Darrell's Dark Dreams

By Darrell B Nelson

All of us have demons that live in the deepest parts of our mind. My demons are the the type that your demons will pay money to read about. The stories in this book are best described by a reviewer who said, “The author needs serious (mental) help!”
These tales are both creepy and thought provoking. Fast paced and entertaining.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Darrell B Nelson
• Release date: May 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311373694

Darrell B Nelson

Darrell B. Nelson is a former Securities Broker and Insurance Agent who has decided to use the total meltdown of his former industry, and the total destruction of any illusions of personal financial security the meltdown caused, as an opportunity to pursue a writing career. His passion for writing was encouraged at a young age by his his mother, who would read to him every night. Fueling his dreams in ways only books can. As he got older she took him to the library every week. Letting his imagination soar. While other children his age were dealing with where they were and what they were doing, he was flying through space helping to build Asimov's Foundation, Make way for Clarke's Star Child, or living on Bova's Selene. Needless to say, he tripped over things a lot. When he started writing he knew in the future his works would be of great importance, as time travelers arrived and started watching his every move. Or, maybe they were cats, wondering if he would pet them and rub their ears. Time Travelers have whiskers and like to curl up in your lap, right? In his free time he likes to hang out on Facebook, marveling at how far we've come since the time of the Egyptians who would worship cats and write on walls.

Book preview

DARRELL'S DARK DREAMS

(Smashwords Edition)

All of us have demons that live in the deepest parts of our mind. My demons are the the type that your demons will pay money to read about. The stories in this book are best described by a reviewer who said, The author needs serious (mental) help!

These tales are both creepy and thought provoking. Fast paced and entertaining.

Most of these stories are available free across the Internet. I included three brand new stories and a work of flash fiction that was runner-up in a flash fiction contest.

THE FOLLOWING IS A WORK OF FICTION:

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living, dead, or undead, in this dimension or any other, is purely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

A tale about a man's most interesting meal.

ME & M-SELF

Richard has lived with an inner demon all his life. Jack wants to kill that demon.

THE ADJUSTER

A man will do anything to make a better world for his children.

A HOME TO DIE FOR

The darker side of DYI home improvement.

THE TELL TALE ORGASM

A tribute to Edgar Allen Poe.

REPOSSESSING SANITY

Doug made a deal with the devil for his sanity, now the devil has come to Repossess.

I KILLED THE MAN THAT WASN'T THERE

Ken finds a creative way to take revenge on his business partner.

I NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU

A childish prank dooms humanity into slavery.

CONJUNCTION

Explorers on Mars are out of contact with Earth for two-weeks. But are they out of their minds as well?

CURSED SHIP

Is the Moon Shuttle cursed? Or is there something else going on?

WHY DOES JIMMY HATE PIZZA?

A cautionary tale of why you shouldn't play with your food.

OTHER WORKS BY DARRELL B. NELSON

Please check out these other works.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A little bit of my history.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

You promised me information if I agreed to have dinner with you, Peter. Agent Mangono put down the Vera Wang flatware that was worth more than his week's salary. All night you've talked of everything else. Now, I must ask that you share the information I came here for.

All in due time. I'll gladly discuss the 'Missing Martinezes' case after the main course. Peter's cold blue eyes focused on Mangono's plate. You've hardly touched the steak I worked so hard on. Just nibbled the potatoes.

I'm afraid it's a little bloody for my tastes. Mangono saw Peter's small grin. You find that funny?

Considering your line of work, yes.

For the last few months, I've been on Missing Persons, not bodies. Mangono shared Peter's grin. Even before I joined the Bureau I avoided steaks that were bloody.

Taste is a highly individual matter. I find it funny you called it, 'Bloody'. That is a common mistake. In order to cook a steak properly most of the blood has to be drained. What little hemoglobin is left is destroyed even at low heat. The red liquid in a steak is really myoglobin proteins. When heated up to 135 degrees, they are pulled back into the center nicely cooking the steak, while leaving just a touch of the original texture.

I don't doubt your expertise as a chef, I just prefer my steaks well done.

In that case, nibble at the edge. For the first half inch it will be, 'a point' or in American terms medium. Peter said.

Mangono carefully sliced a sliver from the edge. After chewing and swallowing he wiped his mouth with his napkin. Happy?

Quite, I hate to see good meat go to waste. After all, you are what you eat. Peter put his silverware down on his plate. Now, you had some questions.

You had said you had information about the 'Missing Martinezes' case. Mangono's eyes focused on Peter's face for any reaction.

Peter kept his relaxed smile. Oh yes, that's the case you believe I'm responsible for, isn't it? Twenty-five females all with the last name Martinez missing.

