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I am a lighthouse, tall and majestic I stand on the mountain top. The waves crash all around me, but my foundations are old and strong. I am as solid as a rock, nothing can tear me down. On closer inspection, I am old and decrepit, a lighthouse with a story to tell. I once was loved, cherished by a young fellow. He didn’t want to leave my soft embrace, but life oftentimes chooses our fate. I will describe what I saw as best I can, about Bobby Newsong becoming a changed man.
Bobby picked up the empty beer bottle, stood up, walked with a limp to the garbage can and tossed it in with the rest of the empty ones. He was a mess, hadn’t washed for days, he had more than a five o’clock shadow, his breath reeked from all the booze and his eyes were big red saucers from having not slept. Life was shit for Bobby Newsong. Why even bother living? He had missed his chance at having a life, a family. And for what? A football career? Look where that had gotten him! A broken leg, months in a rehabilitation center and his fiancee leaving him for another man. Life was great! Bobby kicked the garbage can and groaned. He kept forgetting to use his good leg. He walked towards the kitchen, holding the counter for support. His leg wasn’t healed one hundred percent, but he could walk on it for a good ten minutes before it began hurting. He almost wanted it to hurt sometimes, make him feel he was living. He opened the fridge, reached for another beer, but his hand came out empty. He couldn’t have drank a whole six pack in one morning, could he? He raked a hand through his hair and leaned on the counter. He looked at the clock, it was afternoon. How could a whole morning go by without him noticing? He was starting to lose it. He needed to do something before he went crazy.
Evelyn squished her toes in the hot sand. It felt good to be on land after so many years at sea. Her father was a captain; she was part of his crew. She had been since her eighteenth birthday. Evelyn loved how the waves came crashing down all around them, the sweet and salty ocean air in the morning and the feeling of being free every time she looked out into the open vastness of blue. She hadn’t wanted to come back home, but her father has insisted she lead a normal, maybe stable life. She never was able to argue with him, he always won the argument. The only one he hadn’t been able to win was the one he had with her mother the moment before she fled and never looked back. Laura, Evelyn’s mother, didn’t want him leaving her, but he had to. He lived to be on the ocean, commanding the raging waves. Evelyn loved her father’s passion; her mother had been too insecure to handle it. So she left Evelyn and Frank. Father had no choice but to keep raising daughter the way he knew best, on a boat in the middle of nowhere. Evelyn not only had her father, she had a whole family on that boat. The crew had been there through all her struggles with normalcy, all the times she rebelled, all the times she needed someone to talk to. It was hard saying farewell to them as well as her father. He would be back in a few months to visit her, but his home wasn’t on land. It was rocking back and forth with the waves.
Bobby sat on a rock, very near the ocean side. He leaned over and looked down. How long would it take for me to hit the bottom? He sat back up, suddenly afraid about his own thoughts. He felt someone watching him, turned around to see who it might be. No one was allowed on this side of the lighthouse, it was his property. The lighthouse had been in his family for the last five generations. No way would someone trespass on his land. He stood up and looked around, an eerie feeling creeping up on him. He suddenly had the sense to look to the right, but it was too late. He saw her as she was jumping, her waist long auburn hair rebelling as the wind pushed it behind her. To him, she looked like an angel, a fiery red head angel, with a terrible appetite for danger. He walked towards her as fast as he could, but he didn’t reach her in time. She had jumped over the side of the cliff. Her body hit the water in perfect form, her arms at her side and her legs outstretched. He shouted to her, kept searching for her head to surface out of the water. Nothing. The waves came crashing against the rocks, all hope was gone. Maybe he had imagined her? Maybe it was the booze kicking in. Maybe he really was going crazy!
Evelyn hadn’t lost her touch. She was still an amazing diver. She laughed, as she dried herself off with a towel. What an amazing rush she had felt as a child to jump off that cliff. She loved feeling free and alive. It still gave her the same feeling. She picked up her bag and looked up at the lighthouse. It had grown old and it seemed like it was in shambles. The Newsong’s must have sold it to someone, they would have never let it get so desolate. When she was coming back towards the shore, she had found it strange that the lighthouse wasn’t lighting the way. She walked up the narrow flight of stairs that led to the lighthouse. She thought about mister and missus Newsong, how they had been such good people. They had died in a terrible hotel fire the night of their anniversary. Their son, Bobby Newsong, had been sent to live with an aunt after the incident. They had been friends at the time, as close as two neighbors could be. Evelyn had no idea what had become of Bobby Newsong, she had no idea what had become of any of her friends, since she had left home all those years ago.
Evelyn walked along the side of the lighthouse, trying to peek inside. The windows seemed to be tinted and dirty. Did someone live here? It seemed abandoned. Poor lighthouse, she thought. It had once been the pride and joy of Littlecreek. People took a detour to come and see it. It seemed like it had been awhile since the beauty of the place had been exposed to the public. She walked around to the front door, or what she remembered as the front door. She knocked, no one came. She turned the knob, it was unlocked. She walked inside and closed the door behind her. The hall was dimly lit. She walked past a closed door and right into the kitchen. There was a pot on the stove, but the stove wasn’t open. She turned to leave, but noticed a light coming from the attic. Because of her fear of nothing, Evelyn walked up the creaky staircase and towards the light. She opened the attic door and was stunned at what she found.
