Lighthouse, Dark Sea
I’m peering over the bridge. The waves crash against the shore with a violent agenda. Ahead lies the endless sea. The edge of the world. Endless darkness. I look back down. I can faintly see my reflection in the water for a few seconds, before it is obliterated by the sea’s spasms.
The headlights flashed out of nowhere. The car sideways, her head smashing against the glass of the car. I held on to the wheel, my eyes locked on her. I don’t know where it came from. It just seemed to blink into existence. The light was red. This is all my fault. Everything that happens to us… I’m the one to answer for it. The compass flew off the dashboard, and out of sight.
I stepped over the rail and held on briefly. Just to take the moment it.
She’s stable now, so she’s in the clear. That being said, I… in my opinion, I don’t believe she will ever walk again. I’m so sorry, but we’ve done all we can.
I lift one foot over the endless, deathly dark. I release one hand.
It’s not your fault. I don’t need to forgive you, because I never blamed you in the first place. You just need to forgive yourself. You just need to let go.
I release my other hand, and tumble forward. The wind rushes through my hair, the sandy breeze grazes my face. It feels good. The sounds are soothing. I’m a few feet from the water now.
Let go.
I’m inches from the water.
The light was red. I collide with the wall of water and the wave’s crash over me.
Day 1
My eyes opened with shock, remembering that this isn’t where I fell asleep. It couldn’t be. I spat out the sand that that lined my mouth, and wiped the rest off my face. It burned my eyes. I tried my best to stand, but my muscles felt rubbery and broken. I lay there for a few moments, trying to make sense of it. I remembered falling asleep and… I realized that I didn’t remember. How? I tried with every fiber of my being, I searched everywhere within myself. But there wasn’t anything there. Just the empty dark. I again tried to stand. This time I managed to get to my knees, where I froze in a knelt position. I had seen what was in front of me. Endless blue waves, the scorching sun marking the end of the Earth. How? How could I be on an island?
This doesn’t make sense. I looked around. Behind me a massive forest of palms, flowers, and tall bushes. To my left the beach extended as far as the eye could see, and to the right the same. In front of me… endless ocean. I felt sick. I tried to stand, but my body was even weaker than when I woke up. I fell back down to the ground and darkness swallowed me.
…
My eyes slowly opened again. I found (to my dismay) that I couldn’t see anything. I blinked a few times. Now I could see small specks of light in the darkness. The stars were beautiful, almost making my problems drift away. I sat up, feeling far stronger than before. I looked out, and could only see small ripples of shadow where the sea used to be. The sound was there though, the gentle shake of the waves crashing to land. There was still remembering nothing, but at the moment, I almost felt… calm. It didn’t last.
It was interrupted by a faint rustling behind me. I rolled quickly in the sand, hoping to spot whatever disturbed the leaves. Another person? Please… I need help. Wait… what if it isn’t a person. It could be an animal. Some kind of predator! Oh god, I’m stuck on this beach with a tiger! Do islands have tigers? I don’t want to know.
I waited a few moments, waiting to get mauled by what may or may not be a tiger. But it never happened. I breathed a sigh of heavy relief and turned back to the sea. I screamed. Not a girly scream, it was manly. More like a battle cry even. I found a shadowy figure before me. If there even was one. Behind was the black backdrop of the waves, so I couldn’t be sure. But it looked like the outline of a man. I was going to dismiss it as an illusion, but then it spoke.
I’d wager you’re feeling confused. I’m sorry this happened to you, I truly am, but- My mouth quivered. I tried to speak, but the words caught in my throat. I swallowed.
“Where am I?”
His face was barely visible, but I could still read the annoyance.
You aren’t anywhere.
“That’s impossible. I’m on an island, so certainly I’m somewhere. I mean where am I, geographically.”
Geographically you are nowhere.
“I’ve had a pretty crappy day. Can we not play word games? Just answer my question.”
I don’t know what you want from me. I answered your question.
“Fine. Then how do I get not ‘nowhere’?”