And you were in each of the victims hometowns at the time of their disappearance.

I find the profile of the victims most interesting. Did you know most of history's tyrants come from mothers who are poor, under the age of thirty, highly religious and mostly unwed at the time of conception? Peter said.

I didn't know that fact, but that was a common connection of the victims. Poor, early stage pregnancy, unwed and religious. But tying that to tyrants and dictators is quite the stretch. I also don't see the relevance. Mangono said.

Narrowing down who will turn into a tyrant's mother would be an impossible task. Unless someone had another reference point. Like the mother's maiden name.

Except that would be impossible to get. Mangono shook his head. If you knew that, you could just say, 'hey lady your child will be a tyrant. Don't have a kid.'

I'm sure you've heard of the old question. If you could go back in time, would you kill Hitler?

Of course, it's a temporal paradox. If the time traveler were successful, preventing World War II and the holocaust, he would have no reason to travel back in time to kill Hitler. Mangono said.

Putting aside temporal paradoxes. What if you could in fact kill Hitler, but you lacked information on his early years? If you killed him after he started rising to power, you would create a martyr. Making things as bad or worse. Would you follow the Cheney doctrine, 'If there is a 1% possibility of mass destruction, you must treat it as a certainty'?

I'll play your hypothetical game. Mangono stole a glance at his napkin then back to return Peter's gaze. After all without hypotheses to test there is no progress. Killing an innocent person, or ninety-nine of them, is still murder even if you kill one guilty person.

Speaking of murder. You are convinced the missing girls were murdered. But no bodies have been found?

Yes, it could be the killer was very rich. Mangono looked around the dining room of Peter's Mansion. He could have powerful lawyers that keep us from searching his Estate.

That's a possibility. Peter nodded. But, what if a time traveler was working on the Cheney doctrine? They narrowed down the mother of the person, who destroys all life on Earth, to twenty-eight women. They could use that time-machine to take the bodies to a time before they were born, making identification impossible.

"The problem with that, and this is a fairly big problem, is time travel is impossible. To quote Sherlock Holmes, 'when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' In detective work you first eliminate the impossible." Mangono reached for his napkin and saw Peter looking at his hand. He grabbed his glass of water instead.

Just like you, Sherlock Holmes prized his brain work above all else. However if you could engage me in what Einstein called a 'thought experiment' and say time travel is possible would that change how you look at the case?

Mangono hesitated. If time travel is possible, then everything changes. In fact, why limit the disappearances to a few weeks? A time traveler would have the victims entire childhood to work with.

What if someone became unstuck in time? But due to temporal limitations they could only act during the time the victims are pregnant.

Interesting limitation. Mangono nodded placing his right hand next to his napkin.

They could see that a woman with the name Martinez would give birth to the man who would destroy all life on Earth. They could also see the opposite future, where this man was never born and humanity goes into its greatest era. A future where all forms of poverty are wiped out. Research into ending human suffering is foremost. All diseases, including Alzheimer's are cured. Do you feel that person would be justified in using the Cheney doctrine to make that future come true?

I'd say that individual was delusional and using his visions to justify his actions. Mangono took a sip of water. I'd also wonder if he had early onset Alzheimer's, making his judgment suspect.

What if it was more personal? What if there were a hundred futures where the individual would lose the thing he prizes above all else, and one where he got everything he desired?

Mangono put down his glass. Better to be selfish than grandiose in your delusions?

So killing to save billions is cheapened if you are one of the ones saved? Peter smiled.

An interesting concept. Mangono moved his hand toward his napkin again and stopped when he saw Peter looking at his hand. I suppose, if that were the only motivation, it would.

So does it cheapen your motivation that if you solve this case you will be promoted? Not having to travel after your wife gives birth to your daughter.

If that were in fact my only motivation, I wouldn't have accepted your invite. I could easily pin this all on some poor transient. I could ignore a suspect whose lawyers could block my every move.

You're saying that you only accepted my invite, so you could look for any clues that might connect me to the missing women. I thought it was because my steaks are to die for. Peter sighed. But, you really hope to find a body, or at least parts of a body.

Mangono assumed his professional tone. By inviting me into your house, you have given implied permission to use anything I observe against you.

You even worked into your response that you were on duty. Making the permission even stronger. Peter paused to take a drink of Merlot. And I provided you with part of a human body, served up on a plate.

Mangono didn't flinch. You expect me to freak out because you turned me into a cannibal?

"No, I expected you to take a small piece of meat, hold it against the roof of your mouth and pretend to chew. Then discretely spit it into your napkin, leaving it on the side