Paradise and Hell

By Wanda Jane

This book will keep you wondering who is controlling the main character Lucky. It has sex, hatred, killing, and so much more to keep the reader’s interest. From the humble beginning to the climax of a very powerful man. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it by any means necessary. You see a change in every moment of his life. Just

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Apr 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643454931

Wanda Jane

Wanda Jane Hill lives in rural Nova Scotia. It is a small mink ranching community and the backdrop for her fictional stories. She has mixed her life experiences with a creative imagination to create a world of corruption and evil. This is her first book and the beginning of a story that has taken on a life of its own.

Book preview

Contents

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 2: Las Vegas

Chapter 3: Back Home

Chapter 4: Taking Care Of Business

Chapter 5: New Girl Gone

Chapter 6: Saying Goodbye

Chapter 7: Everyday Living

Chapter 8: Farewell

Chapter 9: Happy Family

Chapter 10: Cold Month

Chapter 11: Pledge

Chapter 12: Holidays

Chapter 13: December 27

Chapter 14: Aftermath

Chapter 15: Invitation

Chapter 16: Dreams, Nightmares And A Wedding

Chapter 17: The Wedding Vows

Chapter 18: Pictures And Reception

Chapter 19: Live

Chapter 20: The Two Meetings

Chapter 21: The Party

Chapter 22: Poem Continues

Chapter 23: The Tenth Man

Chapter 24: Lucky’s End

Chapter 1

The Beginning

It was a dark and cold night in December, when a little five pound baby boy was born. When he took his first breath his young mother took her last.

The doctor and nuns looked at one another and wondered what they could do for this baby and his mother. They would have to find parents for the boy and contact the young girl’s family so she could be buried. They found out that the girl’s parents were Mr and Mrs Oscar Lane.

The doctor called Lucinda, Lucy Lane’s parents, and told them what had happened. He wanted to know if they would want the opportunity to raise their grandson. If they couldn’t he knew of a couple that would love to have him. The grandparents decided on letting the couple adopt him, it was best. They told them to get the papers in order and they would sign. All they could handle was burying their beautiful daughter who had gone astray.

So about an hour after this little one entered the world his adoptive parents, Dan and Claudia Cartwright, accompanied by their lawyer made their guardianship legal and binding. Their new bundle of joy, who they named Lucky, was now going home with his new loving parents. Everyone felt it the best option. The Cartwrights were so happy and yet felt it a shame that his mother had to die.

He grew up in a loving and God fearing home. Everything was normal; he was like all the other little boys. He loved playing with trucks, in mud puddles, and loved helping his father in the family business. Like many of the other families in this small urban village of Nova Scotia the Cartwright’s owned and operated a mink ranch, raising mink for use in Coats, hats and many other forms of clothing. Lucky thoroughly enjoyed spending this time with his busy father. He listened to every word he said and learned everything he had to teach him about the business.

His best friend as a child was a blond hair, blue eyed little girl. She always talked about God’s love and how things would be different in paradise, with the Lord God. Lucky didn’t know who this Lord God was but Sally worshipped him, he would try to, just so he could be close to her. Not a teenager yet, and not quite understanding the concept of love, he did not fully comprehend his feelings for her and yet believed he would one day be her husband. Every time he saw her his day shone a little bit brighter and his heart warmed like newly baked bread fresh from the oven.

At the age of twelve Lucky changed from this innocent little boy to the sapling of pure evil. His life’s path would forever be altered from beyond. He ventured to his families attic looking for a little trinket he had gotten from a machine in the mall. A ring, shimmering gold, plastic of course, with a fake diamond nestled in the middle. Beautiful he thought, perfect for the most beautiful girl he knew. He could already see the smile on her face as she wore the ring on her finger, outstretching her arm and fingers to get a good look. It took some time to build the courage, but by golly he was about to make the plunge. He was going to show Sally how he really felt about her.

As his eyes roamed the room his fingers dug through boxes and boxes of things. They were filled with papers, toys, and many ancient artifacts that must have been around with the sinking of the Titanic, to this small thought a smile strung itself across his face. His determination to find the ring remained constant, but as he searched on his curiosity of all these documents stored away from the world grew steadily. It became as if his desired to find something other than the ring. The adrenaline soared through his body as his pace slowly quickened to a frantic rummaging of papers and boxes. This search continued until his fingers grazed a small red Hilroy notebook. Its corners bent and the edge of its pages frayed, Lucky could tell it had been up here for quite some time. Not knowing why, his mind fell upon this small book. He became fascinated and began turning through the pages until his eyes fell upon a document nestled between two of the aging pieces of paper. Atop this official document stood out one word, a word he had never thought would become a part of his already fragile mind: Adoption Certification. Just by seeing this small pair of words Lucky’s world seemed to spin out of control. No, no I can’t be. This doesn’t make sense. He wanted it so much to be false, but in the back of his mind he knew it all along. He had noticed long before he had nothing in common with the people he called mom and dad. As his emotions shifted from self pity to anger a small mist arose from the floorboards of the attic. It became so hard to see he could barely see his hands held in front of his face and yet it appeared as if two eyes, shining like to burning embers materialized in the corner of the room. As Lucky sat transfixed on these two discerning balls of fire the temperature in his body seemed to drop. From the top of his head to the tip of his toes, every part of his body became engulfed in a freeze the likes he had never felt before. The sweat that had lathered his forehead while searching became ice. His mouth fell open and his eyes were locked onto that one little corner. Just as it felt like his chest was going to implode, like his heart was taking its final beat everything went black. His head spun, his body went stiff and he fell over. There he lay, like a corpse frozen in time. Time for him had stopped, his mind was the only thing functioning as thoughts race through his mind. Images from a past he never knew existed flashed by like a slide show. His mother giving birth and dying on the table. The doctors and nurses talking to one another and repeating the same phrase over and over again. This little bastard, if it wasn’t for him she’d still be alive. Next, his two parents, which now he knew only adopted him, appeared on the scene and spoke to the doctor. So how much money will we get for taking this waste of skin? We can’t do this for nothing. Whatever you’d like, we have to get rid of him. As he watched these horrific apparitions on the other side of the room, nestled in the corner, burned those two fiery eyes. They disappeared as soon as he noticed them and he felt the warmth enter back into his body. His eyes opened slowly as consciousness crept back. There he still lay on the floor of the attic, unsure of what just happened or what it really meant. All he did know for sure was that his so called parents never loved him. He got to his feet and peered over to the corner where the pair of eyes once burned. I can’t believe they lied to me, lied to me all this time. He turned his head and ventured down to his room. There he would drown his mind with music. He tuned his radio to the local rock station and sunk into his bed. The DJ, Brock Mason, announced the following song, he was exuberant when he loudly said The Rolling Stones with I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Boo Rah. The song rang out and sent a message to his ears. They’re absolutely right. Satisfaction is something I’ll never have." He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