You can’t.
I waved my hand.
“Man… just forget it. Go!”
Alright. If that’s what you want. See you tomorrow.
“Wait… what do you mean?”
A beam of light swung around, piercing the darkness and removed the shadow from my view. When the light disappeared, so did the silhouette.
I sat there until daylight. The experience was beyond comprehension. So was the fact that I still didn’t wake up. I decided it was best to get up and start finding a way off the island.
Probably should have done that the second I woke up. I don’t like anything about this. So I made
my way into the forest.
Day 2
The forest was much bigger than it looked from the beach. I regretted going in only a few moments after I left the beach. Now it was too late. I couldn’t tell where I came from, or where I was going. Just palm after palm, flower after flower, bush after bush. A bird of paradise is beautiful the first time you see it. But this was about the 6th time for me, and the novelty had worn off. But I kept walking. I realized that my t-shirt had multiple holes, which made me even angrier than before. That was my favorite shirt. I didn’t consider at the time how I managed to remember that, but I did. And my pants were still soggy and were chafing in the nether regions.
What was most strange though is that I only had one shoe. Where was the other shoe? I didn’t remember. Because I still didn’t remember anything. But I did remember that shadow though. Its voice was raspy, but it wasn’t evil sounding or anything. It was just… odd. I was still trying to piece everything together, but I figured I needed to keep walking, if nothing else just to keep myself busy.
After an hour or so of walking, I thought I heard something. A soothing voice, but it sounds kind of… sad? No, not really. Lonely? Yeah. That’s it. It was deeper in the forest, but it was worth it if it meant people. As I got closer, I realized it was a woman a singing. I wasn’t sure what she was singing, but to this day, I still remember the words though.
I’ve swam a million miles, I’ve traveled every sea. Yet every time I am alone, I never feel
free.
Even in the brightest days, the sky is too dark for me. Even in the clearest water, I still struggle to see.
When I am alone I’m drowning, but together we float free, so I pray each day you will wake, and you may rescue me.
Then I saw her. Red hair. Green eyes.
“Save me.” Then she faded away into the sound of the woman’s voice.
The voice, like the sea and the stars, put me in a trance, making me forget all of my worries. Yes, even the fact I was an amnesiac on a god forsaken island. But I found myself inching forward. I could hear running water. I parted the bushes in front of me, and saw her, swimming not 40 feet from where I stood. She had the brightest hair you could imagine, not gold, but so light yellow it was almost silver, and eyes so blue I could see them from where I was standing. They seemed to produce a light of their own. Much to my surprise, she also seemed to be naked. Umm… should I say anything? How would I begin my conversation? Should I keep my eyes closed? Then again, if she was that worried, why isn’t she wearing anything… what if she asks my name? I can’t tell her I don’t remember. I’ll look crazy. And like an idiot. What if I AM crazy? I wonder if she likes crazy. Some women like crazy guys, maybe she’ll just think I’m “quirky”.
I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts, I didn’t notice that she had stopped singing, swimming, and was in fact staring at me right now.
“Hey! Why are you standing there like that?”
I looked like a statue. I couldn’t move. Oh god. What do I do?
“You’re the only person I’ve seen in a long time, so I hope you aren’t brain dead.”
I looked down at her, and thought of an “articulate” thing to say.
“Uuuhhh… he-hello.”
“Are you going to stay up there all day or are you going to come down here and talk to me?”
“No. I mean umm... not ‘no’ I won’t talk to you, ‘no’ I’m coming down.”
“Well then… no time like the present. Come on, if you can manage.”
All in all, I’d say it went terribly. It was like I’ve never spoken to a woman before.
I worked my way down the hill, and had to mind the rocks, they seemed rather hard and sharp, and didn’t want my first impression to be her picking pieces of my brain off of rocky ground. I found a rock right by the pool. It was being fed by a waterfall.
“Don’t sit down. Come in!”
