THE ATTACHMENT
Chapter 13
by Abacab
To Jim’s half-surprise, the trigger he’d stolen from Julia seemed to have worked. Elizabeth immediately stopped weeping, her eyes slamming shut again, fluttering incredibly. She slumped over hard, almost falling forward onto him; he caught her, laid her backwards onto on the bed.
Elizabeth suddenly looked so peaceful. Jim watched her breathing for a moment. The previous night came flooding back to him all at once, how he’d felt just watching her breathe in the dark living room, how it had tied him up in her, drawn him into her, little by little. For a moment, he was completely lost in her again, time standing still.
Then a little voice, at the back of his head, reminding him where he was right now, what needed to be done immediately. Jim shook himself off, angry at his gravely timed misstep. He immediately realized he had no clue what to do next, no clue what to do with Elizabeth now that he had deepened her trance himself. He knew had perhaps two, two-and-a-half minutes remaining to meet Julia’s ultimatum.
Where was the phone? They’d need the fucking phone.
Jim ran across the room, picked the phone up off the floor. He moved back toward Elizabeth.
“Elizabeth, in just a moment, you will open your eyes. You will text Julia back, tell her Jim is not here.”
“But you... you’re here.”
Maybe it was not going to be as easy as simply hypnotizing Elizabeth and telling her what to do. Perhaps Julia, with all those years to work on poor Elizabeth, had made it really and truly impossible for Elizabeth to lie to her, at least when hypnotized.
On the other hand, Elizabeth was at least now fully aware that Julia had done plenty of lying on her own while she’d had Elizabeth under her spell.
“I’m... I’m not real, Elizabeth. You are still dreaming, just dreaming of Jim. You’re dreaming I’m here. None of this is real.”
“So real... he was... just here.”
“No, Elizabeth. You are only dreaming. You’ve been dreaming all along.”
“...but you... Jim’s voice.”
Fuck. Well, maybe this was also somehow easily explained.
“Elizabeth, this is Julia. I’m just... speaking through Jim, the Jim in your dream... the Jim I made up. I am in total control of your dream, just like always. And I can use any voice I want, you know that. I can speak through Jim too, just like now.“
“Oh... so... weird. Hi, Jim-Julia.” Elizabeth waved a tiny wave, giggled girlishly, so far away. Jim’s heart fluttered. He hated himself for momentarily understanding how Julia could enjoy seeing her lovers like this.
“So listen to Julia now, speaking through dream-Jim. OK?”
“OK.”
“This is an important test, a very important test. Count backwards from five to one. When you reach one, open your eyes and pick up your phone. Text me back right away. Tell me, texting quick as you can, that Jim has not been to your house tonight.”
“Why?”
Jim had not been expecting that question.
“If you can tell me he has not been to your house, that means you have been good, obedient to Julia. Then, as a reward, I will let you stay in the dream with him. You, uh... you do want to stay in this dream, in this wonderful dream with Jim, right?”
“Oh... yes... yes.”
Jim silently exhaled with relief. He hadn’t been sure that Elizabeth would really want to stay in a dream with him; he’d only hoped.
“So then, you’ll text me, right away, right?”
“Yes! ...yes, don’t... more dream!”
“I’ll put you back in the dream in a minute. You just have to text me, tell me he has not been to your house all night. That’s all you need to say, nothing more, nothing less. Now, start counting. Five...”
“Fffffive...”
“Four...” Jim put the phone into Elizabeth’s hands as delicately as he could.
“...ffffour...”
Jim stepped into the hallway to hide himself, trying to get Elizabeth to count faster. “Three... two...”
“...thhhhreeeee... twooooo...”
“One. Pick up the phone, Elizabeth. Text me now.”
“...onnne.”
Jim listened from the hallway, hearing Elizabeth exhaling, gradually stirring, groaning. He soon thought he heard haptic feedback, the phone kicking back ever-so-lightly as she typed... couldn’t be sure. He wondered if he should ask what she was doing, if he could somehow make sure that she was actually texting Julia. But there was a risk, he thought, that the sound of his own voice from another room might make her question the nature or existence of the dream, might stop her from achieving the needed task.
For a few eternal seconds, there was nothing else for Jim to do but wait quietly and hope.
He heard Elizabeth flop back onto the mattress.