From this discovery would blossom a hatred for almost everything and everyone. Lucky was not the sweet little boy he used to be. His life was altered and it didn’t take long for all those around him to notice. Other kids in the neighborhood caught him killing cats and rabbits, placing them in plastic bags and throwing them in the river, or hanging them on a clothes line paltering them with BB’s. This morbid transformation escalated from just hurting them, to killing them and finally to dismembering them, ripping them apart. His teachers, his grandparents, and his parents all noticed a constant rudeness develop. None were immune. He would disrespect his elders, right down to spitting in Mrs. Gaudette’s face. She deserved it, he explained to his parents. I’ve tried hard in her class and she tried telling me to pull up my bootstraps because I would fail French otherwise, screw her. Not sure how else to handle this rebelliousness they sent him to his room and the school suspended him for two days. Day after day and week after week this scenario would replay itself. Anyone that tried to get him to do anything he didn’t want to would in some way see a new low. Spitting, kicking, biting and even threatening death became common. The only person that was not subjected to his venom was the one person that held a place in his heart, little miss Sally Beck. No matter what she said or what she did. She could ask him for help and he would oblige.

As he got older he learned that using his anger could get him things he wanted. The rest of the kids were scared of him, they would do almost anything he asked, fearing the repercussions if they declined. A group of kids said no to him one time when he wanted them to attack a teacher that gave him an F on a test. For this lack of satisfaction each of them was visited by him through the night during the next week. He killed their animals and left threatening messages on their bedroom walls with their blood. Although they knew who it was they could not prove the allegations. When they persisted to try and muscle him he followed one from baseball practice and used his own bat to bash in his knees. He couldn’t walk for the following school year. Once again the allegations were not provable. Word got around and the rest of the school knew what he was capable of. Things became a lot easier for Lucky; no one else would turn him down. All through his days in school and the few extra curriculum activities he went into this fear trailed his every move. In the end he was an honor student full of ideas of the future. Sally, who remained close to him all through school, tried to divert his attention from his sinful ways, as she dubbed them, and turn to the Lord. She tried getting him to go to church with her, tried to get him to read the Bible, but his love for her could not convert him. Why would God kill his mother and make him a bastard child? These thoughts were constantly on his mind. Despite her belief he could always find it in himself to respect her beliefs and allow her to share with him. Not surprising she would attend Divinity College and graduate a Missionary, while he took the profession that best suit his character. He graduated from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a business degree. All through University Lucky felt the presence of someone or something. Halfway through his first semester the burning eyes reappeared in a dream. Sally was holding him in her arms and speaking the Bible just as she always did in her soft comforting voice when they immerged over her shoulder. There was no face, no mouth, just penetrating sockets filled with flames. They were void of feelings and vacant of life. As they peered into his eyes the words that Sally spoke turned from beautiful to a whaling cry. She was no longer reading from a book she was looking into the eyes and crying. As the scene became more and more real he woke with a sudden jolt. Sweat trickled down his cheek and dropped to his chest. His brow was saturated with sweat and his face burning. It was as if he had just walked through Tarturus itself. Off and on he would see these eyes again in his dreams until the last day of school. As he stood on stage, accepting his diploma, the eyes materialized from among the large crowd. As they called his name and walked to the Dean they turned from a light red to an even more sinister dark, blood red. They became filled with emotion, not of kindness, but a deep-seeded evil. The ceremony passed and everyone went on to celebrate their achievements. All the dorms were hosting different parties for those interested. Not one to party Lucky was not going to go, but something opened inside, he had the urge to go to the Alpha Beta Pi party and enjoy himself. As he arrived and showed his school card to the gatekeeper he entered the frat house with a case of Blue under his right arm. With these by his side he’d be accepted at any party. All different colors of smoke filled the air. The smell of pot circulated the room and the sounds of Neil Young’s Ohio filled the air. As a large group danced to the lyrics Four dead in Ohio they passed a bottle of Gosling’s rum, swigging it down one at a time. For a moment it was as if the seventies had returned. The mood changed though in the blink of an eye