Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/p0vxx0/the_strangest_lighthouse_around_part_3/
Part 4: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/tqoga2/the_strangest_lighthouse_around_part_4/
“This will be the latest replacement, her name is Grizelda.” The suit stated, mumbling something under his breath.
“Nice to meet you… erm.”
“Grizelda.” The woman finished for me, shaking my hand.
“Right, I’ll try to remember that. Not too great with names.” Returning my hand to my side I turned to the suit, “Alright, kick rocks, I can handle it from here.”
Glaring at me, he spoke, “You’ll mind your tone next time.” Before turning to the door, letting it creak shut behind him.
“I’m sure he already filled you in on the basics.” My tone was neutral, as it had been for the past month.
She let out a slight chuckle, “Yeah, I’ll be seeing unusual things here and all that.” Her smile stood out like a lighthouse in the fog.
My face went stern, “You need to understand, this isn’t some prank on the new kid or anything. You will see terrifying shades while you’re out here. I need to know that you understand what’s at stake here if you slack on your duties. Death is all too present in this job, there’s been five before you since…” I paused, recalling Bill’s agonizing death, “Well since the previous long time worker here passed.”
“You’re really trying to sell this bit aren’t you. Seriously, I’m not gonna fall for it. Can we just get started on the training?” Her white teeth told me she wasn’t buying it.
I raised my voice, “Listen here!” I relaxed a bit before continuing, “I am telling you, this isn’t a normal lighthouse job. Average pay for one is just over one grand a month for new hires. 100k salary starting pay isn’t anything a lighthouse attendant would ever make.”
She’d gone pale, “Umm…” Her brain’s sudden overclocking showed on her face as she attempted to process what I’d told her. “You’re sure this isn’t a prank on the new gal?”
“Are you sure you read the documents before signing your life away?” I sighed, rubbing my strained eyes.
“Yes, of course I did, but I just figured it was like the government was trying to see if nessie was real or something.” There were occasional tremors in her words.
“I wouldn’t know if it is, but there’s a whole lot of other shit that is.” I paused, “Alright, follow me.” This part of the tour was generally reserved for last, but I wanted to ensure she understood.
As we reached the faux patch of grass, I pulled the lever, “You first.” I stated, gesturing for her to head down the now revealed steps.
Her right foot hit the first step when there was a squeal from the cell block, “Hey warden, you’re bringing us food already? We’re starvin down here!” His voice was etched in sarcasm.
“Hey, shut the fuck up down there before I decide to shoot you in the head too.” It was then that I noticed Grizelda had paused, “Well, you’re good. That guy’s locked up, don’t worry.” It took a minute after I finished for her to build up the courage to continue.
The overhead lights buzzed to life as our feet made contact with the below ground floor. There were shades lining the cells, most sitting or sleeping. But I saw the one who’d been shouting, its hands were slightly dangling out the bars. “Hey warden! Is that our snack?”
I walked over to the shade’s cell, pulled out my gun and fired. It fell back with a barely noticeable thud.
Grizelda screamed over the ringing in the tunnel, covering her ears, “WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT! HE WAS A PRISONER!”
I looked at her, baffled initially, until I remembered she’d only been on the island for 15 minutes or so, “Training rounds, don’t worry. He isn’t dead, the government wouldn’t approve of me killing one locked up.” I responded, loud enough for her to hear me over the ringing in her ears.
The shade got back up, waving one gray, rotting hand toward her, “I think I scored some points with her. You think I got a chance?”
I held the gun back to his head, then heard a voice somewhere behind me, “Just kill him already.” Then another joined in, “Please! He’s been a pain in the ass!” A third joined the chorus, “Seriously, I’m tired of his shit!”
“I’LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU IF YOU DON’T SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PIECES OF SHIT!” That seemed to shut them up. “Alright, Grizaldo, come look at this guy.” She just stood there mouth agape, hands still over her ears. I turned fully toward her, gesturing widely for her to come over to me.
She took a shaky step, before turning and booking it up the staircase. I chased after her, catching up right as she got to the top of the stairs, tackling her as gently as I could.
Her face radiated surprise, pain, and anger like a three for one combo. “LISTEN TO ME!” I screamed, trying to get her to understand, “You signed up for this, got it? There’s no backing out as much as you may want to.”
As she shifted under me, it began to click how insane I must’ve looked. When I got off of her, she stood up immediately, and I thought she was gonna sprint again.
