Genre: Paranormal
It was a cold, ugly night. The rain came down in sheets and the waves crashed against the rocky shore, and when the thunder cracked overhead it rattled the windows. Mordecai wrapped himself in the blankets he'd carried from his bed to his chair by the iron stove, thankful of the thick, sturdy walls of the lighthouse that shielded him from the wind and rain without draft or damp.
He didn't envy the sailors that were still at sea in the tempest, but he knew that the great lamp above was well stocked with whale oil and shining its beacon out over the waters. In a few hours he'd need to climb the steps to check that the light, but for now he could sit with his tea and the comfort that those coming into port would reach it safely.
If they reached port at all, of course.
The lighthouse's beacon only reached so far, and its guiding light couldn't save a ship from the storm itself cracking apart its hull. How quickly were such leaks discovered? Did anyone hear the rush of water flooding in over the howling winds? Did they think the cracking of the beams was thunder? What came next, when your only chance was to pray you could bail out the water faster than it came in or else gamble on a very small life-boat in a raging sea.
He didn't know, and he didn't think he ever would. Patrick would have told him, had he lived. Patrick had been born with a gift for words, and he could spin a story that kept Mordecai entranced long into the night. Every time there had been those three sharp knocks on the lighthouse door he had rushed to usher Patrick in and demand tales from his latest voyage. Each would end with the promise that someday he would take Mordecai far from the dusty old lighthouse and show him what lay beyond their little island home. Someone else could tend the wicks and polish the soot from the glass day after day. He and Patrick were going to sail the world.
Nothing ever went as planned.
Mordecai had known something was wrong long before the news of the wreck reached him. The ship had been due days ago, and he'd stood on the lighthouse gallery from dawn until evening with an eye on the horizon as he prayed for a glimpse of sails. None had ever come, and he was given the news weeks later.
So here he sat, tending the lighthouse as his father had, and his father before him, and his father before that. Any hope of a different life had been dragged under the waves and lost to the depths.
He closed his eyes and tried to let the cup of tea in his hands warm the chill from his bones.
He didn't see the shadow that passed by the window, one slow step at a time.
There were three sharp knocks on the door.
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AdrianAldrich is the author of several books/stories including:
Masked Come Morning {MxM]
Utterly Enchanting [MxM]
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Nothing Went As Planned - A Wattpad Writers Take On The Writing Prompt Exercise
General Fiction"Nothing went as planned." A collection of Flash Fiction from the talented Wattpad Forums Community. Stories contained within are used with the permission of some of the authors.
