Left Behind (2 page)

"I'll never get there without you, either," I said holding tight and taking another step. And another. The hill seems endless. The lava advances, boiling, just behind us.

Yet there is hope. Purgatory must end somewhere. Perhaps with the lava, and perhaps at the hilltop. But at least there will be one. Hell never does end. Somewhere others sit and re-sit their versions of exams, in their private hells. I walk up the hill. The old woman is lighter now, or perhaps I am bigger. And she holds onto me tightly.

Lava or hilltop... We'll go together.

Neither of us will be left behind, this time.