“Look, I’m sorry I tackled you like that. It was uncalled for.”
“UNCALLED FOR!? NO SHIT IT WAS UNCALLED FOR!” She took a deep breath all the way down to her diaphragm, her voice quieted somewhat, but she was still yelling, “I don’t know what kind of scam this is, but I want out! If this is some sort of game show, it isn’t funny! I don’t care what you’re trying to pull here, but I don’t want any part of it!”
“Alright, I get why you don’t trust me, but you gotta understand. I’ve been running this lighthouse practically by myself for the past couple of months. I saw you sprinting and I went into fight or flight. At this job, people who run are generally the shades.” I finished under my breath, “Not to mention the adderall.”
“WHAT THE HELL ARE SHADES!?” She was back to distrustful screaming.
“Head down there and you’ll understand, look at what’s in the cells. You’ll understand Grizalder.”
“Grizelda!” She huffed, “And I’m not going down there while you’re still up here, you might just be trying to lock me down there.”
“Alright, I understand. I’ll go first, then you can follow behind. It’ll make sense, trust me.”
She scoffed for people on the shore to hear, “Yeah, trust you. Okay…” She hesitantly followed behind me as I headed back down the stairway.
When we made it back down, we headed down a few cell lengths so I could find one shade that couldn’t be mistaken for a human, “This is one of our inmates.”
She hesitantly took an eye off me to glance at the creature standing inside, “W-what the, what the hell?!” She stammered out, stumbling back, “What the hell is that thing?”
“That, my dear Griz, is a shade.” I stated, looking over the foul raven-like creature within. It reeked of rot, some flesh dangling from its beak, with molted feathers lying beneath the four foot beast.
Opening its mouth, it let out an ear piercing squawk. Causing Grizelda to cover her ears, shuttering.
After a few minutes, she put her hands down hesitantly, “I-is that real?”
“As real as that shapeshifter behind us.” I stated, matter of factly.
She slowly turned to see an empty cell. Quivering, she spoke, “I think, I think it got out.”
I spun around, “Holy shit, we need to put this whole place on lockdown right now!” I turned to bolt up the stairs, then turned back to Grizelda, “Did I get you?”
Her face was pale, and it looked like she was about to start crying, “You’re a dick!” She yelled, running up the stairs. I followed her up shortly after, worried she might lock me down there.
A few minutes passed of her adrenaline slowing before I spoke, “Alright, I’m sorry for scaring you. But you’ll need to get used to that terror response. If you’ll be working here, you need to fight, otherwise we’ll both be dead by morning. We take shifts once you get your bearings. But until then, you’ll need to get used to the night shift and your fear. The longer that takes, the longer we’ll be working together, which puts more strain on our bodies.”
She shook her head, “I really don’t want to do this anymore…”
“You’ll have a month before you can decide whether or not you wanna stay here.” I shrugged, mumbling, “Assuming you make it that long.”
“But-”
“Look, you signed that paperwork didn’t you?” Grizelda nodded, “Then you should know, you’re already on the rollercoaster. So either you can swim to shore now and hope the government doesn’t come after you. Or you can stick with it long enough to make it home safely. There aren’t any other options here, trust me.” When she didn’t say anything, I continued, “Alright then, let me finish showing you the ropes and we can get started on some basic training.”
-—————————————–
“You like coffee?” I asked as we made our way to the final part of the tour.
“No, I’m more of a tea kinda girl.” She said, still a little pale despite an hour passing.
“Well, coffee is your new best friend. We don’t get anything else with caffeine in it, and you’ll need it to prevent you from passing out after the adrenaline rebounds.” I asserted, proud of myself for how well I’d handled everything since the cell block incident.
“Rebounds? Or rebound.”
“I know what I said. We generally come pretty close to filling that block of cells by the end of each week.” I stated.
“There had to be at least 50 rooms in there. There’s no way.” Her face went even paler.
