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Forgive Me, Alex: Tony Hooper, #1
Forgive Me, Alex: Tony Hooper, #1
Forgive Me, Alex: Tony Hooper, #1
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Forgive Me, Alex: Tony Hooper, #1

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Two men, two methods, two motivations, one darkness—step inside the twisted mind of a killer, and of the man determined to end him at any cost.

Tony Hooper stands in shadow across the street, one amongst many in the crowd of curiosity-hounds gathered to watch a monster's release. Seventeen years after Mitchell Norton, "the devil," terrorized Algonquin, Illinois on a spree of kidnapping, torture and murder, the authorities release the butcher from psychiatric prison.

"The devil" walks the world again. What shall Tony do about it? Aye, what indeed. After all, this is what Tony does. It's who he is. "The devil" himself long ago made Tony into this hunter of monsters.

  • WINNER: Pinnacle Book Achievement Award – Best Thriller, Summer 2014
  • AWARDED: 5-Star Review, Reader's Favorite Book Reviews
  • SEMI-FINALIST: The Kindle Book Review – Best Indie Books of 2012

The Kindle Book Review says of this award-winning thriller: "Lane Diamond has succeeded in bringing to the surface the dark and horrifying mind of a psychotic serial killer, while at the same time bringing forth the desperate need for humanity and justice for the victims and their families."

EVOLVED PUBLISHING PRESENTS an award-winning and critically-acclaimed look at what might happen to an ordinary guy when a serial killer destroys his world, in a story of justice and vengeance, evil and redemption, fear and courage, love and loss, from the editor of over 180 published books. [DRM-Free]

"Forgive Me, Alex" is perfect for fans of Lee Child (Jack Reacher Series), James Patterson (Alex Cross Series), David Baldacci (John Puller Series), Dot Hutchison, Adam Mitzner, Jeffery Deaver (Lincoln Rhyme Series), and more.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 19, 2011
ISBN9781622539017
Forgive Me, Alex: Tony Hooper, #1
Author

Lane Diamond

Lane Diamond is the pen name for David Lane. He grew up in Algonquin, Illinois, where he graduated from Harry D. Jacobs High School in 1978. After a short college stint, he served in the U.S. Air Force at Ramstein AB, Germany, 1980-1982, and at Lowry AFB, Denver, CO, 1982-1983. For more, please visit his website and blog at www.LaneDiamond.com.

