Lighthouse Wreck

• Christopher Bohlsen, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2009

The water was crushing her. Breathing was impossible. There seemed to be no hope of escape. Then, with her final bit of energy she emerged from the water. The air tasted delicious. She felt a sudden sense of relief. She had survived. Looking up, she saw a large ruined lighthouse. There was a large chunk of the lighthouse taken from the side. Through the hole she could see various pieces of furniture mixed in with the torn metal. The plane must have hit the lighthouse as it came down. That was what that jerking was, like turbulence but worse. She swam towards the lighthouse. There was a hole that the plane made that she could enter through. As she got inside she saw the furniture from earlier. It was covered in dust. There was a table and chairs, an open fridge, and a chessboard with the pieces still upright. Then she noticed something, in her panic she had not noticed before. The lights were still on. They illuminated the dust in the room. It was as if the people there had just disappeared. The lights illuminated the night sky outside. The light at the top of the house was still on too. There was a door leading out to a staircase through the room. There must have been a million stairs to climb, all spiraling towards the light at the top. As she began to climb the stairs she noticed something problematic. The plane had removed part of the stairs when it hit the lighthouse. The only way up was to shimmy along the inside wall. She began to move along the wall and she lost her grip. As she began to fall she managed to grab and indent in the wall. She spun around, trying to keep a hold. It was such a long way down. She spun back around and set her eyes on the wall. However, there was a portrait on the wall that was not there before. It was an image of a man with his mouth wide-open and deep red eyes. His expression was terrifying. She looked into his eyes and he looked back into hers. She couldn’t stand it any longer; she continued to shimmy along to the other side. When she finally got to the other side, she looked back to see where she had come from and the portrait was gone. Whilst this was relieving, it was also unnerving. This lighthouse was strange. She got to the top and saw the blinding light was still on. She looked down into the wreckage of the plane and saw the pieces floating in the water. Maybe the occupants of the lighthouse were down there with all the other bodies. She looked up and noticed the moon going behind a cloud. The sky darkened. An eerie silence passed over her. Then the light went out.