“Cells, and 70 to be specific. You’ll generally be dealing with four per shift, on average anyway. Sometimes we’ll get spikes of activity though. Only started happening a month back or so. We get shipments of tranquilizers now, so if we run out of space, just hit one of the shades in the cells with a shot of it and wait one minute. Then throw the new one in. They’re expensive as hell so don’t waste them trying to catch shades. Something about their genes makes them less susceptible to tranquilizers, so they had to come up with some new way to put them to sleep.” I looked at her to see if she had any questions, but she said nothing. “There’s a side panel at the bottom of the cell block stairs that’s got the tranquilizer. You’ll just need to scan your thumb and it’ll open up. Looks like a gun, should have 12 rounds in it still. There’s a small box of ammo up here that we can use to restock the gun every morning if we’ve used it. Double checking the gun is something we do every morning to ensure it’s always fully loaded.”
“So um… we won’t really need it very often will we?” Grizelda asked hesitantly.
“Doesn’t happen too often, but we will need it sometimes. Mostly just a precaution until they install the second layer to the prison.”
She shook her head like she was etch-a-sketching a thought out of her mind, “Okay, so you said there was some training we needed to do?”
“Yeah, just a minute, I need to show you around the panel, then we’ll get to it.” I stated, heading upstairs to the control panel of the light house.
-————————————-
As we finished our meal, I began heading to the staircase, “Alright, night’s coming, time to head up. Be sure and grab a mug.”
“Y-you don’t have one.” Grizelda stammered out, heading to the cabinets. She opened multiple before finding the right one, pulling a mug down.
“I leave mine up there, only wash it every few days.” I only realized how gross that sounded after verbalizing it.
“That’s pretty unsanitary.” She replied, heading over to me.
“Yeah, I guess it is.” I gave her a once over, “You don’t have your neck snare.”
Glancing down, she became flustered, “I-I took it off while we were training.”
“Well don’t worry, light house isn’t on so nothing’s showing up yet. Go grab it and meet me up top.” I began heading up the stairs when I remembered something, “And don’t forget your earpiece!” I hoped she’d heard me through the still closing door, and headed to the top floor.
Getting to the top, I had to prepare a few things before turning the lighthouse on. Since Bill had been the one to get everything ready before, I never knew there was actual prep work. All I knew was that I had to flip some switches and press a button as my shift ended. But now, thanks to the binder from all that time ago, I figured out what everything was there for. Three switches on the far left console, flip the left up, this started up the generator for the power used by the lighthouse. Middle switch down, this removed the casing that went over the light. Right switch up, this acted like adding the fuse, preventing the lighthouse from going over level 10. If we didn’t flip it on, the lighthouse could go as high as it wanted if we fucked up.
As the power began flowing, I double checked, ensuring the lighthouse hadn’t turned on yet. Seeing it hadn’t, I got ready to press the green button next to the switches. The moment I heard Grizzelda’s feet on the metal stairway, I pressed it, lighting the whole top floor.
By the time she reached the top, I was already sitting, looking out at the shore that seemed to grow further with each day. “There’s something about working here y’know?”
Grizzelda sat next to me in the other swivel chair, “W-what do you mean?”
“It’s just that, you look out across the ocean and land. But then the realization hits you, you’re looking at the same stuff as everyone else, but their lives are peaceful. We’re only a mile from shore, and yet…” I took a breath before continuing, “and yet, we’re experiencing a completely different reality from all of them. A life full of paranormal shit that even religious people discredit as being nothing but fiction. Even the so-called open minded people are ignorant to all of this.”
“Y-yeah I guess. But I mean, isn’t that good? I-I mean, I don’t think most people would be as relaxed as you with everything.”
“You don’t get it, I’ve been working here for months, anyone can become desensitized to something with enough exposure. If I was still scared of everything after all this time, I’d be dead. That’s what I’m here for, to show you the ropes until you’re not pissing yourself at any sign of trouble. You’ll get used to it or die, that’s just how things work around here.” I glanced at her to see if she’d respond. When she didn’t, I continued, “For the record, I don’t plan on letting you die, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you don’t. But if you can’t pull your own weight, then my resolve isn’t gonna be enough. It’s the law of the jungle out here. And I mean hell, if you do make it long enough to quit, you won’t have to worry about guys harassing you. You’ll have the aura of a war vet, with a “no fucks given” attitude.” I chuckled, trying to see if that lightened the mood at all.
There was a tremble in her voice, looking over, I saw tears streaming down her face, “Why can’t you sound the least bit empathetic when talking about me dying? This is so fucking terrifying, and I feel like you don’t really get it. This is my life you’re talking about, it’s like you’re expecting me to die but trying to hide it.”
