The Lighthouse - 7

        My heart raced as 2am drew near. As anxious as I was, I was also overwhelmed with curiosity. That’s why as the moment approached I waited in the lantern room. The blinding lantern was currently pulsing on for two seconds then off for eight seconds per it’s normal function. I trusted that the machine would come to life. I had seen it consistently do so night after night.

        I caught my breath as suddenly the cables disappearing into the floor grew taut. I was too high up to hear the machine start, but the five cables started to slowly move and come to life, causing the pieces of the metal apparatus above to slide every which way. The consistent rhythm of the lantern was no more. It flashed on and off quickly and several different shaped metal plates passed in front of the lantern, momentarily blocking part of the beam. Everything in unison, it built momentum and didn’t take long to reach full speed.

        As much as I wanted to stay there and study it, I couldn’t. I leaped down into the service room and then started down the abundance of stairs as fast as I was capable. I hustled out to the pier and looked out at the sea. It was a cloudy night and the moon was dim. There was heavy fog on the waves. I couldn’t see far due to fog, but through that fog the lantern’s message was reaching. I started to see the seven second cycle. The beam turned off and on many times per cycle. The beam usually had a portion of its light blocked as if forming strange letters. The plates moved into position and then paused in a certain place to form a letter and then moved on to the next one.

        I waited for fifteen minutes and began to grow nervous, but then through the fog I faintly started to see something only a couple hundred yards out. It was a vessel and it was pointed right at me. Or actually I realized it was pointed at the base of the lighthouse. I ran back down the pier and toward the lighthouse. I climbed on the huge rocks at the lighthouse’s base. The ominous vessel was getting bigger. It was now close enough for me to hear the wind ripping in its mainsail–a mainsail which had the marking X789X. The vessel was now less than 50 yards out. I could see it in more detail: its open wooden deck, its mast connected to the tall mainsail and headsail. It was no more than thirty feet from bow to stern and about ten feet wide.