The Lagoona Lighthouse

I was outside perched on what little dock there was on my station. The light was illuminating the empty green sea water. The winds were the best sign of the coming winter month chilling what little exposed skin I happened to have. A hat pulled all the way down and a scarf wrapped so much around my face that it only had a slit revealing the world beyond my nose.

The only reason I was even out here was to pass the time and all the paint inside the house had dried. It wasn’t much warmer. I heard a crash of a thunderclap before I saw the flashing lights or the trickle of warning rain that usually comes with. I slowly packed up and started to head inside. I was pelted by the beginnings of a hailstorm before I made it unhurried through the door.

More crashing thunder hit a little closer to the house. I couldn’t tell if it hit the water or land from inside. I guess I was safe within the building. Dropping my fishing gear off fruitless within the pantry in the kitchen area I decided to head under where the droning diesel engine would be running powering the light. I was going to check the pump to make sure it wouldn’t let everything flood.

Climbing down the rusted metal stairs in the dimly lit room the one bulb was swaying leaving dancing shadows all over the walls. The yellow tint of the light glared off the dials that barely worked. I smacked one that measured its compression and ran it through a dry test to make sure it would at least turn on. It created a strain on the diesel engine when I engaged it without actually activating the pump. I decided to leave it primed and left the room.

I started up the stairwell and I could hear the hail pounding away at the stone walls of the tower. It was starting to come down harder though it didn’t fill me with a sense of urgency yet.

I pulled the hatch down and pulled myself through. I always had my eyes closed until I could get my bearings so I didn’t accidentally blind myself walking into the lit room. Even though there was a shield that was there to keep me from looking right at it. Sometimes if my eyes didn’t get time to adjust through my eyelids I would be useless for a while.

I felt my eyes adjust like they have many times before. I looked out to the seas to see how rough the waves were. It was a good indicator for me. I never received formal training on the weather. Just what to do if things around here broke. And that if the water backs away from the shore without returning it is more than likely to be too late for me.

It was rough. Parts of the lighthouse itself were doused in the waves. I flipped a switch that would start the pump from here. Something I was thankful for so I wouldn’t have to make multiple trips through those stairs. Walking them twice a day was bad enough sometimes. It was rough on my knees and a few of the steps along the way were needing replacement but I was never given the supplies for it.

I walked out to the edge of the glass and stared out and saw the returning flashes of a lost tug boat or something off in the distance. It was almost as if through divine rights that a bolt of lighting struck the tower and exploded the lightbulb sending shards of glass everywhere. I was blinded by both the light and searing pains sent through from the larger shards that made their way through my coat. They weren’t deep from what I could tell but they were something I couldn't worry about right now.

I reached in with my gloved hands and started to twist the housing of the bulb doing my best not to touch the wires. It would kill or put me out long enough to make the attempt not worth it. Tossing the broken housing aside I looked out to the sea to see how close they had come. To close for comfort. I needed to act faster.

I flipped the switch to cut the power on the way to the box with the spare bulbs. I opened the box containing the full working light bulb. It was reinspected last week to make sure it would work. I was meticulous about it. A shame I was dripping blood onto it. This wound was bad and I needed to get it looked at. By someone who was more of a professional than I. Though I needed to do what I could in the meantime. Those people on the boat needed to know where I was in case they didn’t see the light on the first few passes. I barely noticed them when they crested the wave they were on.

I placed the bulb as carefully as I could. Safer than being rushed. Having to get another bulb from below would more than likely mean their death. I made sure the bulb was firmly planted before I walked over to the switch and pulled it with all my might. I wanted to feel like it was with the strength that I had within. More than likely it was with my collapsing body pulling it down as I fell.

The only relief that I had was hearing the bulb flash to life as the blinding light shined towards the horizon. It was soon washed away by what I first thought was another lightning clap. Though I wouldn’t expect to see the flashing light over the bulb it kept roaring on. I pulled myself to my feet and peered over. I was too late. The boat had cleared out the deck and run aground beached on the shore. I had to rush to their aid and help where I could. Maybe there would be someone who could help me with my bleeding.

I pulled out some quick clotting powder out of a first aid kit when I reached the bottom of the tower and poured it on over my coat and tried to place some closer to the actual wound from where I could reach. I rebundled and opened the door to the roaring winds fighting me to keep me indoors. As if it were trying to tell me that I was leaving the only safe place I could expect to be. That I was doing something wrong.

After bursting out the door I pushed against the wind as if it was just one last attempt to tell me to head back. I could see figures standing on an untouched pier. It didn’t alarm me at first but only as I got closer. The light might have been tricking me. That or the blood loss. The boat was still run aground but I could have sworn the pier was swept up in its crash.

As I got closer I could tell the figures were hooded and robbed. Not dressed for the weather. The wind I was fighting against was also tearing away at their robes revealing bear skin to be bitten by the cold.

“Do you need help?!?” I shouted at them. I tried to be louder than the whirling winds and occasional thunder cracks.

I didn’t hear them until I got close enough I could put a hand on one. I could only hear him say. “We are here for the sacrifice.”

“The what???” was all I could get out. And even so just barely. A knife landed in my stomach through my thick coats and the others grabbed me and threw me over the edge of the pier.

I tried swimming. I tried fighting it. I already couldn’t breathe. Though I didn’t feel like I needed to take a breath. I felt weightless in the water that seemed to be the temperature of my skin. I saw one last pass of the light above before the light below drew me in. The sea was starting to fill with reds and yellows.

Why am I here? Was what I thought.

To feed my hunger. Was what I heard in my head thundering through my head.

Turning around in my weightless state I saw it drawing closer. An amorphous blob shrouded mostly in shadow. I could only make out that there were hundreds of outstretched hands looking and probing for things to grab. Gapping eyes ever searching though seeming to not lock onto anything of interest. I kept drawing myself closer.

There was nothing I could do to fight against it. The hands when I was finally in range grabbed onto me pulling me in. They were warm to the touch. Slowly more and more pulled on me gently. I accepted this entity if only for the comfort it brought me in my last moments alone. I have joined this being and everything or everyone that it has brought with its journeys. I will never be alone with my own thoughts. I will never know ‘self’. I will never know what it would be like to not have someone to talk to. I was now a part of something much larger than I am. And we wanted more.