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Forgive Me, Alex is a psychological suspense thriller to say the least, told in the voices of Tony Hooper and Mitchell Norton and relives the atrocities of a time in 1978 and then in the present of 1995. Tony Hooper is an average guy, soon to graduate high school, has a girlfriend that he wants to marry and spend the rest of his life with. Just prior to him graduating, his little brother, his shadow, Alex turns up missing. Alex is eventually found murdered and Tony blames himself. Back to 1995 Mitchell Norton, a convicted serial killer, is released from prison and that is when the story really takes off...not to spoil the story for you, I will just say that this book grabbed me right from the first page. I love suspense thrillers and when an author can pull the reader right into the story where you do not want to put the book down, that is for me a great read. There are characters that you love to love and those you love to hate. An emotional roller coaster of a ride right up to the last page. Then it keeps you wanting more and that is good because there will be another book soon, The Devil's Bane, a sequel to Forgive Me, Alex. I highly recommend this book!!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “I mean, shit, any knucklehead can be a writer, right?” muses one of the characters in Lane Diamond’s nail-biter of a story, Forgive Me, Alex. And, yes, any knucklehead can. But it takes a very special kind of knucklehead to put together a story the way Diamond has. Forgive Me, Alex did something that a book has not done since Kristy and the Snobs (The Baby-sitters Club #11), where Kristy’s family dog Louie had to be put to sleep: It made me cry. Damn you, Lane Diamond. Damn you to hell.Forgive Me, Alex is classified as a psychological suspense thriller, and suspense should really be bolded and italicized. There is a certain level of mastery a writer must possess in order to effectively build this kind of breathless expectation in a reader, and Diamond does just that, not only by switching us back and forth between 1978 (when the events that set everything in motion took place) and 1995 (the subsequent aftermath after the serial killer is released), but also by switching up narrative perspectives between our hero and antagonist. Although I was originally afraid all this moving about might harm the linearity of the tale, my fears were unfounded: The story developed and evolved brilliantly, and kept me turning the pages wanting more. More. More. Diamond does in Forgive Me, Alex what I wish more contemporary authors would do: He brings me right into the story, forcing me to identify with the characters. I didn’t have a choice–I would feel Tony Hooper’s wrath and need for revenge, I would wallow in Mitchell Norton’s desperate inability to ward off his demons. I would cheer for Diana Gregorio’s unbelievable ballsiness in the face of seemingly unbeatable odds. I would weep, shedding actual tears, for Alex Hooper’s childhood.Forgive Me, Alex scared the living bejeesus out of me. I live in a small, sleepy town á la Algonquin, Illinois. It’s a big deal if someone gets a new riding lawnmower. Could a Mitchell Norton be just around the corner (sorry, neighbors)? I have a daughter. She’s trusting, wonderful, sweet–a little Alex Hooper. I projected onto this story in a way that astonished even me (mostly because I’m a jaded author type who reads with one eyebrow raised at all times). But even those living in sprawling metropolises without any children will identify with this story, because the way Tony Hooper reacts to the events of his life (and–poor Tony–he gets more than his fair share of awfulness) is incredibly relatable. Who, when faced with the destruction of life as he knows it, wouldn’t long to mete out the justice he had so cruelly been denied? We all would. We might not have the cojones to go through with it, but we can certainly cheer Tony’s decision to become the world’s vigilante.Probably the best part of Forgive Me, Alex is that you think you know how it will all go–you think you know how everything will end. But you don’t. All the signs point to one thing, and it’s most decidedly another. It’s half Red Dragon and half Flowers for Algernon–and any mix like that is bound to throw you a curveball or twelve. Even the last two chapters (which I could have done without, simply because I felt they took away from what was otherwise a very, very strong ending) kept right on making you do a double-take at the page.A word of warning: When the author placed the disclaimer that this tale is not for children at the front of the book, he’s not kidding. There are certain parts that are incredibly disturbing, and certain acts are described that are meant only for mature audiences. Know that when Diamond says he will take you on a trek into the mind of a serial killer, he means it–warts and all. Forgive Me, Alex presents the truth of its story in excruciating detail, and it may present images that take a while to fade from your mind’s eye.As for my "absolute must" requirements in any book: I had no problem following the story. Although it jumped back and forth in time, the linearity within each time period was flawless, and the action was so well-developed that I had no problem keeping everything in mind and building upon it as I read. The editing was great, and the formatting was nearly perfect. Forgive Me, Alex was a fantastic read, both in scope and execution.Kudos, Lane Diamond. My teary, frightened self salutes you. Job well done.

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Forgive Me, Alex - Lane Diamond

PART 1

JUSTICE SERVED,

JUSTICE DENIED

Chapter 1 – June 6, 1995: Tony Hooper

...that is the soul, and whether you are a soldier, a scholar, a cook, or an apprentice in a factory, your life and your work will eventually teach you that it exists. The difference between your flesh and the animate power within, which can feel, understand, and love, in that very descending order, will be clear to you in ten thousand ways, ten thousand times over. ~ Mark Helprin, A Soldier of the Great War

I never expected to be a killer.

Who does?

I don’t hate myself. Not really. It’s not as if I don’t recognize the face in the mirror every morning; I just don’t always recognize the man to whom it belongs.

Mitchell Norton, the man responsible for making me who I am, will skip out of his final court hearing today—a mere formality according to the news. They’re set to release him from the psychiatric prison after seventeen years, the thought of which has spun my mind into a whirlwind of memories I’ve long struggled to bury.

I killed my first man in 1975, at the age of fifteen.

Norton’s actions three years later would push me deeper into my transformation, and aim me toward this place. The life I now lead. The me who isn’t me.

Some things I’ve lost forever. Other things... well, other things I’d like to lose, but can’t.

The memory refuses to drift into the eternal ether. If only I could erase the sound and the image, press a button and—poof—it’s gone. Yet it forever haunts me, the first of far too many ghosts....

August 16, 1975

Crash!

The distinctive crushing of metal assaulted our Saturday afternoon, as Alex and I watched television and waited for Mom to return from the store. I jumped from the chair and looked out the living room window, but couldn’t see enough of the street. I darted into the kitchen for a better angle.

Dear God, no!