“OK, ready... to go back now,” she said, sounding both pleased with herself and a bit less distant than before.
Jim looked around the corner. Elizabeth’s eyes were closed, a peaceful little smile on her face. He crept in slowly, stood over Elizabeth, picked up the phone off of her stomach, rising and falling so slowly.
“Please... take me deeper... deeper again,” she said. “Not deep enough... I want to feel... the dream... that dream again.”
Jim looked at the still-unlocked screen, gratefully saw Elizabeth’s typo-ridden text, sent from the depths of trance:
Jim hass not beenhere all night.
Before he could scroll back to cross-check the timestamps on Julia’s earlier messages, Elizabeth’s phone kerrr-dinked in Jim’s hands. His eyes shot back to Elizabeth. She was frowning at the sound, but her eyes currently remained shut. Jim returned his gaze to the screen:
Good girl. I know it was hard to reply to Julia. Elizabeth is unfrozen now. You will awaken on your own slowly. Talk to u tomorrow.
Jim let out what felt like two minutes of accumulated breath he’d been unwittingly holding in.
“W... what did you just... say?” Elizabeth was still frowning, eyes closed.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“The... the phone, was you... what did you...”
Oh, of course. Jim felt incredibly stupid. “...I wrote that you’re a good girl for telling me what I needed to know.“
“...ohhhhhhhh.” Elizabeth shuddered, grinned broadly. She sunk back into the bed, her face immediately smoothing over.
Jim was surprised at that particular reaction. He replayed his previous sentence in his head, trying to make a connection between his words and Elizabeth’s obvious fall back into trance.
“That’s right, Elizabeth, you... you have just been a very good girl.”
He watched on as Elizabeth’s lips immediately parted wide, pushing a short, ragged breath violently outward, then another, her body arching as if electrified. After a few seconds, her whole body dropped hard against the mattress, her head rolling slightly, her mouth growing into a even wider, delectably sleepy grin.
“Thank... you,” Elizabeth drawled breathlessly.
Jim wasn’t exactly sure what he’d just witnessed, but he knew that he’d greatly enjoyed witnessing it. His curiosity got the best of him.
“Elizabeth, remind me... when... when you hear me say that phrase, what do you feel?”
“It... it tingles... makes me tingle, feels nice.”
“Where does it tingle?” Jim asked, even though he had a pretty damned good idea.
“You know... in... in my pussy.”
Elizabeth giggled again, lightly blushing. Jim wondered if Julia had explored some kind of little-girl dynamic with Elizabeth, if this was what Julia was into. Hell, maybe this was just what Elizabeth was into. Either way, he couldn’t deny it was sort of hot, even as he hated himself even more for thinking so.
“Does the tingle ever get, uh, bigger than a tingle, Elizabeth?”
“Yes... sometimes, the... more you say it... tingles harder, then I... I cum.”
“Did you actually cum just now, hearing me say it?”
“No... but almost... so... hhhhot, that time... in Jim’s voice.“
On hearing this little bit of unsolicited honesty, Jim’s heart completely melted... even as his cock slightly hardened.
“And after the tingle, Elizabeth, do you usually go deeper?”
“Yes... sometimes... a little... want to go deeper... right now... deeper... please... back to the dream.”
Jim thought for a minute.
“I want to see you cum first, Elizabeth. I want to say that phrase to you again, in Jim’s voice, just like now, and make you tingle. If you tingle for me, if you tingle so hard, if you cum for me right when I tell you to, you can... um, you will fall much deeper right after. Do you, uh, do you agree?”
Jim thought he surely sounded like the most pathetic wannabe hypnotist on earth, but his lack of skill didn’t seem to bother Elizabeth at the moment. “Yes... tingle... cum, then... go deeper. Deeper.”
“Yes, that’s... that’s a good girl.”
Elizabeth’s breath suddenly seized, her brow contracting sharply.
Seeing the immediate effect of his words on Elizabeth, Jim immediately repeated himself with greater confidence. “...Such a good girl.”
Her back arched. Her hands trembled. Her face crumpled as she coughed out a helpless, visceral moan.
“Good girls tingle hard. Good girls tingle harder...”
Elizabeth’s mouth opened wide, no breath coming forth, just short, otherworldly, wonderfully choked utterances, as she involuntarily pulled her head off the pillow, her neck bending inward, upward, trying to bring her head closer to the source of her growing pleasure.
