The Lantern Keeper

Each night, by the sea, an old man carried his lantern along the shore. He said he was guiding the lost — not the living, but the ones who had forgotten how to rest.

Fishermen often saw strange lights following him far into the mist, and the sound of faint laughter echoing over the waves.

When a storm destroyed his hut, the townsfolk searched for him. They found only the lantern, still burning underwater.

The climax: Every year on the anniversary of his disappearance, the sea glows with hundreds of tiny lights drifting along the waves, as if souls are still following the keeper’s path — home at last.