I yelled to Alex while bolting to the back door. "Stay put, Hoopster! You hear me? Do not come outside!"

Mom was back. Almost. Our Chevy Bel Air sat right in front of our house, crushed into an impossibly condensed version of itself. A half-ton pick-up truck, its front end curled forward in a crescent moon, loomed over the windshield of our car.

I ran through the glass and the debris to the twisted wreckage, tripping over a chunk of something unknown. I fell to my knees and banged my head against the side of the car.

Shit! Oh God. Mom!

I snapped up and peered through the envelope-sized gap where the driver-side window had once been. The back of Mom’s head sagged at a bizarre angle, barely visible above the crushed compartment.

Mom, are you okay? Mom!

I pulled my head back, reached through the gap with my left hand, and walked my fingers along the wreckage to reach her. I found her wet, sticky hair, and stretched out... farther... farther. Unable to turn her face toward me, I moved my fingers from her chin and up the far side of her face, and—

I snatched my hand back and bolted upright.

I stared at my left hand even as I used my right one to wipe away the blood and the gray matter. Everything began to spin and close in. My chest hammered with every breath, as though God had reached down and clutched the air from the world. I leaned against the car, and my hands painted two red streaks down the metal as my legs folded beneath me.

I collapsed against the jagged wreck in a dark heap—blank—and vanished for untold moments.

Life resumed when a man fell from the pick-up truck, coughed and spat on the street. He looked at me, inched forward on his hands and knees, and vomited. It took him a moment to recover, but he....

What in hell is he doing?

The rotten sonuvabitch laughed and whooped it up, as though he’d perpetrated some ingenious practical joke. His bloodshot eyes looked as if they would burst at any moment. He spewed a garbled, incoherent mush that I struggled to translate.

Shit! I think I fucked up my truck, buddy. Can you give a fella a hand?

He faded in and out as my last image of Mom—what was left of her—overpowered me. Everything grayed again, but as the spinning stopped and my breath returned, the full tragedy came into focus. The wicked bastard who’d crushed my mom... was drunk.

My legs had deserted me, turned to dust. I could only look around in a daze at our neighbors, who’d emerged from their houses to investigate. What should I—

The asshole’s staccato bursts of drunken laughter again pulled me back. The very air I breathed stifled me—gas, oil, burnt rubber and a vague metallic tinge, all mingled with the sour contents of the killer’s stomach poured onto the street. I raised my hands, bathed in crimson and wafting copper, before my face.

A disembodied voice spoke from the void—my voice. Where did the blood come from? Did I cut myself?

What’s that, buddy? The murderous drunk laughed again. "Shit! You think you got it bad? Look at my fucking truck!"

I floated still, adrift in an endless gray ocean of broken thought, struggling to make sense of the fluid that drenched my hands.

It’s... it’s.... Oh, God, it’s Mom’s blood and brains.

The maddening, driveling voice, like a spear in my gut, stabbed me again. For Christ’s sake, kid, stop fucking around and give me a hand, will you!

Rage burned a red sheath over my eyes.

I stood and marched to the killer, who looked up with drunken eyes that meant nothing to me. They were evil. I focused instead on his neck, called up all that I’d learned in Master Komura’s martial arts classes over the previous ten years, and struck.

Though strong for a fifteen-year-old, my success rested on the fragile physiology of that small patch of neck. To crush his trachea required more precision than strength.

The slobbering murderer collapsed, clutched his ruined throat, and gasped for air that would not come. His eyes blazed in one final, sobering realization. They pleaded for mercy and begged an answer to the simplest question: Why?

It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.

Yet I had to make sure he understood. You rotten fuck! Did you think you could murder my mom and get away with it?

I shook under a roiling tremor, an earthquake of anger. I should have been crying for Mom. Why wasn’t I crying? Never had such fury engulfed me. I wanted to pummel him, again and again and again and again, as he lay helpless on the street.

What do you think now, you murdering sonuvabitch? Still feel like laughing it up? How about another drink, you miserable—

His empty eyes, free of remorse or guilt, unburdened in death, stared back at me.

I’d meted out justice—simple, swift, final.

Now I needed to... to.... I shook off the cobwebs as my neighbors gaped in stunned silence, turned to the right, and—

Oh God. Oh God.

