Like a Lighthouse

I should have seen those rain clouds coming.

It’s kind of hard to notice things like that when you’re stomping out the door in a mad rush, and the only thing on your mind is getting away from your fighting parents. My parents have been going through a rocky time in their marriage, and have been fighting non-stop. Last month they finally got the nerve to go to a marriage counsellor, and it was this guy who suggested that sharing a nice weekend at the beach house for some “quality family time” would help bring us back together.

On the way there, my parents fought about directions. When we arrived at our beach house, they fought about where to put the luggage. And at dinner time, our meal was interrupted by my father’s cell phone, and my mother started to yell at my father for not turning it off. They got into a huge fight; my mother telling my father that he’s a selfish workaholic, while my father yelled at my mother for being a lazy, gold-digging, unappreciative woman.

I couldn’t take it anymore. It’s been almost a year having to live in a house where it’s World War III. Their worthless promises, vulgar bickering and past fights swept through my head like a hurricane, and in a leap of judgement I realized I had to get out. So what did I do? I slipped away from the kitchen table, slid on my shoes and headed out the door onto the beach.

I walked along the sombre coastline, right at the edge where the water lapsed onto the sand with every wave. I stepped slowly along the damp sand, and glanced up at the dark grey sky above me. Not too long to realize it was about to rain, but long enough to notice that the sun wasn’t out.

Many people think I’ve got the perfect life. They tell me, “Wow, Shawn! You’ve got this father who’s the head of a great company, a gigantic mansion fit for royalty, a mother who spoils you left and right, and the highest marks in the school. You’ve got the life.” Was this the life? If this was what it meant to have “the life”, then thanks, but no thanks.

I stared at the water, and at the ducks bobbing on its surface. There were a few older ducks with some little ducks; a family. They seemed so free and alive, unlike me.

That’s when I felt the first raindrop. It splashed onto my hair lightly. I barely felt it, but I did feel the second raindrop on my head, as well as the third, and the fourth, and before I knew it the sky was raining cats and dogs.

I looked around me in search of shelter. The beach house was too far away from me, and besides, I’d only be experiencing another kind of storm if I went back. As I looked around, a flash of light caught my eye. It was a building a few feet away; a lighthouse, it seemed to be. It was the only haven I could find. Without another ounce of consideration, I sprinted towards the lighthouse against the falling rain, soggy sand and rapid winds.

I came to a halt once I finally arrived at the entrance of the structure. It was a lighthouse all right, an ancient one. Rust enveloped almost every bit of metal on the exterior, while hostile vines choked the building in swirls around its tower. The windows at the top were chipped and so dirty I could only see the light coming from inside, but not the lamp itself. The once red and white paint had chipped off, and the lighthouse in general looked wrecked from the war of age. Yet there was a light inside. Was it truly forsaken? Probably not, but nonetheless I decided to go in.

I grabbed the handle of its door, and gave it a tug to check if it was shut. It surprisingly wasn’t, so I surged all my strength into pulling the heavy metal door open. I saw a porthole of absolute darkness through the entrance, and I slowly stepped inside. Only a few steps in and the door slammed into the entrance with an echoing bang. Immediately, the interior of the lighthouse was illuminated.

Fighting away the darkness were small balls of light hovering around a spiralling wooden staircase, where shelves of hundreds of dusty books encircled the stairway. I studied the wisp of light closest to me. I thought it might have been a special lamp, but it truly was a hovering ball of light. I gently touched it, and the ball came to life and whisked up the stairs.

It was amazing how something could marvel me and petrify me at the same time. With a deep breath, I ascended the creaky staircase and studied the books on the shelves. They were golden-embossed and ancient, their pages yellow with age. On the same shelves were knick-knacks and tools I could only refer to as magical. Whoa, magical. There were spinning tops, a triangular object flashing kaleidoscopic patterns, even a blue-leafed and red-flowered plant rustling and grabbing towards me.

My surroundings awed the heck out of me, I had always wanted to go to a magical place in my dreams. This blur of magic, though, made me feel like I was in a dream. Was this all real? It didn’t feel real, but even if it was a dream, I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

I stepped onto the top floor of the lighthouse, where the glowing light bulb stood in the middle of the room, but that wasn’t the only thing there. There were cauldrons, fizzing potion bottles, an abacus with fidgeting beads, a telescope and other such objects of sorcery. I was starting to believe that the lighthouse was a wizard’s study.

