The Light at the End of the Tunnel

by James W. Nelson

  Call it a premonition, though Nicole was hard pressed to believe in premonitions, but little Cassandra had been on her mind ever since leaving the residence of the girl’s last foster home. If the boys were meeting up with women tonight, which she was sure that’s what they were doing, even though the three of them hadn’t verbally discussed exactly that, then she just couldn’t get it out of her mind that Cassandra would be part of it, and she had to get there in time to save her.

  We have to!

  ****

  Cassandra met the boy’s eyes, and felt her whole body go cold, and empty, and stiff, and her skin begin to crawl as that boy with the golden hair began to approach her, and all those two-year-old memories started coming back. What was it about that boy? There was something so cruel and empty in those eyes. She pushed herself into the corner, but she could go no further. Involuntarily her hands began to rise, as if she could protect herself. She knew she couldn’t.

  “Honey-girl!” the woman driver shouted, “You put your hands down!”

  Cassandra put her hands down, for just a second, then brought them right back up, “No….” Was that tiny and scared-sounding voice hers? “Please….” She was begging. She didn’t want to beg! She could just let him do what he wanted and then he would leave, and then she would have to do it again and again and again with whatever man that awful woman found for her to do it with—

  ****

  No, Daddy, please don’t! I love you, Daddy… Les Paul saw his darling little daughter—I have NO daughter! What he saw was this hot nine-year-old girl cowering before him—his head began to hurt so bad!—No! Daddy! Help me! Please!—I have no daughter! He loved seeing his women cower before him…Daddy, please, no!—Why would that young girl, his daughter keep appearing in his head?—I HAVE NO DAUGHTER!!!!

  “Stop! She’s mine!”

  Everybody’s attention flew to the door where another boy had just appeared, and he was bleeding. The golden-haired boy snarled and flung his arms down and charged and hit the other boy and they both went down—Edsel is not going to hurt that young girl!—Nobody is!—and the golden-haired boy just started hitting him and pounding and kicking him.

  “That’s enough!” cried the woman driver, and she opened that huge purse and came out with—Cassandra couldn’t believe it—a gun! “That’s enough!” the woman cried again, and aimed the gun.

  The golden-haired boy stopped and looked back, and saw the gun, and stood up, then screamed and charged the woman driver, who fired.

  The golden-haired boy stopped and looked down at his chest where red was appearing, then flowing and running down over his stomach. The boy touched his own blood and looked at it in amazement, like he couldn’t even believe anything in the world could hurt him, then he looked at the woman driver, and then settled to the floor and lay still.

  ****

  “Drop your gun!” cried a man in the doorway also holding a gun.

  Then a woman came in behind him—Nicole! “Nicole!” Cassandra just screamed the name, then ran to Nicole and threw her arms around her and Nicole threw her arms around Cassandra and buried her in her front, and lifted her and held her close.

  Cassandra started feeling very different. She felt safe in Nicole’s arms and wrapped her arms and legs around Nicole and her chest began feeling funny and hurting like it had never hurt and she felt tears coming, real tears!—and she couldn’t stop them! They just came and she began crying and crying and Nicole held her so close, “Cry, my dear child, go ahead and cry. You’re safe now. Come on, we’ll leave here.”

  Cassandra held her tears and choked, and pulled slightly away, and looked back at Mandy and her mom, “What about them? They aren’t bad like…,” she took a sobbing breath and looked back at the woman driver, and pointed, “Her.”

  “I don’t know, Cassandra. For right now they’ll probably have to go to jail too. We’ll see if we can help them later. But you come now. Your nightmare is over.”

  “Okay.” Cassandra looked back, and waved to Mandy.

  Mandy didn’t smile, but did wave back. Then Cassandra again wrapped her arms around Nicole’s neck and laid her head on her shoulder, and the tears, gently, continued to flow, and she said, between sobs, “You can call me ‘Cassie’ again.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart, I will.”

  “‘Sweetheart’ is okay too. I love you, Nicole.”

  “I love you too, Cassie.”

  “She has to go to the station too,” Sikorsky said.

  “Fine!” Nicole returned, “But she’s staying in my arms.”

  ****

  Later, when the bad people were all in jail, and Cassandra—with her dolly, Rachel Ray, pressed against her front—was asleep, between the chaplain and Nicole on the spacious motel bed, the chaplain couldn’t contain himself any longer, “You know what this means don’t you, Nicole?”

  “No. What? What does this mean?”

  “Les Paul. He’s finished. He’s finally dead. He was killed, yes, but not by the state.”

  “You’re right,” Nicole said, “The monster is finally finished. Strange, though, in this life he maybe wasn’t so bad…yet…I guess we just will never know.”

  “You are correct, my dear, but he was well on his way, and, you know, we didn’t prove a thing. So we will just keep recycling the worst-of-the-worst.”

  “Nine years gone,” Nicole didn’t really appear upset about it.

  “Are you sorry?”

  “No, Rad. I found you, and we found this little girl between us. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  “Something strange, though….”

  “Yes…?”