My little brother, Alex, knelt at the edge of our driveway with a face painted in tears, confusion and terror. Just seven years old, he wept alone on the worst of all possible days. My feet were as tree stumps sprouting from the bottoms of my legs, as I shuffled over and crouched before him. All the while, his gaze shifted between Mom’s car and me, and he blinked through the tears no dam could contain.

He choked and sputtered, I... want my... mommy. Where’s Mommy? I... I... I want my mommy!

I could barely whisper, Me too. I want her too.

I wrapped my arms around him, and he hugged my neck as though he would fall to his death if he let go. Together we unleashed a tsunami of sorrow.

Another thought arrived through the haze: I killed a man. I’d thought nothing of it; I’d merely reacted. After witnessing the devastation of that horrible wreckage, the destruction of flesh and bone and tender love, I didn’t even care. Yet wrapped in my arms was someone for whom I cared deeply, someone who needed me more than ever.

I stared at my bloodstained hands and clenched my fists to still the shaking.

Oh shit! I killed a man.

It occurred to me that jail would likely be my next stop. Where would my little brother be then? What would be left of his family, his life? He’d witnessed—

Oh God. Hoopster watched me kill a man.

I clutched him to my chest. Forgive me, Alex. I’m sorry.

Return to June 6, 1995

Frozen forever in time at the age of thirty-six, Mom had given us light and wisdom, warmth and love, a path to guide our way. Who would be our rock now?

My childhood ended with her. What choice did I have? Was I ready?

It hardly mattered.

Law enforcement took rather a cursory glance at me, given both my young age and the circumstances of the event. A state-appointed psychiatrist determined that, in that moment of anguish, and in accordance with strict legal definitions, I was simply insane. Temporary insanity? Sure. Why not?

The psychiatrist thought so, and that was good enough for the judge. They declared me healthy and normal, and sent me home.

Ah yes, home.

Dad floundered and withdrew from Alex and me over the next few months. Our first holiday season without Mom, regrettably, left an indelible scar. The elephant, as they say, was not in the room; only its ghost remained. Mom’s absence nearly suffocated us.

Alex’s vacant brown eyes and perpetual frown, his continuous soft sigh and the musty smell of sweat and tears on his Scooby-Doo pajamas, the way his chin rested continually on his chest—these left me utterly heartbroken.

I could only pray that the dark Christmas of 1975 would slip into history as the worst I would ever experience. Surely, Dad, Alex and I would recover our happiness, our optimism, as our futures unfolded according to a new plan, albeit a motherless one.

That little executioner’s waltz I’d performed on the street in front of our house in August would no doubt be my last dance.

Little did I know: more monsters roamed the world than I’d ever imagined.

They weren’t finished with me.

Chapter 2 – June 6, 1995: Tony Hooper

Mitchell Norton, the man I’ve long considered the devil, smiles atop the courthouse steps and waves to the simmering crowd. He tilts his head back to soak in the sunshine and cool breeze of the late spring day, the tranquility of which stands in stark contrast to the circumstances of this event.

The mere sight of him pushes me to the dark edge of my mind, where sanity hangs like... like... like a balloon in a tornado!

I stand in shadow across the street, one amongst many in the crowd of curiosity-hounds gathered to watch a monster’s release. As my face blazes, fists clench and teeth grind, I can easily imagine the onset of a stroke, an aneurism, a pulmonary embolism, a raging scream—

Control yourself, Tony!

I long to charge across the street to destroy him—no remorse—as if stepping on a cockroach. Only sheer force of will prevents my doing so.

For seventeen years, I assumed this day would never come. How could they even consider releasing this vile creature, this very personification of evil?

In 1978, Norton murdered innocent kids who’d barely tasted of life. He tortured two of them beyond the limits of rational imagination, for to imagine such deeds was to summon a devilry that we dared not face. Yet the jury held him not responsible, a victim himself to the ravages of an illness that drove him to insanity beyond our reckoning.

He thus resides forever in the darkest pit of my psyche, chained to me in perpetuity. Now only two choices remain: I must cast off those chains, or yank them tight around his neck. Yes, I must obtain satisfaction. The idiotic jury seventeen years ago, and today’s flawed court system, has left little recourse. No one else seems willing to deliver him to justice.

I am willing. After all, this is what I do. It’s who I am. Indeed, the devil himself made me into this hunter of monsters. What a sweet twist of fate this is, that I may still, finally, administer justice.