I shot up quicker than I meant to, which was met with a confused jerk of her head. Regardless, she disappeared into the waterfall and into the cave. My footing was uneasy as I balanced on the rocks that lead into the cave. The last thing I needed was more wet clothing.
The inside of the cave was quite beautiful. The water left dancing lines across the walls, the sound of water crashing against water was a calming, a delightful foil to the sharp movements of the water’s reflection. While the cave was by no means massive, it could comfortably seat (or float, I guess) half a dozen people, with half a dozen more sitting on the rocky outcroppings.
The woman surfaced, and I was once again attempting to find a place to sit. I found the most uncomfortable rock humanly possible. It jutted straight into my spine, and a jagged piece of rock found a way to lodge its way uncomfortably into my thigh. I wasn’t moving again though. I looked like enough of a moron.
“So… what is your name?”
Such a simple question, yet one I couldn’t provide an answer to.
“I uh… I really don’t know.”
She looked at me like I just ripped my pants tying a shoe, in front of everyone, in broad daylight: with amusement, curiosity, and pity. Probably in that order.
“No, I… I’m not crazy. I think. I just woke up yesterday on this island. I don’t know who
I am, or how I got here. But I talked to some weird… shadowy… THING.”
I let out a long sigh, thinking that I had just bought a one way ticket to the asylum.
“I know how it sounds… bu-“
Her eyes widened. She nodded in approval.
“I believe you. I see him too. I’ve been here for years. He is the only thing on this island that keeps me from feeling alone.”
As she was talking, I noticed something scaly swim behind her. I leapt back in surprise.
“Are there fish in this water?”
“No. Why?”
“I saw something move. It looked like a fish.”
“Oh! That’s just my tail.”
Uhh…
“Your… what?”
“My tail. How I swim. I’m a Siren.”
I give her points for bluntness, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I found out that I was talking to a freakin’ mermaid. She didn’t seem to understand my confusion though.
“Is that unusual to you? Don’t you have Sirens where you come from?”
“Not really no. I mean… there are Sirens and mermaids in books and movies and stuff… but they aren’t, well… they aren’t real.”
I realized how that sounded, but what else could I say?
“Well, I don’t know what ‘movies’ are, but I’m certainly not a mermaid. Those creatures are horrible. People say that we are the mean ones, trying to drown people with our singing and all, but we don’t. It’s the mermaids that eat people. We just sing, and a sometimes people get
distracted. Not our faults.”
“I believe you.”
“Must be strange seeing me then? If you haven’t seen a Siren before.”
“It is. But I’ve seen and felt some strange things in the past few hours alone. A Siren is just another brick in the wall for me.”
“What wall?”
“It isn’t an actual- you know, never mind. That’s not important. What is important is how
I get off this island.”
Her expression changed from that grinning curiosity to distant.
“You can’t.”
There has to be some way. I got here. So I must be able to leave.
“I’ve got to. How can I get here and not leave?”
“Because ‘here’ doesn’t exist. I can’t really explain it well but… this island isn’t necessarily ‘real”.
“Wha- what do you mean?”
“It is technically real. It just… doesn’t exist in the same place as everything else. This place is really, REALLY old. There used to be all kinds of things here. Over time though, it changed. All of the others I knew died. All the creatures, the people… just… gone. I was planning on leaving once the others died, but I could never manage to do it. When I finally tried a few days ago, the underwater tunnel became blocked, and now I can’t leave. I asked Shade how to leave, but he just said, ‘walk’. And I can’t. Obviously.”
“Shade? Is he the shadowy, creepy guy?” “Yes. At least that’s what he calls himself.”
“So you can’t walk ever? Can you be carried?”
“It’s not that I can’t have legs, it’s just that once I touch the ground, I will never be able to swim again. My tail will be gone forever. And I don’t know if I can do that. Not after everything else I’ve lost.”
I couldn’t help but feel bad. I knew I had just met her, but somehow when I first saw her I felt kind of… connected to her. I know that sounds strange. Technically, it all sounds strange.