I frowned, trying to think of the right thing to say. My head was still in a daze from the constant sleep deprivation. There was a long period of silence before I came up with something, “This is a brutally dangerous job. I don’t want you to die if that’s what you mean. But I’ve already had to watch the person who trained me die. He bled out slowly and was talking to me up until he passed. You aren’t the first after him, not even the second. Each person I’ve trained up until you, I’ve watched die slowly and painfully. I’m not adequately prepared to properly train you, nor the people who have come before.” A tear made its way down my face, “I’m really hoping I can do for you what Bill did for me, but I’m terrified I can’t.”
Grizelda turned to me, tears continuing to flow, “I…” She took a few deep breaths, “I’ll do what I can…”
Some time passed in silence before I heard a beep in my ear, “Shit, get ready.” I told her, standing up and reaching for my neck snare.
“Oh, uh, okay…” She pulled her gun from its holster.
“You’ll just be watching for now, only use that if things get hairy. But I mostly just want you to watch for now.” As the beeping shortened to every two seconds, I booked it down the stairs. As I slammed into the door, the beeping shortened to every second. “They’re on the island now, keep an eye out.”
“Alright.” She responded hesitantly.
Glancing around showed no sign of any shades. “You see anything?” But she couldn’t even get a response before something collided with my head. As my body slammed into the ground, all air exited my body. I was trying to gasp for air, but my lungs felt compressed. A shot rang out, and a weight on my back kicked me further into the ground. I was finally able to breathe again. There was a scream and two more gun shots before I could manage to stand again.
Pulling out my pistol, I looked to Grizelda who was pinned under… Megami. “YOU BITCH!” I pulled the gun from my holster, shooting three bullets into her back. She turned to me, hatred permeating her bloodlust.
In an instant, she was face to face with me. Megami attempted to grab my throat, but I narrowly dodged, tackling her to the ground, barrel in her gut. “I don’t think you realize what these bullets are. Do you feel it yet? Leeching away at the fibers of your existence? Three of these are a lot to take for one shade.”
Before I could continue, she flipped me onto my back, inverting our position, “I know a good doctor, I’m sure he’ll be able to save me. You on the other hand won’t have such a luxury.” She reeled back to punch me in the gut when a gunshot rang out. Blood splattered my face and I heard a scream. The weight of Megamis body falling onto me was more than I would’ve expected.
Making my way out from under her, I wiped my face with my shirt. As I stood up, I looked down at her, kicking her a few times to see if she was still alive. When there was no movement, I tapped a button on my earpiece. “Megami is KIA, she won’t be a problem anymore.” Then pressed the button again.
Glancing around, Grizelda was nowhere in sight. I headed into the lighthouse to find her curled up on one of the chairs in the dining area, “Hey, I need some help bringing her down to the cells.” She didn’t respond, “Alright, I’m sure I can drag her down there no problem. You just recuperate for a bit.” I sighed, making my way back out to Megami’s body.
Picking up one of her arms, I began dragging her body to the underground cell block. As I made my way down the stairs, I could hear shades mocking me. But as I passed each of their cells, they went silent. By the time I made it to an empty cell, all I could hear were my footsteps and the dragging of Megami’s corpse.
Leaving her in the cell, I shouted, “Let this be a lesson to all of you! Humans are more capable than you think! We may be weak, but we’re innovative! I could kill each of you right here and now, but I’m not going to! Stay silent if you know what’s good for you!” Then, I made my way back to the surface. But right as I closed the cell block, another beeping went off in my ear, it was already at one per second.
“Grizelda! Where are you!?” I got no response.
Looking around, I saw the source of the beeping, something that shouldn’t have shown up. Something we had safety measures in place for in case they came around, a spirit. This one was clearly visible, and even looked like a normal person, but the energy flowing off them like tidal waves told me it wasn’t weak.
“GRIZELDA, WHEREVER YOU ARE RIGHT NOW! HIDE IN THE TOP OF THE LIGHTHOUSE AND PRESS THE YELLOW BUTTON!” This attracted the attention of the water spirit standing in the center of the island. The situation wasn’t ideal, but I still had three rounds left in my gun. “I can’t believe this shit.” I whispered under my breath.
The water spirit seemed to only be passing by until I screamed, its head turned to me. The gaze that met my eyes was mania. Maybe it was an immature one, but based on its appearance, it seemed to be older than the oceans themselves.
