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Shadows of the Haunted Beacon: Confinement and Consequences · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

• 0:33
  Harrowing nights low on food left my men at the end of their
• 0:36
  rope, earnest in all my intentions.
• 0:39
  But I know rationing the food is what made my men succumb to the
• 0:42
  depths. Leviathan.
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  Hold strong, I prayed. Hold until I can get them back
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  home. Hold until these torrential
• 0:50
  rains stop. Hold until I can buy them
• 0:53
  another pint. Prayers mean nothing to the sea.
• 0:56
  Minutes felt like ours, and my eyes burned from the salty
• 1:00
  waters. Everything still felt like it
• 1:03
  would be fine. It wasn't our first storm, and
• 1:06
  I'd like to hope that some men slept through it.
• 1:09
  Panic didn't set in until I saw the cliffside locked on her
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  trajectory. My champion Leviathan was doomed
• 1:16
  to be dashed upon those stones. Even though I shouted at the top
• 1:20
  of my lungs, I can't say that everyone heard my warning.
• 1:24
  Abandoned ship for let's CUDA for Lat.
• 1:28
  Seconds later, the impact threw me forward and more pungent
• 1:31
  brine filled my mouth. Even after this ever present was
• 1:35
  my foolishness, the Shoals embraced me like the loving arms
• 1:40
  of a companion I left at home. Heed my warning when I say you
• 1:43
  will never be prepared for the sinking of a ship.
• 1:47
  Even if you hold your breath, it'll flee from your lungs after
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  hitting the frigid and bitter water.
• 1:53
  You'll be nothing more than a hapless babe floating in the
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  current. Luckily, God must have taken
• 1:58
  pity on me, for I don't remember much of my time under the water,
• 2:02
  nor do I remember washing up a shore.
• 2:05
  The thunderous storm was a distant rumbling in my ears now
• 2:08
  as I stared up at a flat Gray sky.
• 2:11
  It wasn't much to look at the island itself.
• 2:14
  I couldn't see it during the storm, but atop the Cliff side
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  that shattered my vessel, there was a lighthouse.
• 2:20
  Grimacing from the pain of my aching body and burning lungs, I
• 2:24
  began my haphazard stumble up to the lighthouse.
• 2:28
  Hefting my weight across the island proved to be tedious with
• 2:31
  my injured leg. The door was ajar when I reached
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  the top, and when I called, nobody answered.
• 2:38
  How such a building had been left so unkempt made the pit of
• 2:41
  my stomach boil. The fate of the Leviathan and my
• 2:45
  men could have been kinder had there been someone here.
• 2:48
  Our vessel could not have been the first to wander precariously
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  close to the island, and I wonder how many other men were
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  left in my position due to this discarded responsibility.
• 2:59
  Under the furniture or behind picture frames were the only
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  places not caked in thick layers of dust and emerald.
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  Rust flowered over anything metal.
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  Something wasn't right. Even if the lighthouse was
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  decommissioned, they wouldn't leave personal effects scattered
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  around and there wouldn't still be cans of food in the pantry.
• 3:20
  Knots formed in my stomach when I heard a moan, not caring who
• 3:24
  lay in the room, just wanting there to be someone else.
• 3:27
  I hobbled as fast as my broken leg would allow, overjoyed as I
• 3:32
  was at 1st to see Tomas, the youngest member of my crew.
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  He was splayed over a moldy couch and looked unwell, weak
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  and with labored breathing. I knew the boy wouldn't have
• 3:43
  lasted long here. Stairs presented another
• 3:47
  challenge for me and I hauled myself up to the next floor,
• 3:51
  hoping for a better bearing of the situation at hand.
• 3:54
  My nose was assaulted with a putrid and sour scent.
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  There lay on the 2nd floor a man who I assumed to be the former
• 4:01
  keeper. Swathed in the light of the
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  window, he lay entirely still. Yanking myself back down the
• 4:08
  stairs in horror, I dared not tell Thomas what I saw.
• 4:11
  I stayed by his side, and when he awoke, he yammered all night
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  but didn't make it to the morn. Suitable grave sites were in
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  short supply on the island and I did my best with what I could to
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  give Thomas a dignified resting place.
• 4:26
  I didn't venture upstairs again until I could no longer bear to
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  see the keepers still visage through the floorboards.
• 4:33
  I didn't know the man, but I had hoped his family could forgive
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  me for the way I castaway his remains.
• 4:39
  Never once did I consider myself blessed to be alive, and
• 4:42
  especially not now that I was left alone with few supplies.
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  A long time ago, when I was a little boy, my mormer told me a
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  tale of a fisherman who overestimated his craft and lost
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  most of his family to the sea. Never did I think myself to be
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  like foolish Elias, chased by the drug.
• 5:01
  Drugs and stories of the undead men scared me under the covers
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  as a child, but sitting alone all day in a damp and rusty
• 5:09
  lighthouse had brought the nightmares back to me.
• 5:12
  Where there was a slight Creek or the knocking of the door, I
• 5:16
  could picture him, the old keeper, banging on it with what
• 5:19
  was left of his hands, but he was the least of my concerns.
• 5:23
  Ocean water. Nasty stuff, but it was my only
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  other option. When there was no rainwater,
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  Thomas disappeared. I would often find myself
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  visiting his grave and talking to him, but one evening I found
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  that the soil was perturbed and Thomas gone.
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  Later that night I awoke and I could hear his haggard breathing
• 5:44
  over me. I dare not look upon his face
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  lest I provoke. Echoes came from the main tower
• 5:50
  stairway up to the light. Perhaps it was the keeper not
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  knowing his service was done long ago when mist blanketed the
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  island. I could see faces in the fog and
• 6:00
  I could hear my men's gargled calls.
• 6:02
  For me then, leaving the lighthouse became blasphemy and
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  the only instigator for my wretched husks movement was the
• 6:09
  rain. Mustering any kind of strength
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  now felt absurd as I found myself looking more and more
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  like the keeper as the days grew on.
• 6:19
  Existence was miserable in this new home of mine and I found
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  myself spending a good amount of time questioning what really
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  killed the old keeper. Loathe is a kind word compared
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  to how I felt about this place. Escaping had occurred to me, but
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  there were too many dangers lying out on the sea.
• 6:38
  I could have tried lighting the lamp at the top, but there was
• 6:41
  no whale oil to be found and I knew the drug was guarding the
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  tower. As I went to sleep, I could hear
• 6:47
  them all laughing at me. The captain who killed his men,
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  the captain who crashed his ship, The captain who would not
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  let Thomas suffer another day on this cursed island.
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  Then legs, I begged the island. Please, please let me leave
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  every night. It does not answer me and as the
• 7:05
  days stretch with not a single ship sighting, I know I do not
• 7:08
  wait for rescue. I wait for my judgement Here.
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  My Barnabarn, my Mormer would say, comforting me in her lap.
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  Every tale has beginning and a choice, right or wrong.
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  Even though you are a very smart boy, remember to always look
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  back at the beginning and try your best to make the right
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  choice.