I gently passed my fingers on the surface of each object, until I got to the telescope turned to the window. I glanced at the window, and realized that it was perfectly clear. I had never seen windows so clean, yet why did they look dirty on the outside? More magic, I assumed.

I gazed at the ancient, golden telescope. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t help but put my eye to the lens. I focused the telescope and pointed it to the side of the beach. I stared out the window where I saw the dark beach soaked in rain, while lightning bolted through the sky. I could not hear any thunder, the tower must have been soundproof.

I closed one eye and looked through the lens at the same place I saw through the window, and my jaw dropped. There were people walking along the beach. I glanced back at the window, where I saw an empty beach, and then went back to the telescope, where the shore was definitely crowded.

I looked closer at those on the beach. They were dressed in old-fashioned clothing, with stockings and jackets and... eye-patches and pirate hats! They were all pirates! I focused the telescope even closer onto one pirate. He stood tall and stared out into the ocean, his wooden peg on a log on the sand. He was surrounded by a dim glow, and for some reason his form did not look solid. As if he was -

“A ghost,” I murmured under my breath. All of the pirates had the same glow.

“Having fun with the parascope, are we?”

I froze, and let go of the telescope. I had been so distracted by the lighthouse’s interior that I did not realize that, since the lighthouse’s lamp was lit, someone else was in there. I quivered, and slowly turned my head to see who it was. I jumped when I saw the figure of a ghost pirate behind me. His face looked old yet youthful at the same time; he had a long white beard, eyes full of wisdom, and a face covered in wrinkles, yet there was a boyish merriment in his smile. He had the same kind of subtle glow that the pirates on the beach had, yet in a way he was different. His clothes were more extravagant. He wore a royal blue pirate jacket with gold buttons and trimmings, and his pirate hat (that of a captain’s) had silver moons and stars. He looked like a cross between a pirate and a wizard.

I stood there agape, so terrified that I couldn’t move nor speak. He stood there, relaxed, smiling, even friendly, as he stared at me.

“What’s your name, sonny?”

Maybe he’s not mad that I’m here, I thought to myself. Or maybe he’s like a cat, he wants to play with his food before he destroys it... But stay calm, he can probably smell fear.

“M-m-my n-n-name is Shawn, s-sir,” I stuttered. So much for trying to stay calm.

“Shawn, you’re the boy who lives in the beach house, aren’t you?”

“Y-yes,” I stated. “H-how do you know?”

“A wizard has his ways for knowing things,” said the ghost with a smile. He gestured to the couple of wooden rocking chairs in the middle of the room. “Would you like to take a seat?”

With little steps I moved away from the telescope (or the “parascope” as he called it) and placed myself in the rocking chair opposite of the one he sat in. In between us there lay a small coffee table. I fidgeted in my seat and shyly stared at my feet. I suppose this amused the pirate/wizard, because I heard him chuckle quietly.

“Would you like some tea and biscuits?” asked the ghost.

“No, no thank you, I’m all right. I just had dinner.”

“Well if you’re hungry, help yourself.”

I thought to myself, Help myself? With what, there’s no food here? I glared at the once bare coffee table, which now had a tea set and a plate of cookies and biscuits. Why did I question? He was a wizard of course. Or was he a pirate? Who was he?

“You must be wondering who I am,” said the ghost.

My jaw dropped. “Y-you can read minds?”

“Oh goodness no,” chuckled the ghost, “that would be an invasion of privacy. I merely guessed you were thinking that from that confused look on your face.”

“O-oh, I see...” I felt completely embarrassed as blood rushed to my face.

“My name is Oberix, if you were curious about that,” he stated. “I’m a wizard pirate - a man accomplished in mastering the art of wizardry, while acting as captain for the pirate ship Dragon’s Pearl.”

“Does that mean you’re the captain of the pirates on the beach... sir?”

“Yes, in fact I am. I’ve led them as captain for quite a while now. It’s been... 400 years or so.”

“H-how is it that all of them are ghosts?”

“Ghosts, what a blunt way to put it. I’m guessing you assumed that after looking at the parascope?”

“Yes, sir. What is the parascope?”

“A parascope, but not a periscope, is a telescope used to observe the paranormal. So when you looked through telescope, you could see magical things that are invisible to the naked mortal eye.

“Shawn,” said Oberix, standing up and starting to pace the room, his arm hidden as if habitually behind his back, “how did you come to enter this lighthouse?”