But I didn’t want to say that. So instead I asked her something else.
“I might not know mine, but do you at least know your name?”
“Of course. Adara.”
Time seemed to freeze. It felt like a burst of electricity in my head. Like I was about to be sucked into a void. Suddenly I saw her. Not the Siren. The woman from the forest. She was sitting in a chair next to me. I was in our house. I guess.
Stop blaming yourself! That wasn’t your fault. It was nobody’s fault. An accident. You used to be one of the happiest, funniest guys that I had ever met, and now you can’t even speak to anyone… not even me. You need to let go. Or you’re gonna be alone. You don’t deserve that.
I was suddenly cast out of the vision. Like my mind had been thrown back into my body.
Adara didn’t seem to notice. So I just continued, and tried my best to hide my confusion.
“Adara. Tha-that’s an odd name.”
“Maybe to you.”
“Umm… sure. Listen, I am just going to look around for a little while, see if I can figure out where I am. I’ll be back in a bit.”
She seemed frightened, but didn’t want to admit it.
“Oh- okay. Just don’t be too long. Alright?”
The red haired woman was about to walk out the door when I called to her.
“Don’t be gone too long, okay? I love you.”
“I love you too.”
…
3 hours of walking was almost a waste of time. All I had seen in my trip through my forest were trees, flowers, more trees, the oversized skeleton of some creature, and even more trees. I told myself I was just going to go back if I didn’t find something soon. But sure enough I did. A tiny house in the middle of the forest. It didn’t even look old. It was like someone had just built it yesterday. As I approached, I was hit with an aura of fear. I hadn’t really been all that afraid on the island, but at this point I almost couldn’t get any closer. I felt like I was being crushed and smothered at the same time. But I felt almost compelled to enter. It’s like when you are a kid, watching a horror movie. Your parents tell you to look away at certain parts, but instead it makes you want to look even more, even though you are afraid to. And so I did. The house was only one floor, almost like an apartment on the inside. All the rooms were bare down to the drywall, except for the office. Inside was Shade. He was sitting comfortably in a rocking chair, reading. One leg was crossed comfortably above the other. Next to him, a record player spinning out “La Mer.” He looked up at me, and I realized I could now see an outline of a face. It was a very faint outline, but I could see his lips part as he began to speak.
He arrives. In a talking mood, I hope.
“Should I be apologizing for my confusion? For not taking my amnesia in stride. Or maybe I should have been friendlier to the shadow demon who is currently reading- what?”
The Odyssey. Read it?
“Yes. Now are you going to tell me how to leave, or are you going to disappear again when I try to ask you something?
You can ask me as many questions as you want, but I can’t promise you I will answer any of them.
“Alright. I’ll start simple. What kind of name is Shade? You sound like a super villain or a private investigator.”
Shade set the book down on a table next to the chair.
It isn’t really my name. It is just one I choose to use. People don’t respond well to the one I normally use, so I figured “Shade”, was a marked improvement. You wouldn’t think it, but it is.
“Another small one. How come you understand things I say that Adara doesn’t?”
She isn’t used to seeing modern humans. I am. People lived here thousands of years ago, but not anymore.
“Wait… what? Adara said she saw people here.”
Sirens don’t die. Not of old age anyway. Adara, the rest of the sirens, and all of the other creatures have lived here for millennia. It is all irrelevant. If you leave, this island is my problem not yours. I’m sure you’re wondering about the house?
“Yes.”
It has significance to you. You probably felt it when you came in. If you really want to know how to leave this island, you have to find it in yourself.
“What do you want me to do, click my heels? Stop with this riddle crap and tell me how to leave. I saw someone, and I need to get back to her… I don’t know who she is, but I think I might know her.”
A wife?
“Maybe. I don’t know. I need to find her though, or I’ll never find out! You have to tell me something!”
Shade let out a deep sigh.
That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t have to say anything.
