The Lighthouse

The rain was pouring steadily as the wind shrieked through the cracked walls within the old lighthouse. Lightning broke through the clouds overhead as thunder crashed, the tide high and the full moon hidden within the storm; And a great fog descended upon the shore, setting the scene for a spooky campfire tale, or real-life nightmare.

Already having been disturbed by a hard tug on her hair, and Beth’s incessant mutterings, Loreley gave up on feigning sleep, and made her way over to the only window in her room. There she stood gazing out towards the ongoing storm, awestruck by its beauty, admiring how the wind caused the waves to crash along the rocks to the beat of the thunder, and began to hum a haunting tune. Somewhere in the old parlor below a piano began to accompany her, letting her know that Adrian was once again restless like the rest of them.

Soon, Loreley was being twirled away from the window into the beginnings of a waltz. Gracefully, she and her partner made their way around the spacious bedroom as the piano continued playing the tune she had begun humming, its composer having left his bench and made his way to her, the bedroom fading from sight as they were transported to a small ballroom.

They twirled and stepped to the continuous song played in the attached parlour and swayed together like two long lost lovers found in each other. For once night ended they knew their time together would come to an end until the following one. And so they joyously spent what precious time they had, held in the comfort of each other’s arms.

They laughed and whispered to each other sweetly until dawn, as friends and family long since gone watched on joyfully. For the time being Loreley would enjoy her time with those she loved most before she was once again left to herself in the morning light.

Memories swam before her mind at racing speed as she reminisced and laughed with those surrounding her. Games once played with her siblings and the trouble they would inevitably find themselves in. The moment she and Adrian met and the day of their wedding, to the moment they laid eyes on their daughter for the first time, who sits off to the side with her aunt and uncles playing silly games. The song changed to one less melancholy than the waltz she shared with her husband and soon everyone was up and dancing caught up in the enjoyment and the warmth.

The hours flew by, and the night carried on as friends and family enjoyed the night laughing, talking, drinking and carousing as if time meant nothing, or they weren’t just spectres created by a broken mind and lonely heart. Slowly the hours passed and the moon slinked away quietly in solemn silence and night was being shifted into day.

Each spectre began to slowly fade back into the shadows in the reversal order from whence they came. Being chased away with dawning light as the sun began to trickle in, highlighting the floating dust in the broken down home.

She looked on as her loved ones faded from her sight. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks and sigh left her lips as she turned away from the ballroom. She walked out the French doors that led to the beachy shore and looked out to sea, now calmed after the midnight storms. There was a chill leftover from the night before, barely felt through her threadbare nightgown; She was far too gone in her grief to truly care. A grief that's lasted for the last several years. Numb in a way that only left in the night when those she loved reappeared.

As she watched the waves kiss the shore she contemplated her intent and looked back at her family home in such a state of disrepair and saw the reflection of her broken heart and shattered mind lost to her so long ago. As she watched her home she noticed that though she had thought they’d left there was still a vague transparent form of each and every one formally known, with sad smiles and a knowing gaze they watched her in return as she turned away.

Loreley waited patiently as the hours went from day to night, and the sea was once again disrupted by a raging storm and so she made her way to the Lighthouse tower and lit it one last time, so whatever fishermen caught in the storm may make their way safely home. Each step away she was brought closer and closer to the shore, there she stood and admired the violent beauty set before her, numb to the cold and the sting of a downpour on bare face and arms. Soaked to the bone she waded through the crashing waves and let the storm and sea sweep her into the darkened depths unafraid and was graced with blissful relief.

Unburdened and free of her grief, she opened her eyes to a calm and glittering beach and made her way to a restored home. Once again she was spun into a dance to a brighter tune and embraced in warmth and love surrounded by family and friends once lost. When she saw her reflection, no longer did she behold a weathered face and saddened eyes shining with loneliness, nor a broken mind. She bare witness instead to a youthfulness and cheer lost to her in years gone by. Reunited with family and friends she was finally whole again.