“...and soon, good girls, tingling so hard, their pussies tingling so hard... those good girls helplessly cum so hard from nothing at all, just from hearing how very good they’ve been...”
She bucked in fits and starts, her neck now bending backwards, her whole body arched fully upward as if suspended by wire, shimmering, quaking... her lungs held tightly, her voice silenced, no longer able to adequately express anything of the still-building energy threatening to rupture her from the inside out.
“You’re a very, very good girl, Elizabeth. Such a good girl, such a good girl that you just can’t hold that tingling in any longer... such a good girl, your body wants only to cum for me, so hard, so fucking hard... such a good girl. Cum for me... right now.”
Jim snapped his fingers. He didn’t know why.
He watched as Elizabeth instantly let out a series of rising, percussive yelps, then exploded in front of him for what seemed like two, three, perhaps five continuous minutes. Her eyes jerked and rolled like nothing he’d yet seen. Even as her eyelids seemed to come open occasionally, she obviously saw nothing in the room, saw nothing but the blinding pleasure overtaking her completely. Her whole body convulsed violently to match, like a fallen power line dancing on a wet street. Her ecstatic screams only seemed to grow louder, lower, darker, more pure, more raw and animal as her climax went on and on and on.
Jim had never found Elizabeth more beautiful, more divine to behold. He had also never felt more powerful.
As he watched Elizabeth’s body gradually sink back into the mattress, snapping hard back into place procedurally as one body part after another finally short-circuited and shut down, Jim wondered what else he could do with this kind of power.
He quickly realized that he’d just been distracted from their dire current situation by his accidental discovery. He wanted nothing more than to relieve the tension that had quickly built back up inside him while he’d been talking Elizabeth into her beautiful, beautiful orgasm.
But the first thing, the most important and pressing thing, that Jim needed to do with this kind of power was obvious. He needed to make sure that absolutely no one else still held it.
“Deeper, Elizabeth.”
“...deeper.”
“...Deeper.”
“...deeper.”
“How... uh... deep are you?”
Wow. I’m totally fucking terrible at this.
“I am... deep, but... not as deep as... I usually...”
“Alright, tell me what takes you the deepest.”
“...circles.”
Well, THAT’S helpful.
“What kind of circles?”
“...watching circles... so many... circles within circles... spinning inside, outside...”
“Can you see them, Elizabeth? Can you see the circles?”
I haven’t the slightest goddamned idea what she’s talking about. But she sounds like she’s maybe going a little deeper just describing them, so... let’s try pursuing that.
“...I see one... do I... do I follow it...?”
“Yes, you should follow the circle.”
...I guess. Or don’t. I really have no fucking idea. Jesus, I am TERRIBLE at this.
“...yes... following the circle...”
“Good. Now what do you see?”
“...I... just see the circle, the one... talking... makes it hard...”
Shit. She’s right. It’s a lot harder to go deeper when Julia makes me talk. I guess I’ll just... I don’t know, I’ll have to wing it. Maybe see what else I can figure out really quick, then shut her up and go for it.
“I know it’s hard to talk, Elizabeth. But I need you to tell me more about the circles you’ve seen before, the ones that take you deeper. Tell me about them, and I will make them happen for you. What do you need to see to go as deep as you can?”
“...just... so many circles... one first, like this one... then another, inside it, spinning... another way... then another, another way...”
How is that even possible? Can’t circles only spin one of two ways? Is she seeing spheres, three dimensions, something like that? Maybe if I close my eyes and listen, I can see what she’s talking about.
“So you start to see more circles... inside each other... one by one... and each one spinning in its own direction... are the circles different colors?”
“...I think so...”
She doesn’t even know. Great.
“...never thought about the color... never... heard about...”
Oh, wow, so Julia didn’t even think of their colors... didn’t mention them... Elizabeth must need really specific input.
“And you try to follow all of them at once, and soon there are so many circles that you start slipping deeper...?”
“...Yes, and... each new circle... means... I’m going deeper... each new circle... keeps me from hearing...”
Right, each new circle creates eventual mental overload, “keeps” her from hearing what Julia is actually saying. OK, I think I got this... maybe I can even improve on it, use the color thing... eyes closed now, I need to see the visual too.