Suddenly the beam of light from the beach passed through the windows and over the chair. He was gone. Again. I looked at the table. The book was no longer there. In its place was a bottle of very cheap rum. I went to look closer, and realized that inside was a rolled up piece of paper. I tried to uncork the bottle, but the cork seemed to be fused with the bottle.
Fine. If you won’t open the easy way, I’ll do this the fun way.
I covered my eyes and smashed the bottle against the table. But all that happened was the bottle bounced off and my arm got sore. I threw the bottle against the wall. Nothing. Stomped on it. Nothing. At one point, I hit it with the chair. And the only thing that broke was the chair. I was exhausted and realized I had to walk back. So I grabbed the bottle and left the house. I closed the door and ventured into the forest. I went to look back, and then I realized the house was gone, along with the music.
Day 7
Rather than the sun, Adara woke me up. She nudged me, and I almost rolled out of the blanket and into the water. I threw my arm out quickly to stop myself, and pulled myself up.
“Sorry!”
I was still trying to get my eyes open, so I mumbled some form of half-hearted forgiveness.
She tried to break the silence by asking me how I slept.
“Quite well, actually. I’m lucky I found this thing. It’s weird how it was just lying there in the middle of the beach. In fact, a lot of the stuff I found was just kind of… there.” The canned food, the blanket, the bottles of water and rum. There was even a guitar. Didn’t know how to play it, but I liked having it.
She rested her arms against the rocks. She still didn’t seem to care that she wasn’t wearing anything. I considered multiple times telling her about that human social custom, but I figured I shouldn’t complain too much. She now had a smile on her face.
“Think it was Shade?” I nodded.
“He seems to want to help us. He just has a terrible way of doing it.”
Her smile was noticeably absent now.
“It must be nice to explore the island and find what others left behind. Sometimes things would wash into the lagoon before it was blocked off. I never knew what most of it was. Now all that comes in are fish.”
Her relaxed position made me relax as well. It let my mind wander through the events of the week, and about her. She was a very peculiar person (I’m not sure if Sirens count as people, but I think they do), yet very fascinating. Over the course of the week, she told me about her family. About the animals that used to roam the island. She said she used to be very happy living here, with the beautiful ocean, and her sisters to keep her company.
“It’s weird how things happen out of nowhere. One moment I’m singing and combing my
hair with coral, and the next, a massive wave hits and sweeps away my sisters. The waves hit so hard that the entire cave shook. And then, a few weeks later, you arrive, just when I felt the worst
I had ever felt,” her smile was back, and she was gazing into my eyes now, “you arrived.”
When she smiled at me then, which was the first time I noticed her teeth were slightly pointed. Not like fangs or anything, just ever so slightly sharp. She continued on, not noticing my focus. “Fate is unusual, isn’t it?”
I could tell she knew I was thinking the same thing.
…
I snapped back to the present when I realized that she was showing me her collection.
Dozens and dozens of trinkets lying in the water and in the rocks of the cave. It’s like she had her own little room in the cave, complete with a rock outcropping that she slept on.
“Can you tell me what some of these are?”
“Yeah, I guess.” I smiled to show I was paying attention. She brought out the items one at a time, almost like she was advertising them to me.
“That’s a compass. It uses a magnetic field to show direction.”
She set it on the rock in front of me. It was gold, with a marking of a scallop shell on the
top.
“Keep it. I won’t ever have a use for it.” She turned to grab another item.
“I believe that is… hey, that’s my other shoe!”
She handed it to me excitedly… I looked down at my bare feet.
…she then withdrew it, and smirked.
You can’t get distracted. You need to ask her.
“So… how long have you known Shade?”
She leaned back against the rocks, her tail gently gliding back and forth.
“Since I was little. The question I asked him was his name. And so he told me. He was the one who taught me how to speak your language, and a little about human culture.”
“Like what?”
“Each night, when my sisters were asleep, he would tell me tales about Gods and Kings, monsters and heroes. And sometimes he would tell me about some of the creatures that used to live here. Cyclopes, horses, even a water Goddess visited here once.”
