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The moon was unusually bright as Eric stared at the intruding hill just before the ocean. He had never seen a real lighthouse before. Hell, He had never even seen the ocean. Eric stood in the sand, hands in pockets slowly making his way to the hill. This place was so different than the deserts he had been surrounded by. Something didn’t look right with the old house on the hill. It looked like a house with a lighthouse as its chimney. These were the best lighthouses Eric thought. Imagine living in a lighthouse. The windows had been boarded up. Most likely for years Eric figured. He climbed the small fence and made his way to the aging door. Graffiti nearly covered the whole door. Eric inched toward what was left of the windows. Standing on his tippy toes Eric shifts from side to side trying to get a better look.
“What is that? Eric sounded intrigued.
His feeling quickly turned to concern
“What the hell is….
A hand on Eric’s shoulder forces a girlish scream from his lungs.
Eric turns around so quick, he never thought he could turn around that fast.
Such a pleasant sight awaits Eric as a beautiful girl stands in the sand with a smile that could brighten even Satan’s day.
“Hi” she whispers while looking right through the strange boy by the lighthouse.
Eric just stood there holding his chest as if he had seen a ghost. He finally finds the words to communicate with this girl next door.
“Hi, sorry about the girly scream. I’m normally very manly.”
She smiles and extends her hand
“I’m Jessie, your new here right?”
“Yeah, just moved here. Eric by the way.”
“I used to love this lighthouse, want to go inside?” She sounded so playful Eric thought.
“Can we? It looks like its locked up and been for a while.”
“I know a way in, trust me”
“Trust you? I don’t even know you”
“Sure you do, Jessie remember?”
Eric gives a unsatisfactory smile as he follows close behind the mysterious girl.
They make there way around the corner of the old house. Eric follows as she stops in front of another boarded window. Jessie grabs one of the boards and gives it a little wiggle. Eric is amused by this and gives a little sarcastic noise behind her. With one more wiggle, the boards which look like they are stuck together by some kind of super glue, slowly slide open like a rusty old door.
“Should we be going in there? I’m sure we are probably trespassing.”
Jessie continues climbing through the window with one foot hanging out the window,
“Believe me, nobody ever comes up here anymore.”
Eric’s stomach starts to feel uneasy at the thought of what could have happened here.
Eric grabs the edge of the opening and lifts himself through slowly
“Ok I get the feeling something bad happened here.”
“Watch your step here” Jessie instructed while holding her hand out for the overly concerned Eric.
A spiral stair case surrounds the whole area. A lot of dust and old furniture sit at the base of the stairs.
“Did people actually live in here” Eric asked fumbling through random clutter on the floor.
“Probably, look over here, come on follow me, hurry!” Jessie grabbed the stair case and raced up the stairs as if she knew her way around here with ease.
“Wait!” Eric trips on some old chairs stacked by the cobwebbed walls.
“Slow down, let me catch up!” Eric finally manages to grab the stair case and jog up the stairs with caution.
The spiral stair case made Eric feel weird. He had never seen so many steps before. “How many damn steps could there be” he thought as he went around and around trying to catch up to this girl he had just met.
Finally the stairs lead to a small room at the top of the lighthouse. An ancient bulb sat in a broken down frame. Eric wondered if the light still worked. What a stupid thought he told himself as he made his way slowly to a brilliantly clear window with an amazing view.
Jessie stood leaning on the balcony of the lighthouse with a eerie grin.
“Isn’t it beautiful up here.” Jessie brushed her long brunette hair out of her eyes.
Eric joined the teenage girl by the edge and watched the moonlight bounce off ocean waves.
“Amazing” Eric whispered while he thought about home.
“I’ve never seen anything like this…….”
Eric’s lips are interrupted by a kiss. Not just any kiss, A kiss that meant something, that felt right.
Jessie meets Eric’s eyes and for that moment time seemed to slow down. Jessie slowly pulls away and wipes off her mouth. Eric does the same as he stands confused about how to feel.
“I…I.. wow.” was all Eric could spit out.
Jessie smiles then turns back to the scenery outside. Jessie’s expression quickly changes as her eyes become glued to something in the distance.
“Jess? You ok?”
No answer as she stands frozen.
“Jess?”
Eric looks outside looking for something, not sure what, but something that could cause such a reaction. He didn‘t see anything. Eric turns back toward Jess only to find an empty balcony. Eric hears footsteps running down the spiral stairs and runs after them.
“Jess! Come back! What’s wrong?”
Damn she is fast , Eric realized as he searches for a glimpse of her but can’t seem to see her at all. Where is she?
Eric makes his way to the window they climbed in from. Eric stops in mid climb. He almost falls out the tiny opening. He gathers himself and rubs his eyes. In the short distance he can see footsteps being made in the sand but nobody to make them. He stands still watching these invisible footprints run up the shoreline. This was crazy he thought. This can’t be happening. Eric starts to walk up the sandy sidewalk looking all around. Eric looks to the sky and feels his heart drop to the sand. The moon is gone, completely gone.
Eric stands, hands in pockets staring at a blackened sky.
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