me

"She won’t believe a word you say; re to convince her that she’s not alive She thinks she is She thinks that only you are dead For that reason, it will be as well you don’t identify yourself immediately but, rather, try, in soradually convince her who you are I leave that to you; you know her better than I Just renize you and won’t believe you if you tell her, straight out, who you are"

I was halfway up the hill no dreary everything appeared I’ve described the driveway In addition, all the trees that lined it were dead and leafless Passing one, I bent a twig and felt it snap off dryly in round itself cracked by jagged fissures I remembered how I used to complain about the look of our hill in late sulorious compared to this

I stopped and hitched back suddenly fro from the weeds to cross it As I watched, it undulated slowly across the cracked paving I tried to see its head, to ular When I couldn’t, I looked at its tail to see if there was a rattle We’d had rattlesnakes occasionally Once, a three-footer had been living underneath a cardboard box behind the garage I didn’t rass to the right of the driveway Then I started up again, wondering ould have happened if I’d extended my hand to the snake It couldn’t kill me obviously, but, at this level, would I have felt the burning poison inup now, I could see the roof of the house more clearly It appeared shadowy and blurred and I realized that I was going to have to lower ain to reach this level

It happened of its own accord oncelike the ones I’d had before, that sensation of congealing My walk becaht grew even dih a sombrous haze, I saw the house coht

I caught ht What Albert had warned h to feel, God knew, my body laden, the hillside brown and arid, the sky a dullish gray, far worse than the sliest day I’d ever known in life

I wouldn’t let it touch h I’d be with her init took, I’d do so

I reached the top of the hill and turned right toward the house where Ann now stayed