“Huh.”
“Why do you do that?”
“What?”
“That sound. Every time I talk to you, you seem to be bothered by something.”
I massaged my temples. I was getting a massive headache. I don’t really know enough to say anything, but what choice do I have?
“I know I’m missing someone. I know I don’t really remember her, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve known her forever. I know I’ve experienced years with her… I just… don’t remember them. But I FEEL it.”
She sighed, and nodded knowingly.
“I need to find a way off. You know that. I just can’t seem to figure it out. It’s only been a week, maybe there is still a chance.”
“Maybe there is. I hope so. I wish I could help you find what you are looking for.” Once again, she had me caught in her pity.
“You are doing your job: keeping me from going nuts.”
“Nuts? We don’t have very many of those on the island.”
I laughed, the first time I had done so on the island.
“No. I mean ‘nuts’ like crazy. Not like the kind you eat. What I mean is that you are what is keeping me sane.”
She turned to get more trinkets, but I managed to catch a smile before she did.
...
“What was that? Adara!”
I didn’t know it was possible to whisper at the top of your lungs, but somehow I found a way to do it. This time it wasn’t rustling. The eyes were red, like a fiery ruby, and its fur was the sun. Well, in the front anyway. Its body looked like a horse or a goat, or something with hooves.
It was dark, so I couldn’t make too much of it out. It started to snarl.
That is when I graduated from a whisper to a yell.
“Adara! GET UP!”
She shot up just in time to see the creature pounce forward. She screamed, but was frozen in fear. Not like she could do anything anyway.
I weighed my options. I could sit there, and hope it would end me quickly, or I could run.
So I did what any normal person would do. I threw my hands in the air, let out a scream (this time, I admit, it wasn’t very manly), and ran faster than ever before.
I turned back in time to catch it in all its glory.
Its fangs pierce the darkness. Its hooves pounded with sound and fury. Its tail was the worst though. The serpent’s scales shined with the moon light. Its hiss chilled my bones. Time seemed to slow just a little while I was running. It was so fast. I knew I couldn’t last for long.
C’mon, you have to think of something or you ARE DEAD! THINK!
So I did. And came up with nothing. Running was the only option, so I figured I should try to evade it, since outrunning it was impossible. I swerved to the left. My bare feet slid on the mud, and dug in, leaving trenches in the ground. I kicked up earth with every step.
I feel weird. Almost kind of… powerful.
I could feel myself sprinting faster than before. It was like I had the stride of a giant, and the speed of lightning. I was leaving it behind! I was going to make it! I looked back and laughed in contempt.
I should have paid closer attention, because I was then clotheslined by a low hanging vine. I slammed to the ground, and my vision went fuzzy.
It leaned over me, and the snaked tongue flapped against the air. It went in for a strike. I heard her voice… her melody wrapped me in warmth, and comfort. I didn’t care about dying.
Not anymore. My eyes were heavy, so I didn’t resist. They closed slowly, and everything faded
away…
Day 12
“Wake up.”
Shade gave me a couple of gentle slaps.
“That’s why you don’t run from the Chimera. Are you a fool?”
My back felt like gravel. My side felt like someone shoved a knife through it. And of course, I still had a headache. But I realized I was on a different beach. I must be on the other side of the island.
“You alright? You were out for a long time. Adara is going to start thinking it got you.
Hell, you had me scared for a while. C’mon, up with you.”
He offered me his hand, and I accepted it. I felt a massive jolt of pain through my side and almost fell back down. I was finally able to gain my footing after a few moments. He let me catch my breath. Shade eyed the wound.
“Chimeras are certainly nasty. But I need them. A Chimera means a storms coming.”
“How big of a storm?”
He pointed to the horizon. The suns light surrounded the island, but it didn’t seem to travel further than a few miles offshore. Past that was a wall of black. Miles high.
“That would be it. These hit every few decades or so. And when it does, I recommend you are long gone.”