He descends the stairs toward his waiting car with an arrogant swagger, watching the small group of protestors, the news reporters, and the police officers here to ensure a peaceful transition, as if to challenge them. His wicked grin never waivers.

Oh, that grin. For seventeen years it has taunted me, punished me for my indecision, my incompetence. I missed my chance to kill him in 1978, to remove his damned head—simple, as if cutting a sheet of paper. It would have been a fitting end for a monster.

Why did I let him live?

Like whispers in a storm, those memories only tease at me now, here at this obscene and maddening event. I’m trying not to relive every moment of 1978. Every time I do, I feel as if swimming in quicksand, anchored by my constant companions—sorrow and guilt. I’m too damned tired; can’t shake the confusion, the dread. I fear surrendering to fear.

My life teems with just such wretched ironies.

As Norton vanishes inside a black sedan—looks like standard-issue law enforcement—I dash through the crowds to my van. Despite this call to action, my mind again zeroes-in on memories of 1978. I recall the court proceedings, particularly the devil’s own twisted testimony, as though it were yesterday. I’ve only relived it ten thousand times.

Then twenty-six, Norton was a man-child who’d never quite grasped the nuance of adulthood. He continued to wash dishes at a restaurant, ten years into the only job he’d ever held. He found it comfortable and unchallenging—perfect. He harbored no great yearnings, nor imagined exciting possibilities, nor sought lucrative rewards.

Then everything changed. He said that was when his new life emerged, when he became more aware, even more intelligent. He better understood the world around him. He discovered what he called The Purpose in the spring of 1978, and it guided his every deed. He claimed he became a man that year.

I remember it quite clearly as the year he became the devil.

The words I wrote in my diary at the time return to me, a personal anthem more relevant than ever: Rage flows like lava through my veins. My soul slowly roasts upon the flames. How did I ever let it come to this?

Now mortality, as it did seventeen years ago, lingers above me like the hangman’s noose. Yet it looms more ominous than ever, as if it will drop down around my neck at any moment. After all, I know the true Mitchell Norton. And whom shall I fear if not the devil, the grim torturer who conquered my aspirations and left me without a recognizable world of my own?

Or is it me that I fear? The man I’ve become? The man Norton made me?

Some fancy maneuvering is required to escape the crowds and the police at the courthouse. I manage to keep Norton in sight, zigzagging between lanes and keeping several vehicles between us, hanging back far enough to avoid detection without losing him. Uncertain emotions bubble up, some indecipherable combination of dread and anticipation, fear and excitement, vengeance and sorrow. I must know where he’ll make his home, information that has been difficult to obtain, as the authorities are concerned with Norton’s security.

Give me a break! They should express their security concerns not for the devil himself, but for his next victims.

Oh yes, I know Norton too well. He will torture, murder and dismember again. The temptation will be too great to resist.

I saw him up close in 1978, looked into the soul of the devil, as we waded through the blood and gore he’d spilled. I couldn’t fathom his unrepentant pleasure, the sick thrill, his gleeful anticipation.

Now he’s out of prison, again free to call up his demons, to torture the innocent, to waltz to what he once called his symphony of screams.

The devil walks the world again.

What shall I do about it? Aye, what indeed.

PART 2

REBIRTH

Chapter 3 – April 20, 1978: Mitchell Norton

Where is this strange place? Am I flyin’ over it? What’s he gonna do to that woman? Who is he? Maybe the better question is; what is he? I ain’t no kid anymore, don’t believe in monsters under the bed or demons in the closet, but.... The way he’s lookin’ at me gives me the fuckin’ shivers. I think he... I ain’t sure, but... does he want me to watch?

The woman is lyin’ on a table—naked. I like that, sure enough, but I don’t think I like the rest of it. Her wide eyes never blink, and her body bounces up and down like she’s havin’ some kinda convulsions. Sweat pours down her face and her ratty hair looks like she ain’t washed it in a month. Somethin’ horrible is goin’ on, but fuck if I know what it is.

The demon, if that’s what he is, wheels a cart over next to the table. The cart holds a bunch of weapons and tools—knives, saws, drills, scalpels, hammers and clamps.

Is he gonna perform surgery on her? He ain’t no fuckin’ doctor. His leathery face, his black grin, his eyes like coals from a furnace, all point to.... Fuck! I don’t know, but whatever he’s gonna do, I’m pretty sure he ain’t plannin’ to use anesthesia. He’s droolin’ and lickin’ his chops.