“Do you still see only one circle, Elizabeth?”
“Yes.”
“Good. What color is it?”
“...blue?”
“Yes, it’s blue. More than just blue. You notice, the more you look at it, that it’s a deep, sparkling blue. You hadn’t noticed that before. See how it sparkles, the color so deep, drawing you in further, fascinating you.”
“...yes. So blue... oh.”
“As you focus on that slowly spinning, sparkling, deep blue circle, it is becoming even harder for you to talk. It’s alright. You won’t need to talk for a while. You just need to focus on following the circle, falling into its gorgeous deep blue color, tracing its slow spin with your eyes, going deeper as you follow it, round and round, deeper and deeper...”
...Whoa. Where the hell did I learn to talk like this?
“...and now, within that circle, emerging from thin air, another circle, smaller. This one spins in the other direction. It sparkles a deep, deep emerald green. It is even more beautiful than the last, spinning slowly, so slowly, the other direction. You can see it, can’t you, Elizabeth? You can see that sparkling emerald circle, spinning inside the sparkling deep blue circle... you can see them both, can’t you?”
“...yesssssssss.”
Wow, I can see them. I can actually see them. Wow. I guess I see why she likes this. OK, right, what do I do with the colors?
“The circles spin and spin, your eyes trying to trace them, trace them both. Their cool, deep, shimmering colors remind you of your deepening trance, of how relaxed you have become, of how far down you’ve already gone. The more you try and trace them, spinning in opposite directions, the more you fail. The more you fail, the farther you slip, deeper and deeper into trance, focusing so hard on tracing them... as you find your way back to both circles, as your eyes trace them, you slip deeper... whenever you lose track of one, you slip deeper still...”
How do I know how far she’s gone when I can’t see her? I can’t open my eyes now. If I do, I’ll lose it... I’m so locked in with her now, I’m on a roll. I think... I think I hear her breathing heavier.
“...slipping so deeply, slipping even as a third circle appears inside the green circle, almost unnoticed... this one, a deep, warm, gorgeous red. It spins in opposition to the blue circle, to the green circle...”
...That still doesn’t make any goddamned sense.
“...and your eyes try to meet it, try to trace it just like the others, try to trace it right along with the others... you know you must follow the spinning of all three circles, you must try. And as you try, try so hard, you feel yourself sinking instantly, slipping away so fast, as you lose yourself, lose yourself completely in all three circles...”
That little faraway sigh she just let out is probably a really good sign. Man, I can’t believe this is actually working. I still have no idea what I’m doing at all.
“...and now the red circle is turning brighter, deeper in color, all at the same time. You feel it growing warm, growing warmer, as it turns, turns, turns against the others. You cannot possibly follow it constantly. You cannot possibly follow all three circles at once. But you continue to try. And as you continue to try and follow all three circles with your eyes, the red circle’s warmth grows more intense, more wonderful, more infectious...”
...yeah, right, the ‘waves of bliss’ thing. That always hits me like a ton of bricks, no matter how many times Julia brings them back up... it just never gets old, never stops dragging me farther under, even when it seems impossible. I should do something like that with this.
“...and as it glows, whether or not you can look at it, trace it directly, as you watch, you realize how special the red circle is... how deeply into trance its presence will take you, soon allowing my voice into the farthest recesses of your mind... as you see how special it is, you notice the many, many smaller circles now appearing inside the red circle, appearing one by one, one after another, each one appearing as you slip another level down, another level further down into trance, slipping farther so quickly, so effortlessly now...
“...and the longer the red circle glows, the longer it spins in front of you, whether you watch it or not, it takes you farther, farther, farther down... all the way down now, deep as you’ve ever been... past where my words have meaning... past where you can think about anything else, anything else other than the wonderful, building warmth of the red circle...
“...knowing the red circle shows you how deep you are falling, knowing the never-ending new circles within it show you how deep you continue to go, as the collective warmth of all the circles within the red circle makes your mind grow emptier and emptier, how you feel more and more wonderful... feeling more and more wonderful, moment by moment, until you are completely lost in warm, thoughtless bliss... until time stands totally still in the all-consuming warm, blissful glow of the red circle...”
...OK, I definitely heard her moan right there.