  “That large woman who shot Les Paul…Sikorsky let me read her statement. She said she had the funniest feeling when she was watching the blond-headed boy approach our little girl here…” he nodded toward Cassandra, “I think I can remember it word for word, or close, ‘There was fire and lust in his eyes—I mean he WANTED that little girl—but when the other boy came, the one he beat the hell out of—Edsel, I think—the blond-headed kid’s expression and eyes changed completely. He almost became like he was protecting his girlfriend…or, even more so, a dad protecting his daughter.’”

  ****

  Les Paul saw that bright light at the end of the tunnel that he had seen so many, many, many, times before…but this one was different; it was dimming, getting farther away, going out.

  It went out.

  Les Paul’s world reduced to darkness. He stopped seeing, he stopped remembering, he stopped comprehending. His many long lives of good-turned-evil were finally over. He at last rested. His memories were gone…all but one.

  But he was dead.

  And then, he wasn’t.

  A light appeared again, an even brighter light, and a world of hills and trees and faraway mammoths appeared and suddenly he was in it, and up ahead appeared a woman and a little girl. They were too far away for him to really recognize, but he was gradually getting closer—they both waved—he saw furs draping both their shoulders….

  --0--

  Quotations

  Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146 (Friedrich Nietzsche):

  "Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster;

  and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you."

  Today Show Interview (1987) (Charles Manson):

  "Believe me, if I started murdering people... there'd be none of you left."

  Under Western Eyes (Joseph Conrad):

  "...A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."

  “Murder is a horror, but an often necessary horror, never criminal, which it is essential to tolerate in a republican State. Is it or is it not a crime? If it is not, why make laws for its punishment? And if it is, by what barbarous logic do you, to punish it, duplicate it by another crime?”

  Marquis De Sade quotes (French nobleman and Novelist whose perverse sexual preferences and erotic writings gave rise to the term sadi
sm. 1740-1814)

  “The beginning of love is a horror of emptiness”

  Robert Bly quotes

  Characters & Places

  Les Paul (worst-of-the-worst criminal)

  Baby Boy Doe9 (his foster child name)

  Warden Miles

  Radford O’Hare (the chaplain)

  Nicole Waters

  (young nurse who found the abandoned Les Paul)

  Cassandra “Cassie”

  Rachel Ray (Cassandra’s doll’s name)

  Geppetto (shopkeeper who looked like Pinocchio’s father)

  Franny (Cassandra’s foster father)

  Mac (Franny’s buddy)

  (foster mother not named)

  Lola & Mandy (mother & daughter sex slaves)

  Their trafficker (not named)

  Evan & Leslie Markum (Les Paul’s birth parents)

  Kenneth and Donna Tommerdahl (thought to be Les Paul’s birth parents)

  Stanley (the Tommerdahl’s first born, deceased)

  Patrolman Sikorsky

  Devin (second detective)

  First Detective (not named)

  Riley Stokes (owner of survivalist school)

  Sheldon & Tucker (trainers)

  Sadie (trainee becomes instructor)

  Jasper (older boy in foster care, Les Paul’s first teacher)

  Pierce (older boy at Juvie, Les Paul’s second teacher)

  Edsel (another boy at Juvie)

  Places

  Bradleyville (prison, state not named)

  St. Winston Hospital, 1430 Gardenia Blvd., Wayne Ridge, Nebraska

  (where the Markum’s abandoned the infant, Les Paul)

  Earnestburg, Kansas (family services that handled Cassandra’s case)

  Marble Falls, Kansas (Cassandra’s foster home)

  Brentwood, Kansas (police and juvenile detention)

  (where the chaplain & Nicole caught up with nine-year-old Les Paul)

  The National Infamies (news magazine where Les Paul’s baby story caught the chaplain’s attention)

  “There is a sacredness in tears....They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.”

  ― Washington Irving

  Reviews

  5.0 out of 5 stars enlightening and enthralling.

  By Rhonda Lytle (Liverpool, TX United States (Kindle Edition)

  This book is engrossing. It’s not what I would call a warm, fuzzy type of read, but rather a real glimpse into some of the major issues facing society such as the atrocities committed upon children, consequences of the death penalty, and the ever declining social conditions regarding families and relationships in general all wrapped up in some addicting fiction.

  The author, James W. Nelson, has an easy to read style that makes putting the book down difficult. His characters are rich, the storyline multi-layered, and the action moves at a good pace. One of the things I really enjoyed was that it was not predictable at all and there were surprises all the way up to the very end. I feel he has earned an all around five stars!

  5.0 out of 5 stars Un-put-downable, absolutely gripping!

  By Carolee Samuda (Kingston, Jamaica (Paperback)

  The most unique tale of the criminal mind. The story is scary but you don’t want to stop reading it because you have to know what happens. This book is thrilling and is wonderfully crafted. The author is definitely a mastermind at creating such stories and this is very believable. It has you wondering who the next Les Paul is or if he is right beside you!