He grabs a knife the size of my foot, looks up at me, and laughs. The woman screams in a high-pitched wail that pierces my ears like someone stuck a goddamn ice pick in my fuckin’ brain. He moves alongside her and raises the knife like he’s—

Wait! What are you doin’? I yell as loud as I can, but he ignores me.

He grabs her wrist and lashes down with the knife, and she screams again as blood spurts onto the floor. He turns to me, holdin’ something up in his hands. It’s hard to see, but I think it could be a—

My God, why did you do that?

He roars with laughter and tosses her finger off to the side like so much trash, and walks around to the other side of the table. His eyes blaze and he smiles, exposin’ long teeth that end in a point like icicles.

My head feels like someone is crushin’ it in a vice. I can’t believe this is happenin’. What is this place? Why can’t I get out? I gotta get help. I don’t wanna watch this, but I can’t seem to turn away.

Holy shit, he’s feelin’ up her tits! How can he do that after he—

Wait, what in hell is he doin’? He’s squeezin’ and pullin’ up with his right hand, and raisin’ the knife with his left hand, like—

Hey, what are you doin’? Stop! Stop, damn it! You can’t—

This fuckin’ house of horror ruptures in an endless, stabbing scream. Blood flies everywhere like a crimson swarm from hell. The demon’s gaze bores through me again, and drool drips from his dagger-like teeth as he raises his new trophy above his head.

He points his twisted finger at me. Soon, you’ll do this, Mitchell.

My blood freezes in my veins. I can’t move. I can’t speak.

If you refuse, I’ll put you on this table next.

God help me.

He reaches back with his right arm, like he’s on a baseball mound and windin’ up for his next pitch, but that ain’t no fuckin’ baseball in his hand. It’s his new trophy, the bloody remains of what was once so appealing and—

Here, Mitchell, catch!

I bolted up and looked around the dark room—my room, my bed—and could almost breathe again. The cold, soaked sheets turned my body into a shivering, chattering heap.

Why did the nightmares continue to assault me? Who was that demon, and why wouldn’t he leave me alone? I didn’t know but—

Fuck a rubber duck! What did he mean when he said I’d be doin’ that soon?

Chapter 4 – April 22, 1978: Tony Hooper

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck by the difference between what things are and what they might have been. ~ William Hazlitt

Sunlight glistened off the surface of the lake, still as a mirror, as the cloudless sky stood sentry. The spring morning harkened me back to childhood, when the blustery weather broke and we couldn’t wait to get outside to play tag, catch-one/catch-all, or Batman and Robin. I thought differently now, but those memories were no less vivid, no less uplifting.

A sheer, seventy-foot wall occupied the south end of the quarry, which had officially closed three decades ago. A narrow ledge wound down to a level spot less than two feet above the waterline, where Diana and I sat. The remarkably clear, spring-fed lake wafted a faint metallic aroma that reminded me of... I couldn’t place it—something that made my stomach clench.

The water swirled in ever-broadening circles around my feet, which were submerged in the reflection of my cheeks. I leaned farther over the ledge, came almost face-to-face with myself, as if the reflected me would provide some of the answers I so desperately sought.

Diana pulled me back to the moment. Be careful, she said. You’re liable to fall into the lake. The cool temperatures and bright sun had joined forces to paint her cheeks a rosy shade of unbearably cute.

I leaned back and let the sun work its springtime magic. The season was supposed to inspire rebirth, renewal, grand dreams and revived hopes—at least according to much of the poetry I read. I aspired to such promises, yet couldn’t escape the relentless melancholy. Nothing new there.

It had built throughout the winter, as if I’d been buried in an avalanche. Each time I’d dug away three inches of snow, four new inches sealed my frozen tomb.

Shit! Don’t be so melodramatic all the time, Tony. Focus on Diana.

The extraordinary Miss Gregario, perhaps the future Mrs. Hooper, dominated my thoughts. We’d met at our dads’ company picnic the previous Fourth of July; they were accountants with the same firm. I’d seen her around school before then, but we hadn’t actually met prior to the picnic. I’d surprised myself when I mustered the courage to ask her out, as I tended to be shy about such matters. I’d bumbled my way through it with a tongue twisted into nervous paralysis, made a complete fool of myself, and she accepted!