“...and now, in the warm glow of that circle and its inner circles, you are farther under than you’ve ever been, farther under than you’ve ever allowed me to take you, so completely consumed by the circles, so completely overtaken by the warm, throbbing waves of pleasure they emit, those warm, throbbing waves pushing into you, again and again, so good... so good...
“...your mind now totally vanishing, too peaceful, too warm, too blissful to feel or think of anything else... still falling deeper than ever before, still slipping deeper, still completely enthralled by the irresistible pulsing warmth of the red circle, the beautiful, burning red circle you cannot stop watching, the red circle that is everything in the world to you now...”
Wow, she’s cooing, sighing... sounds like she is miles and miles away... she’s breathing like she’s in a coma. How deep does she really need to go for this? Surely not too much deeper? If I keep this up, I feel like I might fall asleep myself...
“...and while your conscious mind is now completely consumed and enthralled with the circles, with the red circle, with its wonderful warm glow, with the blue and green circles, with their never-ending spinning in confusing and wonderful directions, with their deep, sparkling, irresistable colors... your subconscious mind now opens up to my voice, easily, immediately, without worry. I want to talk to your subconscious mind. It will open up to me now, effortlessly, as your conscious mind sleeps, lost in the circles, in their warmth, in the endless waves of sheer and total ecstasy they create for you over and over, your subconscious mind now opens up completely to my voice...”
Wait... what? Where did I learn to talk like THIS? What the fuck am I doing?
“...your subconscious mind has talked to Julia many times. It has listened to Julia many times. But Julia is no longer good for you, no longer good for your subconscious mind. It is time for your subconscious mind to let go of Julia, to get rid of her, to lock her out...”
Right, right, time for her ‘subconscious mind’ to take itself back. OK, that’s... that’s where I’ll take this, I guess. Man, this all just kind of sounds like a big load of hooey. I wonder if it’s working.
“...May I speak to your subconscious mind, Elizabeth?”
“...Yes.”
“Am I speaking directly to your subconscious now?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, and in your subconscious, you see Julia, holding a key, holding the key to your subconscious, the one that let her inside...”
What... in... the... fuck. Where is this shit even coming from? Am I still me?
“...do you see Julia, standing in your subconscious mind, with the key, the key she used to get inside?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, you do. You can see Julia very clearly, very clearly, standing in your subconscious mind. Now you see a hand. It is your hand, your very own. It is you, reaching inside your subconscious mind, reaching out toward Julia, grasping that key, the key in Julia’s hands...”
I just... man, I have no idea where this is coming from at all. But it feels right. I don’t know why. I can actually see it too, that’s the most fucked up part... there’s Julia, right there; there’s Elizabeth’s hand. This is so fucking weird. I guess... I guess I should just keep going with it. I can’t stop now.
“...you are in control of your hand, Elizabeth. You are now clutching the key, the key in Julia’s hands. And once you take it out of her hands, she can never reach you here, never talk to your subconscious, never control your subconscious again, like she has recently, not ever again. Do you want that? Do you want to take back the key from Julia?”
“...don’t know.”
“But Julia has hurt you. She has hurt you with the power she holds over you. Julia wants to take Jim away. Julia has made you do horrible, horrible things in trance. You know she can’t be trusted.”
“No.”
“You agree, then. You know, you understand that Julia can’t be trusted, not with this power she has over you now.”
“...No.”
She... she might be agreeing, she might be disagreeing... shit, I’m wording this question really terribly. I... I can’t think straight right now, no idea how I even ended up here anyway. Gotta move on. I probably don’t have much more time.
“So your hand reaches for the key, the key in Julia’s hands. It is taking the key out of her hands now. Do you see that happening? Do you feel the key in your hand?”
“Yesss.”
“What do you see now?”
“My hand... the key... Julia... Jim.”
I... wait, I didn’t just put me there, right? I’m just... I’m just there?
“That’s... right, Jim is there. And now he’s... he’s pushing Julia out for you. He’s pushing Julia out of your subconscious forever. Do you see that?”
“Yes.”
“She’s gone now, isn’t she? She’s gone forever. She is now completely irrelevant to you, completely locked out of your subconscious mind.”
“Yes.”
“And it feels good now that she is gone, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe... doesn’t... really matter.”
What? OK, it’s official, I have no goddamn idea what’s going on at this point. I just... I just need to get her out of here.