The shade gestured for me to come to it. I raised my gun and fired, but the thing narrowly dodged the bullet. I took aim with both hands and took another shot, again, it narrowly dodged. “Man, I hope she heard me.” I thought to myself as I readied the neck snare in my left hand, gun in my right. Suddenly, the shade was gone. I tucked and rolled, turning to find it behind me, I fired my final shot. As it dodged my final bullet, I holstered my gun and white knuckled the neck snare in both hands.
The spirit gazed longingly at me before raising its hand. “GRIZELDA! YELLOW BUTTON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONSOLE!” I was interrupted by a burst of energy slamming me in the chest, the wind in my lungs being forcefully excreted from my nose and mouth simultaneously. I lost grip of the neck snare as my back thudded to the ground, kicking out the last few molecules of air I had left.
I gasped for air, vision beginning to fade, when a blazing flash of light kicked on overhead. The seizure-inducing flickering caused me to slam my eyes shut as I tried to grasp the straws of consciousness tethering me to the moment. When my breathing began to feel second nature again, I fell into a coughing fit, spitting out the mucus that coated my lungs.
As the flashing subsided, I opened my eyes and stood. Looking around, I found the button had worked.
I stumbled my way to the lighthouse entrance. Heading up the stairs, I found Grizelda in the fetal position on one of the chairs. “I’m proud of you.” I stated, sitting down in the chair next to her.
“Th-thanks.” She murmured out, maintaining her position.
“If you wanna go to bed you can. Nothing else should be showing up the rest of the night.”
“N-no, I’m fine. Besides, if I do, then you’ll be alone up here.” She extended her legs to touch the ground, still holding herself.
“If you’re sure. I’m gonna go take a shower then. If you get a beeping, just use the yellow button again. We’re allowed to use it more on first nights, so we won’t get in trouble.” I stated, heading to the stairway.
“Wait, what do you mean beeping?” She looked confused as she turned to face me.
“Shit, you never got your earpiece… You know the cabinet we keep all our stuff in at the entrance? It’s in a small charging compartment on the left wall of it. ALWAYS put it in before we turn on the lighthouse.” I instructed, before heading down to get showered off.
-————————————-
As I made my way back up to the top of the lighthouse, I found Grizelda, blanket over her, steaming cup of coffee in hand. She was looking out over the ocean in contemplation. I walked over to her and sat down, “Beautiful isn’t it?”
She jumped a little when she heard me, nearly spilling some of the coffee, “Um, yeah… it’s just strange… and terrifying.”
“Trust me, you’ll get used to everything soon enough. You’ve already proven your meddle. That woman you shot, that’s who killed Bill, she killed a couple of your predecessors too. She’s been disturbing this lighthouse for who knows how long, and she’s finally gone. I may have weakened her, but I would’ve died had you not been there. You’re the reason we live another day. Don’t forget that.” I tried to settle empathy into my tone.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but shook her head instead, “Hey… you mind if I hold your hand? Not in a weird way or anything, it’s just… you remind me of my dad. When I’d get scared as a kid, he’d hold my hand to help me relax. And I-”
I cut her off, I could tell she was about to over explain to avoid making things awkward, “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. My mom used to do the same thing with me.”
She rolled over close enough to grab my hand, “Thank you.”
I blushed a bit, “Yeah, of course.” It was an involuntary gesture. When she first showed up, I didn’t really pay attention to her appearance. But given the circumstances, I actually looked at her, not with a haze to prevent attachment, but actually at her. Her long black hair that glistened in the lighthouse lighting, her gray eyes looking longingly toward the shore, the freckles from spending too much time in the sun, the baggy clothing hanging from her frame. I could tell Grizelda was a long way from home, I was sure she felt it now more than ever.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop looking at me like that.” I hadn’t realized she turned to me.
“S-sorry, it’s been a while since I looked at someone as anything more than, well some doomed person. Not too sure why I didn’t notice before.” I turned back to the ocean, trying to avoid her gaze.
“Must be from all the dead people.” She let out a breath through her nose.
“Yeah… maybe.”
An hour passed in silence when she set her mug down and rolled away from me, “I’m gonna get some sleep, wake me up if something happens.”
“Trust me, if something happens, the beeping will wake you up.” I chuckled to myself. Turning to look back out the window, I gazed out at the ocean, watching as waves formed and collapsed under themselves.