Muse Wars Challenge 7 - The Lighthouse

Originally started by Melissa @ The Things I'd Tell You, the 2nd challenge was set by Tanya @ Madmother, the 3rd by me, the 4th challenge by Lori @Random Ramblings of a SAHM, the 5th challenge by Gemma @ sometimes you just need to vent. I set the 6th challenge and Lori @Random Ramblings of a SAHM won the right to set challenge 7 by being the first person to link.

Are you up for it? Anyone can join in, you just need to write a story as your interpretation of the photo in less that 500 words (although certain lovely ladies sometime go over this limit - LOL) within 72 hours. How nice would it be for some new bloggers to join in, it really is good fun.

She paced along the beach gazing nervously at the approaching clouds, her eyes sweeping the bay for his boat.

They had chosen this life after being told they would be childless. It was just too hard to stay living on the mainland seeing all their family and friends having children. They were happy for them, but every time some one had a child it tore their hearts apart. And so 10 years ago he had applied for the lighthouse keeper's position on this remote island, just the two of them living in the small cottage. Here they had healed, busying themselves in keeping the light shining for all those that sailed past. Keeping them safe.

They thought they would be here forever until just months ago she realised she was pregnant, told that it couldn't happen they had not bothered to use contraception. She was 40, he was 45 and yet somehow, against all the odds it had happened. This was to be their last week on the island before they moved back to the mainland. She was 30 weeks and the doctor wanted her close given her age.

As she continued to pace she found herself rubbing her swollen belly, trying to reassure herself and the child within that all would be well. It was just a quick trip, the waters of the bay were calm, he would be here soon.

The day had started like any other, chores to be done, steps to climb, mirrors to clean. Then he realised that one of the parts that drove the motor that turned the light had seized up. Didn't seem to be a big a problem, he rang the mainland and organised for the part to be delivered by midday. All it meant was a trip across the bay, pick it up and install it in the afternoon well before the forecast weather set in. That had been the plan.

Now it was getting dark, the sun was lighting the beach and the lighthouse in that beautiful golden glow that most days she couldn't wait to see. Not today, today she wanted the sun to stay high in the sky, but there is was on it's endless journey looping the earth. Slowly creeping closer and closer to the horizon.

She punched in the numbers of the phone yet again and still there was no answer. Damn their remoteness, more often than not the mobile he had would not work. Earlier she had rung the mainland and found that he had picked the part up as planned. Since then she had rung his phone every 10 minutes. He should have been back by now.

As she turned something caught her eye, she thought it was his small boat, ever so slowly making it's way to the shore, not where he normally would land, was something wrong?

She started running, like an ungainly duck, waddling and running, calling his name. It was his boat, but she could not see him in it. It seemed to be steering itself towards the rocks rather than the sand. She saw it all in slow motion ... the boat hitting the smaller of the rocks and flipping in the air. A motionless body tumbling out in the shallows, the boat landing on top of it.

She ran faster, her breath catching in her throat, his name unspoken on her lips and yet screamed in her head. Wading into the water, she found him face down in the surf ... still, motionless, just there. She fought against the current to turn him over, to see his face, her beloved but there was no light in his sightless eyes, no breath came from his lungs. Sinking to her knees, she held him close knowing that he was gone. The waves pushed her back and forth and still she held him close, to tired to do anything more. The cold slowly seeped into her bones as the sun set. The storm clouds providing a light show that would be talked about for years to come.

That night there was no light shining from the lighthouse. The lighthouse that they were told was cursed. They thought it was rubbish, they had been so happy there, she had conceived a child, but at what cost.

They found them there the next day, she cradling his head in her lap, one had on her belly, her eyes closed and so still, so very very still.