Whenever I contemplated the prospect of life without her, I wanted to vomit. We fit together. I told her I was the night and she was the stars, and that she brought an unimaginable light to my life. That made me a walking, talking cliché straight out of the classical novels I read but, what the hell, a little corny never killed anybody.

She was my first and only love, and when I departed for college in a few months, I’d leave her behind. Every time I pondered my future, platoons of emotions waged war within me. Even at that moment, the battle thundered in my chest and a wrenching lump bounced like a cannonball in my throat.

How will I—

Happy birthday, Baby, she said. "I still can’t believe you wanted to spend it here, although it is pretty."

I smiled, unsure how to broach the subject weighing me down.

"The big eighteen. Wow. So how does it feel to be a man? Well, in the eyes of the law, at any rate."

I snorted. Oh sure, and where have they been for the last three years?

I didn’t mean to take out my frustration on her. She knew that, and took it in stride. Hell, she knew me better than I knew myself.

In one of my customary fits of introspection, I’d wanted to go there to take measure of the moment, to examine my new manhood. I thought I might enjoy some time alone on my birthday. Perhaps enjoy was not the right word. No matter, for Diana would hear none of it. She’d insisted that I spend the day with, as she put it, the most magnificent girlfriend the world has ever known.

I couldn’t argue with the magnificent part, and it was apparently some kind of unwritten law that she must share the big day with me. I didn’t know which was funnier: her words, her goofy smile and Groucho Marx eyebrow shuffle, or the ridiculous way she’d curtsied.

She squeezed my hand until I looked at her again. You’re having another one of your moments, aren’t you? Pondering the changes coming up, contemplating the meaning of life, the expanse of the universe, the—

"I love this place, especially in summer. We weren’t dating long enough last summer to come out here, but I think you’ll like it. This is the hotspot."

What does everybody do here? Besides swim, of course.

You name it, somebody does it here. We bring food and pop, maybe a few beers—make a day of it.

That sounds like fun.

Some of the kids smoke like chimneys out here, or do drugs.

Yuck!

Don’t worry. We’ll stay away from that stuff. I loved that we shared those values. Then, of course, there’s the skinny-dipping and the sex.

Oh my! I’ll have you know that I’m a lady, sir. I’m no exhibitionist. She leaned in and kissed me. Except with you.

She skipped her usual seductive playfulness and leaned back. She knew I wasn’t in that place, that frame of mind.

She laid her head on my shoulder. Don’t you guys ever worry about your parents catching you?

Nah, they don’t come here.

I didn’t know if this place was such a big secret, or if the older folks just didn’t want to deal with the half-mile hike through the brush and trees to get there from the nearest street. At any rate, they didn’t bother us, which made it a popular escape spot for teenagers.

This figured to be my last summer here, and I could hardly look at Diana for fear my emotions would get away from me. She wisely refrained from dangling her feet in the lake, but I couldn’t resist. The early spring water chilled my toes into dead stumps, even as the noon sun baked my face. I loved the contrast: perfect metaphors for the forces pushing and pulling at me those days.

She sighed and placed her hand on my chest. Summer will be here before we know it.

It’s time.

I maintained a light tone. Yeah, feels like I’ve been waiting forever to graduate. Then I get to have one last carefree summer before....

She squeezed my hand again. She was a year behind me, a junior.

Her voice thickened. You’re supposed to be happy, you know. It’s a big event, a fun time.

I know.

But....

I know I’m supposed to feel excited about college, about my freedom, about a whole new world full of potential and adventure. Part of me... hell, I can’t wait to see it. I’ve earned it!

But....

I hardly know where to begin. I pulled my hand from hers and laid my arm around her shoulders. For one thing, I’ve been taking care of Alex for three years. He’s my Shadow, and he doesn’t have anyone else.

What about your dad?

I huffed and almost laughed.

Alex was a bright kid, enthusiastic and determined—my little man. I often told him he was a grown-up trapped in a kid’s body. He loved that. I liked it too, although I knew better. He may have acted older, but he was just ten years old. The way he followed me around, I often worried that people would think I had him on a leash. It irritated the hell out of me.

Well, it did. Until Mom died.

Somewhere along the way, I’d become more than his big brother; I was his best buddy, hero and idol. I’d never meant for such a thing to happen, but no sense in denying it.