“And what are you doing with the key now?”
“Jim... Jim’s hands.”
No. No, I... no, no, no, no. I did something wrong. What did I do? Jesus, why did I even try this? How did I think I could ever just... shit, shit, shit.
“Are you sure you really want to do that, Elizabeth?”
“Yessss.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to hold onto the key? Keep it for yourself, for when you really need it?”
“Can’t use the key... don’t need it... to get in... only... only needed for others.”
“Do you think Jim needs the key? Do you think he wants the key?”
“I... want Jim... to have it.”
Alright, this... this is just twisted. Just wrong, just crazy. She knows I don’t want that kind of power over her, right?
...I guess if she really wants this, it’s a trust thing. It’s really touching... I’m down here and she actually wants me to be that deeply connected to her. Is that really a good thing, though? That she wants that, that kind of incredible intimacy with me, so soon?
Does it even matter whether that’s a good thing, one way or the other, if I take the key but just never use it, if I choose to never use it?
...What am I saying? This is all bullshit anyway. Subconscious mind, “keys” to the subconscious mind... none of it matters, none of it is real. The only thing that matters is that she’s free of Julia, or that she now thinks she’s free of Julia. So let’s get the fuck out of here, quick.
“OK, Elizabeth’s subconscious, uh... this is Jim now. Julia is gone, it’s just me now. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll accept your key. I’ll keep it safe. I won’t ever use it.”
“You can... if you... want to.”
“Elizabeth, I don’t know if I will ever...”
“It’s... OK. I trust you... trust you now to... change me.”
What... what do I even say to... fuck me, this is SO messed up.
“Thank you, Elizabeth. Is there... is there anything else I need to know about the key?”
“Yes.”
“What do you need to tell me?”
“Julia...”
Oh, no. No... no. I thought we already dealt with that.
“What about Julia, Elizabeth?”
“...she... still has your key. Need to... get it from her...”
Right. Whew, OK, then.
“...need to... help you... get it away from her... soon... it’s... important.“
How is she thinking she’ll “help” me with that “problem?” Oh man, I’m just... I’m just not even going to ask right now. I’ll be here all night waiting for an incomprehensible babble-response.
“OK, Elizabeth. You can help me with that... I’ll let you help me later. You are too deep right now to help. Is there anything else you want to tell me right now?”
“Yes... Jim... I need you.”
“Elizabeth... I, uh...”
Now that I actually think about it... this is, Jesus... this has really been a lot. This is a lot to happen in 24 hours. She’s gone from being a work acquaintance to someone that seems to “need” me like this, in this amount of time... is this even...
“...need you to... be in me... now.“
Oh. She meant... she meant THAT kind of “need.”
“...now, Elizabeth? While you’re like this?“
“Yessssss. Please. ...please. I need you. So... much.”
I’m probably supposed to wake her up at some point, right? I don’t really know how to do that either. Maybe she’ll just wake up while I’m inside her...?
“OK, and... and then, you will slowly wake up on your own while I’m inside you. Is that OK?”
“No...”
Oh, wow, she sounds pissed. What did...
“...I... want to sleep... sleeping with you... inside me... want to dream... with you...“
“Elizabeth, OK, please understand, I can’t promise...”
“...want to dream... again with you... just like last night.”
Oh, now, this... this sounds like a recipe for profound disappointment. Does she not really understand yet that Julia made up the dream for us? How is it going to be ANYTHING like the last time we “dreamed together” without someone sitting there, pushing us both under continuously?
...Was it not good enough for her, just an hour ago? When we were awake, awake and together, for the first time? I thought... I thought it was absolutely incredible. Maybe it was more intense, more crazy last night, but... Jesus, really, barely... but did she not feel that way? Was it not good enough just to be with me? Was I terrible or something? Does she maybe think she has to be “dreaming” to enjoy fucking me? Oh, God, no, I...
...wait... am I supposed to be Julia’s replacement here too... the guy who makes up the whole dream for her, somehow, WHILE I’m busy fucking her? Can I even do that? I don’t have a clue how I’d ever manage that. Should I... should I just wake her up? I should just wake her up...
“Jim... Jim...”
“Yes, Elizabeth?”
“...please... fuck me... now... fuck me and... come dream with me.”