“Well see, it was raining and I was too far away from my family’s beach house so - ”

“Not that, lad, I already guessed that part,” he said. He turned to the window and gazed out, while continuing to speak. “Tell me the reason why you were out in the rain in the first place.”

“Why I was in the rain?” Did I want to explain my troubles to a pirate wizard? He did seem understanding enough. I decided to let down my wall and explain my situation. “My parents, sir, they were fighting. They’ve been fighting for a year now, they’re on the brink of splitting up, you know, a divorce...”

“Don’t worry, laddie, I know what divorce is.”

“Okay, well we were eating dinner, and my parents started to argue. They were bickering and insulting each other, and... I just couldn’t take it anymore, I left.”

“Ah, that explains it.”

“Explains what, sir?”

“It explains why you were able to enter the lighthouse. Shawn, can you tell me what a lighthouse is?”

The question startled me with its randomness, yet my academic nature managed to kick in. “It’s... it’s a building, usually built on a coastal shore, used to guide ships, boats and anyone on the seas in darkness to warn them of danger up ahead. It lights up their path, in order to steer clear of peril.”

Oberix raised his eyebrows. “You’re a smart one, Shawn. Exactly my point. A lighthouse is used to guide those through darkness and help those in peril. You were able to enter the lighthouse because you needed guidance and to stay clear of peril.”

“But sir, I wasn’t out to sea, and I wasn’t in the darkness.”

“My dear boy, not all lighthouses are literal. Take the lights on the staircase, for example. They are lighthouse in their own way.”

“Sir, how are those floating lights on the staircase considered lighthouses? They’re not a house, and there was no sea.”

“Lad, not all lighthouses are houses, or lights for that matter. Not all lost souls are out to sea. A lighthouse is more than a building. They are guides for the lost, for those in danger of being lost. A lighthouse does more than guide those out to sea, but those who are in a large, overwhelming place or state. A lighthouse is not always a lighthouse, a sea is not always a sea.”

“Oh, I understand,” I said. “The lights on the stairs were lighthouses because they guided me as someone lost at sea, a sea of perplexity and a state of being lost.”

A smile spread across Oberix’s aged face. “You’re catching on. Something can be a lighthouse without having the actual meaning. Have you ever experienced a time in life when you were guided through the darkness, without an actual lighthouse?”

Searching in my mind through the memories of my childhood, an occasion stuck out the most. “I remember one time, when I was 6 years old. I went to the park one evening with a friend of mine and his older brother. We were playing around, and on our way back to our houses we were playing hide-and-seek. I played the role of the one seeking, and I searched everywhere to find my friend but I couldn’t find him. I ended up walking farther away than I was supposed to, and I became lost among the winding avenues. It was late at night, and all the lights were off in every house.

“Except for my family’s house, they were still up because they were worried sick about me. I saw our large mansion in the distance, the interior completely lit up in the black obscurity of the night, and I ran to it. They were so happy when I walked into the door... My mother rushed to me and held me in her arms and wouldn’t let me go...” A tear dropped from the corner of my eye, but I wiped it away before Oberix could see. The moment had made me emotional, it had been too long since we were a whole, loving family.

Oberix leaned his arm on the window, and looked at me with soft, understanding dark eyes. “You’ve been having quite a rough time with your family, haven’t you? You’ve been drifting apart, broken?”

“Pretty much,” I mumbled. “Sometimes I wish I could just leave, go someplace far away and never come back. They’d probably be so busy fighting they wouldn’t even notice me gone...”

“Don’t say that, Shawn,” said Oberix, sitting back in his chair. “I was listening to your story, and it sure sounded like your parents love you. I think they still do, but you’ve forgotten it.”

“If they do, they sure haven’t shown it. Could I, could I stay here for a while? In the lighthouse I mean.”

“Sure, I’d love to have someone here. Truth be told, pirate spirits aren’t always the best of company.” He chuckled to himself, but then gave me a serious look. “How long would you like to stay here?”

“As long as I can, I could stay here forever.”

“You couldn’t stay here forever!” said Oberix sternly. “This isn’t a place for a young teenage lad like yourself, you deserve to enjoy life, to explore all that’s out there.”

“Oberix, if you mind me asking...” I felt timid and odd asking my question, but it had been bugging me ever since I saw the ghosts on the beach. “How did you and your crew become ghosts?”