I stared down at the water. I don’t know what to do about Alex. Dad wants to be a good father, but since Mom died, he’s been way out of his element. He escapes in his work. He’s more comfortable there than at home, dealing with two kids by himself. Not exactly father of the year.

She admonished me with a stunned expression.

I know, I know. I hate to say such a thing about my own father, but I can’t help it. You haven’t seen the real Hank Hooper over the last three years. Trust me, if I walk away from Alex, I’ll be leaving him largely to his own devices.

I longed for the simpler, carefree days unencumbered by the baggage of adulthood: the expectations, the worries, the pressures. I wanted to ride my bike on sunny days, play baseball all day long at the park, or teach Alex the finer points of basketball. I yearned for the simple distraction of my baseball card collection, or to crank up the stereo and sing along, pretending to the throne of stardom. I rarely did those things anymore—too old for that stuff, anyway.

Shit! It’s not fair. I hated whining, especially when it was my own voice.

My mother, in dying; my father, in retreating; my brother, in needing: each had conspired to take from me a sizable chunk of that which I could never regain: my childhood.

Bluch! I gazed once more into the water, and my own reflection mocked me. What right did I have to wax in self-pity and selfish examination of events over which I had so little control, yet over which I was willing to assign so much blame?

The look on Diana’s face drove a stake in my heart.

I squeezed her tighter, and almost lost my words in the depths of her scent. And what shall I do about you? How in the world am I supposed to live without you?

It’s only for a year, and you’ll be able to come home for the holidays. Her unsteady voice belied her optimistic reassurances.

A year is a long time.

She kissed me on the ear. We’ll make it.

The frigid water numbed my feet. The endless questions without answers numbed my mind.

I’d always viewed the world through what my mom had called my looking glass. Why must it be so cloudy, so fragile? Why must I wallow in that melancholy introspection all the time? Perhaps Mom had been right: I read too much; I thought too much; I too often lost myself in deep contemplation. She’d once claimed that when Rodin created his famous sculpture, Le Penseur, he must have had me in mind.

I’d have loved to talk to her about it. God, I missed her.

I should have just goofed off like the other kids, and had fun. I should have stopped playing Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.

Shit! More melodrama? Knock it off and relax, already.

Chapter 5 – May 3, 1978: Mitchell Norton

I never understood why people worried about dreams. I’d dreamt my whole life—everyone did—but I never could remember any of the details. Until recently, that was. All of a sudden, I couldn’t think about nothing else—terrible, horrifying nightmares. It turned out that not being able to remember dreams weren’t such a bad thing.

They might’a been more like visions—hard to tell. I’d go to this place in my dreams, a realm filled with unimaginable suffering. That’s what the demon that lived there called it. He said he was preparing to impose evil upon the earth, and that he’d arrive on the wings of agony and the roar of death.

Yeah, whatever the fuck that meant.

Nobody else strolled in the park. It weren’t exactly a park, just a little grassy area with a walkway and a few benches—didn’t even have a name. I liked to dangle my fingers in the river and think about stuff, although.... Phew! That weren’t no rose garden. More like a pile of wet leaves baking in the sun, maybe a dead skunk flattened alongside the road, or our septic tank that had overflowed last August. More like all three, mixed into a vile liquid called the Fox River.

I rubbed my fingers on my pants. I can’t believe people swim in this shit!

At least the bench was comfortable, the sun that perfect blast of springtime warm. This was the best time of year.

Man, I’m so fuckin’ tired.

I was still recovering from last night, like someone had beaten the ever-livin’ shit outta me while I slept—typical, pretty much a daily occurrence. Amazing I didn’t have any bruises, the way I felt. And my head! This weren’t no little headache, this eye-popping, paralyzing, someone-parked-a-Mack-truck-on-my-fuckin’-skull headache.

I rested my head on the back of the bench and closed my eyes. I could almost see the sun right through my eyelids, a reddish-gold weave.

Man, I’m so fuckin’ tired. I should....

My whole body shivers as an army of goosebumps marches up and down my skin. I could swear the river, the Beast, has reached up and clutched me by the throat.

Yes, I know you are the Beast. I saw it in my dream last night. The voice told me you would be important to me. I used to think you were just a river, but I’m beginnin’ to understand. I now see everything differently.

Maybe I see life correctly for the first time, shedding at last the timid,

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