Author's Note: Cornelius Van Waylin is a character that appeared in book 9 of the Left Behind: The Kids series. (The Search)
Cornelius Van Waylin and Maxwell Stahley were once really good friends. They went to the same high school, played on the same wrestling team, then got jobs in the same location after college. What caused their friendship to be destroyed? What turned them against each other?
When Nicolae Carpathia came to power, Van Waylin immediately showed respect for the leader. Carpathia seemed to know what he was doing. Maxwell seemed suspicious about Carpathia. Van Waylin knew that Maxwell's brother, Ken Stahley, had died after speaking out against Carpathia.
One day, Van Waylin was busy sending an e-mail to some important Global Community officials in Florida when he noticed Stahley looking at a website. Van Waylin came over to investigate.
"Information about Carpathia's evil intentions?", Van Waylin read from the website in disgust, clearly not believing a word on that website. "Tell me you're not trying to investigate Carpathia because you think he's the devil's spawn! You shouldn't be looking at that stuff."
"But doesn't any of Carpathia's activities cause you concern?", Maxwell asked. "He's taken almost all of the world's firepower and seems to be in control over much of the world. Plus, he clearly despises the Jesus lovers."
Van Waylin frowned. "Look, these people are dangerous. They would do anything to make Carpathia look bad. They're doing this to gain attention and money."
Van Waylin had hoped he had talked some sense into Maxwell. But later, Van Waylin discovered that Maxwell kept snooping through Global Community files. Cornelius didn't know why Maxwell doubted Carpathia. He was a man of peace. How could anyone think he was malignant or hostile?
Van Waylin knew that if Maxwell kept doing this, he would eventually have to report him. Van Waylin was tired of the moronic Christians slandering and criticizing Carpathia. Van Waylin also knew Tsion Ben-Judah had gained a lot of influence from his speeches in Israel.
Maxwell wouldn't stop snooping around. Van Waylin told him to stop looking, but Stahley wouldn't listen. Eventually World War III occurred. Maxwell threatened to report to the media that Carpathia and the Global Community were the perpetrators behind the bombings. Van Waylin knew the best way to keep Maxwell silent was blackmail. Van Waylin hired two kidnappers, Carl and Marty, to kidnap Darrion Stahley in exchange for her father's silence.
The plan seemed to be working as Cornelius watched the Stahley home. Cornelius was wearing a trench coat. Then the two idiots let Darrion escape. Now being tormented in hell, Cornelius wanted to find Carl and Marty and viciously attack them for being so careless. At the time, everything was falling apart.
Then luck seemed to turn in Cornelius's favor. Cornelius saw Darrion running near the L tracks in Chicago. Cornelius grabbed Darrion and dragged her with him.
Eventually Cornelius threw Darrion into his car. Cornelius noticed Maxwell watching him do this, along with two teenagers.
"Take care of him", Van Waylin snapped at Joe Murray, one of his Global Community co-workers.
"Yes, sir", said Murray. Van Waylin then took off in his car, with Darrion screaming in the backseat.
"Shut up, kid!", Van Waylin screamed. "Your daddy is dead. No one is coming to save you!"
"Stop this vehicle, you worthless piece of trash!", Darrion shouted at Van Waylin.
Van Waylin did his best to ignore Darrion as he drove her to sector four. When they reached the building, Van Waylin dragged Darrion to a room on the fifth floor and locked her inside.
"You can't break the glass", Van Waylin said as he locked Darrion inside.
Later Van Waylin saw Maxwell and a younger blonde boy walking inside the building through a window. Van Waylin decided to lure Stahley into a trap.
Maxwell eventually reached the fifth floor. He fired his gun at one of the walls. By this time Van Waylin had unlocked the door. Maxwell then found the room Darrion was being held in.
Van Waylin watched as Maxwell and Darrion hugged each other. Then Van Waylin pointed the gun at both of them as he locked the door again.
Maxwell tried smashing the glass, but with no success.
"It's no use", Van Waylin said triumphantly. "The glass is unbreakable. I have you both."
"You've failed", Mr. Stahley said.
"And how have I failed?" Van Waylin asked.
"My laptop", Mr. Stahley said. "If I don't disable it in the next five minutes, an E-mail is sent to every news organization in North America. I'm sure the information is something Mr. Carpathia would not want disseminated."
"Where is the computer?" Van Waylin said flatly.
"Release my daughter and I'll take you to it", Mr. Stahley said.
Van Waylin heard a loud crash of glass. Van Waylin wondered what had happened as he unlocked the door. Van Waylin saw the two teenagers that he had seen earlier with Maxwell. Van Waylin fired his weapon at the kids, but they dodged the bullet.
Then the door to the room that Darrion was in flew open. Van Waylin and Mr. Stahley faced each other. They were only two feet apart when they both fired their weapons at each other. Van Waylin died instantly as his body fell to the ground.
When Cornelius woke up, he saw the most awful sight. Ugly demons laughed as millions of people screamed. Cornelius tried to get away from the flames, but they were everywhere. The flames ripped right through his soul. Cornelius tried to think of some way to alleviate the pain, but it was impossible.
A demon approached and grabbed Cornelius. The demon snarled as he said, "You caused the suffering of others, endangered a young woman, and killed an innocent man. This is a special place for people like you."
Eleven other demons laughed as they grabbed Van Waylin and started attacking him. Van Waylin screamed as the demons put hot lava all around his face. Van Waylin tried to run away, but the demons were too strong for him. Poisonous snakes then arrived and wrapped themselves around Van Waylin. Van Waylin screamed as the snakes bit him. Then lava was shoved down Van Waylin's throat by the demons.
Van Waylin had a feeling that maybe he should have listened to Maxwell's warnings instead of ignoring him and scoffing at him. It was too late now.
Eternity in hell was an awful punishment, but Van Waylin brought this upon himself. Van Waylin brought this upon himself.