“I’ve been trying to find a way off this whole time. You want to help? Answer my questions.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t ignore them because I want to. This isn’t my island right now. As long as you’re here, it’s yours. And I can’t control it. If you want a way off, you have to be ready for it. And that means that you have to stop asking things from others, and start finding the answers yourself. No one knows what’s in your head but you. All I can do is try to shine some light on it.”
He raised his hand, and opened it. The compass gleamed with the mornings light, the gold shined his reflection like a mirror.
“It’s all on you now. If you want off, you have to find your own way.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Maybe. But I can’t help you anymore. Just know that I can see you everywhere that you go. No matter how dark it gets, I’ll be there.”
I took the compass and looked into the shell. My face stared back at me, inviting me to keep moving. I looked up, and in his usual fashion, Shade was gone.
I opened the compass and the dial pointed north. Only it couldn’t be. It was facing the sun, and it had just risen. I shook it a few times, but it remained pointed firmly east. Guess there’s no other choice. And so I followed it.
…
Eventually I was at the edge of the east beach. I looked out and saw nothing. No boat. No radio. No way of getting off the island. And then I saw it spin to the west. I looked behind me. Lying perfectly on the ground was a scallop shell, identical to the one on the compass. I knelt down to pick it up. It was flawless, and the top was untouched by sand. I carefully laid it in my palm and faced the ocean. Dark clouds moved in quickly, faster than possible anywhere else. A bolt of lightning struck the sea and my vision went white.
I looked out to the sea, engulfed in its beauty. The seashell lay perfectly in the sand. I go to pick it up, but realize that another has motioned to do the same. I look up. Red hair, green eyes. She smiles, and tells me to take it. I can’t allow that though.
“No, I have hundreds of shells at home. One won’t hurt.” She quickly grabs it and puts it in her beach bag.
“Thanks, it was a good one. I thought I was the only one who did this. Most people don’t care about the little things anymore.”
I tried to act cool, but I was too happy to avoid waxing poetic.
“I love ‘em. It’s like finding little pieces of a different world. Something that nobody else has seen, and everyone has forgotten, but I can still have a piece of. Does that make any sense?
Is that weird?”
She chuckled, and told me I was extremely weird.
I feigned offense.
“Do you normally come up to strangers, steal their crap and call them weird?” This time she laughed harder and almost snorted.
“No, just the weird ones with crap worth stealing. What’s your name then?”
“Lee.”
“Penny.”
We shook hands. As soon as our hands touched I noticed a tattoo on her shoulder, obscured by her beach bag. It looked like a fish, or the tail of one anyway. A drop of water fell on it.
“What’s that on your shoulder?”
She looked over at it, like she didn’t know it was there.
“Ah, this. That was a mistake from my teen years. A long, embarrassing story comes with it. I don’t want to bore you though.”
The rain was falling heavier and faster now. I didn’t mind that much, but I could tell she was uncomfortable.
“I’d love to hear it. Let’s get out of this rain first, though.” A bolt of lightning pierced the sky.
The sound of it seemed to shove me back into reality. The rain fell harder and faster, and now I was soaking. I didn’t care though. I finally had answers. Something I was looking for this whole time. I felt like a whole piece of me was restored. I remembered my life now, well… most of it. It’s like there was a gap between then and now, but everything before was there. My parents, Larry and Clara. I remember my grandfather, Ulysses, my namesake. My job. I am an English teacher. And now I could remember her. Red hair, green eyes. Penny. I closed the compass. I figured that was enough of a start to move on by myself. Something caught my eye in the corner of the compass. A reflection. At the other end of the beach was a lighthouse. Its light would carve out a piece of the darkness and then leave it to heal. Round and round the light went. How have I not noticed this the entire time? And why is there a lighthouse on an island with no boats? It must mean something. I knew that this is where I needed to go. I eyed the rocky cliffs that must be scaled to reach it. There was only one thing on my mind as I made my way towards the cliff…I wish I still had my shoes.
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from Short Stories https://ift.tt/2BY0S2g
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