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Haunted Beacon: Secrets of the Lighthouse Keeper · 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.
• 0:44
  Hold strong, I prayed. Hold until I can get them back
• 0:48
  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
• 1:12
  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 4 let's CUDA 4 lat Seconds later, the impact
• 1:29
  threw me forward and more pungent brine filled my mouth.
• 1:33
  Even after this ever present was my foolishness, the Shoals
• 1:38
  embraced me like the loving arms of a companion I left at home.
• 1:42
  Heed my warning when I say you will never be prepared for the
• 1:45
  sinking of a ship. Even if you hold your breath,
• 1:48
  it'll flee from your lungs after hitting the frigid and bitter
• 1:52
  water. You'll be nothing more than a
• 1:54
  hapless babe floating in the current.
• 1:57
  Luckily, God must have taken pity on me, for I don't remember
• 2:00
  much of my time under the water, nor do I remember washing up
• 2:04
  ashore. The thunderous storm was a
• 2:06
  distant rumbling in my ears now as I stared up at a flat Gray
• 2:10
  sky. It wasn't much to look at the
• 2:13
  island itself. I couldn't see it during the
• 2:15
  storm, but atop the Cliff side that shattered my vessel, there
• 2:19
  was a lighthouse. Grimacing from the pain of my
• 2:22
  aching body and burning lungs, I began my haphazard stumble up to
• 2:26
  the lighthouse. Hefting my weight across the
• 2:29
  island proved to be tedious with my injured leg.
• 2:33
  The door was ajar when I reached the top, and when I called,
• 2:36
  nobody answered. How such a building had been
• 2:39
  left so unkempt made the pit of my stomach boil.
• 2:43
  The fate of the Leviathan and my men could have been kinder had
• 2:46
  there been someone here. Our vessel could not have been
• 2:50
  the first to wander precariously close to the island, and I
• 2:53
  wonder how many other men were left in my position due to this
• 2:57
  discarded responsibility. Under the furniture or behind
• 3:01
  picture frames were the only places not caked in thick layers
• 3:05
  of dust and emerald. Rust flowered over anything
• 3:08
  metal. Something wasn't right.
• 3:11
  Even if the lighthouse was decommissioned, they wouldn't
• 3:14
  leave personal effects scattered around and there wouldn't still
• 3:18
  be cans of food in the pantry. Knots formed in my stomach when
• 3:22
  I heard a moan, not caring who lay in the room, just wanting
• 3:26
  there to be someone else. I hobbled as fast as my broken
• 3:30
  leg would allow, overjoyed as I was at 1st to see Tomas, the
• 3:35
  youngest member of my crew. He was splayed over a moldy
• 3:38
  couch and looked unwell, weak and with labored breathing.
• 3:42
  I knew the boy wouldn't have lasted long here.
• 3:45
  Stairs presented another challenge for me and I hauled
• 3:49
  myself up to the next floor, hoping for a better bearing of
• 3:52
  the situation at hand. My nose was assaulted with a
• 3:56
  putrid and sour scent. There lay on the 2nd floor a man
• 4:00
  who I assumed to be the former keeper.
• 4:02
  Swathed in the light of the window, he lay entirely still.
• 4:06
  Yanking myself back down the stairs in horror, I dared not
• 4:10
  tell Tomas what I saw. I stayed by his side, and when
• 4:13
  he awoke he yammered all night but didn't make it to the morn.
• 4:17
  Suitable grave sites were in short supply on the island and I
• 4:21
  did my best with what I could to give Tomas A dignified resting
• 4:25
  place. I didn't venture upstairs again
• 4:28
  until I could no longer bear to see the keepers still visage
• 4:31
  through the floorboards. I didn't know the man, but I had
• 4:34
  hoped his family could forgive me for the way I castaway his
• 4:38
  remains. Never once did I consider myself
• 4:41
  blessed to be alive, and especially not now that I was
• 4:44
  left alone with few supplies. A long time ago, when I was a
• 4:48
  little boy, my mormer told me a tale of a fisherman who
• 4:52
  overestimated his craft and lost most of his family to the sea.
• 4:56
  Never did I think myself to be like foolish Elias, chased by
• 5:00
  the drug. Drugs and stories of the undead
• 5:03
  men scared me under the covers as a child, but sitting alone
• 5:07
  all day in a damp and rusty lighthouse had brought the
• 5:10
  nightmares back to me. Where there was a slight Creek
• 5:14
  or the knocking of the door, I could picture him, the old
• 5:17
  keeper, banging on it with what was left of his hands, but he
• 5:21
  was the least of my concerns. Ocean water.
• 5:25
  Nasty stuff, but it was my only other option.
• 5:28
  When there was no rain water, Thomas disappeared.
• 5:31
  I would often find myself visiting his grave and talking
• 5:35
  to him, but one evening I found that the soil was perturbed and
• 5:39
  Thomas gone. Later that night I awoke and I
• 5:42
  could hear his haggard breathing over me.
• 5:45
  I dare not look upon his face lest I provoke.
• 5:48
  Echoes came from the main tower stairway up to the light.
• 5:52
  Perhaps it was the keeper not knowing his service was done
• 5:55
  long ago when mist blanketed the island.
• 5:58
  I could see faces in the fog and I could hear my men's gargled
• 6:02
  calls. For me then, leaving the
• 6:04
  lighthouse became blasphemy and the only instigator for my
• 6:08
  wretched husks movement was the rain.
• 6:11
  Mustering any kind of strength now felt absurd as I found
• 6:14
  myself looking more and more like the keeper as the days grew
• 6:18
  on. Existence was miserable in this
• 6:21
  new home of mine and I found myself spending a good amount of
• 6:24
  time questioning what really killed the old keeper.
• 6:28
  Loathe is a kind word compared to how I felt about this place.
• 6:32
  Escaping had occurred to me, but there were too many dangers
• 6:36
  lying out on the sea. I could have tried lighting the
• 6:39
  lamp at the top, but there was no whale oil to be found and I
• 6:43
  knew the drug was guarding the tower.
• 6:45
  As I went to sleep, I could hear them all laughing at me.
• 6:48
  The captain who killed his men, the captain who crashed his
• 6:52
  ship, the captain who would not let Thomas suffer another day on
• 6:55
  this cursed island. Then legs, I begged the island.
• 6:59
  Please, please let me leave every night it does not answer
• 7:03
  me and as the days stretch with not a single ship sighting, I
• 7:08
  know I do not wait for rescue. I wait for my judgement here my
• 7:12
  Barnabarn, my Mormer would say, comforting me in her lap.
• 7:16
  Every tale has beginning and a choice, right or wrong.
• 7:20
  Even though you are a very smart boy, remember to always look
• 7:24
  back at the beginning and try your best to make the right
• 7:27
  choice.