“It all began when we were still out on the sea, the great Dragon Pearl at large, feared and awed by all. With my crew’s cunning and my expertise in magic, we were a force to be reckoned with. We were having the time of our lives, our cabins full of treasure. High times, lad, how times, but we all knew it wouldn’t last. We feared our rival pirate ship Neptune’s Wrath would trail us and destroy our ship along with ourselves.

“One day I was leafing through my books of wizardry, when I came upon a spell; it permitted a person to rest on Earth forever, even when the body died. I performed the spell on our whole pirate crew, and it worked. We became invincible, until we came to this shore...” Oberix’s words drifted off and he stared into space, as if his long forgotten memories were occurring right before him. “It was a night like no other, a vicious tempest swept through the night and the moon was gone. The waves were enormous, and because the lighthouse, this lighthouse, was abandoned, I didn’t see the jagged rocks in front of the boat. We crashed, and our bodies were swept out to sea. Our souls remained here, but without a boat or any gold, there was no use continuing our journey. I took to lighting the lamp of the lighthouse and settling here, to make sure that our situation never happened to anyone else.”

We both sat there in silence, in our thoughts. I stared out the window, and though I could not see the ghosts, I somehow felt compassion in my heart for their troubles, their hopes washed out to sea because of their terrible accident. How could someone have abandoned something as vital as a lighthouse? Though simple and unappreciated, it meant so much for those who truly needed it, and whose lives could be saved with it.

After a few long minutes of stillness, Oberix broke the quiet between us. “Shawn,” he said, “how was your relationship with your parents when you were younger, before they’re fighting?”

“It was wonderful,” I said, smiling at the beautiful reminiscences of my childhood. “We spent every weekend together, going out to the park and having picnics together. We did everything as a family, and there was always a comfortable peace when we were in each other’s company. I never felt awkward with them, I could tell them anything.

“I admired my parents so much, especially my dad. I told everyone I knew that I wanted to be just like my dad when I grew up, he was my idol. But now, the last thing I want to end up like is my dad. I’m ashamed of him now, as well as my mom. I can’t stand being with them. I feel so alone these days, even lost.” A soreness bore in my chest, as if a depressing weight dropped onto my body as it had on my mind. I tried to hold back tears.

“I mean not to intrude on your personal affairs and imply my thoughts onto you, but I do feel that despite the fight your parents have been going through, they still love you. Just because they might not love each other anymore, that doesn’t mean they don’t love you.”

“How do you know that?” I said angrily. The tears I had tried to hold back escaped me. “I’ve looked out the window, and they haven’t called a search party for me, they haven’t gone looking for me. When I left they didn’t even notice I was leaving! They only care about themselves, they couldn’t care less about me.”

“Shawn,” spoke Oberix softly, “I think you should go look out the window again.”

I stared at him curiously, and realized he looked quite serious. I walked to the window and looked out at the beach ahead of me. In the distance stood my family’s beach house, completely lit up. The bright red lights of police cars parked around the beach house flashed in the distance. Was there something bad happening at our beach house? I had never seen anything like it... except that night I was lost when I was 6 years old.

“They did call a search party for me, they actually called the police. They do care about me... they really do...” I turned around and looked at Oberix. “I think I should go back now.” Oberix did not say anything, but only nodded his head and smiled.

I strode to the top step of the staircase. I looked around the room, and then glanced back at Oberix. “Goodbye, Oberix, and thank you, thank you for everything.”

“Your welcome, Shawn,” he said softly. “And remember, whenever you are lost at sea, you can always find your way back with a lighthouse.”

I was about to walk down the staircase, when a last question came to me. “Sir, how is it that I needed a parascope to see the ghosts on the beach, yet I can see you plainly?”

Oberix chuckled, and answered, “There are certain times when our eyes show us not only what we can see, but what we need to see.”

I smiled and glared down the staircase. I glanced back at the room, wanting to give Oberix a final goodbye, but he had disappeared. I descended the staircase past the small wisps of light, and opened the door. Wind blew into my face, but there were no raindrops. The storm had ceased.

Time had passed quickly in the lighthouse, it was already night time. The beach was cloaked in blackness, and the stars and the moon had not come out yet. All I saw was the light glowing on the horizon, a torch held up on a sandy hill in the distance, struggling to battle the darkness surrounding it. It was the beach house, and I sprinted through the dark to its familiar glow. I opened the door, the bright lights within escaped through the entrance, and my parents, who were standing in the foyer, rushed to me and held me tight. I was no longer lost, no longer at sea.