  Books by James W. Nelson

  Novels

  Winter in July

  (The doomsday clock is ticking…it will reach midnight)

  Callipygia

  (A place, or maybe just a state of mind,

  for if you go there, and partake, you will be changed…forever)

  Pharmacological Research Gone Berserk

  (Needed: volunteers)

  Daughters Book 1

  (The heartbreak of human trafficking)

  Daughters Book 2

  (Emma gets payback)

  Daughters Book 3

  (The Lure of Pornography)

  Daughters Book 4

  (The Little Girl From Down the Street)

  Daughters Book 5

  (Sorority Animal House)

  Boat Sailors

  (Vietnam War action by fleet submarines)

  The Bellwether

  (The mother of all disasters)

  The Light at the End of the tunnel

  (A supernatural thriller)

  New World Order Rising Book 1

  (The Abduction)

  New World Order Rising Book 2

  (The New Civil War)

  New World Order Rising Book 3

  (The Next Generation Fights On)

  The Short Stories

  Strange & Weird Stories

  (The unknown: as close as beside you)

  A Collection of Short Contemporary Stories

  (Stories about people just like you)

  Nonfiction

  Dying to Live (memoirs)

  (The life & times of Jimmy Nelson)

  ****

  Digital Only

  One Morning Nature Series

  (For children, 3-103)

  Book 1 One Morning at Boxelder Cove (Tamius, the Red Squirrel)

  Book 2 One Morning at Juneberry Row (Sybil, the Cottontail Rabbit)

  Short Stories

  To the Nineteenth Century (fantasy, time-travel)

  He had it Coming (crime, mystery)

  Waiting to Die (the new pandemic)

  Into Tilovia (war, romance, adventure)

  The Commons (environment, time-travel)

  30 Seconds to the Ground (a skydive gone wrong)

  Descriptions of Books by James W. Nelson

  From the author: In my fiction I do not try to create super-heroes, but rather bring alive common and regular people who try to find love, survive, and react to circumstances as best they can, and, usually, try to do the right thing. The books are more than one genre, from war to sex and violence to romance to humor to horror to fantasy to science fiction to adventure, I write in third-person with viewpoints by men, women, and children.

  For more detailed descriptions, synopses, reviews, please go to:

  https://jameswnelsonblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/books-by-james-w-nelson-samples-synopses-reviews/

  Novels

  Winter in July (65,500 words) (The doomsday clock is ticking…it will reach midnight) (nuclear war drama) In 2019, many more nations than the superpowers have nuclear weapons and dependable delivery systems. Kirby Yates, 40, helps his town prepare for the ultimate war, which nobody believes will ever happen.

  Callipygia (66,100 words) (love, sex, violence, sexual violence) (A place, or maybe just a state of mind, for if you go there, and partake, you will become changed…forever. Stephanie Daniels, 29, journalist, goes on the undercover assignment of her life, and finally finds true love, with another woman.

  Pharmacological Research Gone Berserk (82,500 words) (Needed: volunteers) (medical mystery drama) Shea McTory, 31, homeless, volunteers to be locked up six months for a human nutrition research study, learns to deal with nine other volunteers—one a psychopath—and—the good part—meets the love of his life.

  Daughters Book 1 (40,200 words) (The heartbreak of human trafficking) (abduction, crime, prostitution, love of a father) Emotion and love in the house where Emma, 18, grew up was rare. When she was abducted into prostitution she was hardly missed, until the one person who truly cared about her finds out.

  Daughters Book 2 (45,000 words) (Emma gets payback) After six months of living with her foster father, Bailey Forbes, Emma and new best friend, Alexis, leave the safety of Abundance, Montana, and venture 200 miles farther west to the campus of University of Montana, Wyman, where her past will come back to haunt her.

  Daughters Book 3 (59,200 words) (The Lure of Pornography)

  Emma, in her second year of college (studying
psychology & criminal justice) goes undercover into the dark world of pornography.

  Daughters Book 4 (49,000 words (The Little Girl From Down the Street)

  Emma is home for a visit and a little rest, but a local nine-year-old girl in trouble. Her mother is suffering from the early effects of Alzheimer’s. Her boyfriend and his son have turned to the healthy daughter.

  Daughters Book 5 (42,000 words) Sorority animal House

  Emma is graduated with degrees in social work and criminal justice, working toward a black belt in Taekwondo, and has partnered with a young lady attorney. They will specialize in helping victims of human trafficking.

  (A young woman “Little” says “No!” to the sorority’s brutal initiation rites, starts to leave, would have been stopped and forced, but her big sister “Big” has a change of heart and comes to her rescue.)

  Boat Sailors (65,000 words) (Vietnam War action by fleet submarines) Fresh from the farm, Brice Moser, 17, will leave his loved ones behind, pay his dues in bootcamp, then Class A Weapons School where he’ll experience more life in 9 weeks then the whole 17 years before, become a Torpedoman’s Mate, Seaman Apprentice, and soon will discover his rating covers much more than torpedoes.

  The Bellwether (229,000 words) (The mother of all disasters) (economic & environmental meltdown) (love, sex, violence, drama, adventure) Aaron Hodges, 32, has one month to take his future colonists 300 miles to northern Minnesota wilderness…not by truck but overland across farmland and forest by horse and wagon, but first he has to convince them to want to go.