Lighthouse

by Jackson Parrish

Title

Lighthouse

Artist

Jackson Parrish

Medium

Digital Art

Description

The sun was setting, in a sky of grey and amber, as Robert Brinkley arrived at the island two months ago. The fog was thick, rolling off the sea like a blanket of shadows, obscuring what little remained of the light, though Robert could still make out the shape of the lighthouse, standing tall and proud against the night sky. He could just make out the outline of the building, the windows like eyes staring out into the darkness.
Robert was alone on this island, his only companion was the lighthouse. He spent his days gathering wood for a fire and fishing for food in the sea. He would sleep in small nooks carved into the stone walls of the lighthouse, but he still felt an oppressive loneliness that seemed to fill the air.
At first, Robert found solace in reading and writing stories from books that he had brought along with him, but as time passed these distractions began to lose their appeal. The silence was deafening and he found himself talking aloud to himself for comfort. His thoughts became muddled and confused, it felt as if he were losing track of time and reality.
The darkness encroached upon Robert's sanity like a fog rolling across a field of wildflowers, obscuring everything in its path until all that remained was confusion and despair. His mind wandered through dark forests filled with spectres of memories long past.
He would see shadows move in the corners of his eye, and he was sure that something was following him. He felt like he was being watched, as if eyes were peering through the darkness and threatening to snatch away his fragile sanity. Everywhere he looked he saw devilish figures out of the corner of his eye, lurking in every shadow that played across the moonlit night.
He wrapped himself in a cocoon of blankets and books, trying to ignore the whispers that seemed to come at him from all directions. He tried to stay by the fire during the day but even this didn't seem to help anymore and brought no warmth. The shadows seemed to creep closer each day no matter what precautions Robert took.
The days began to blend together into one long nightmarish blur until it felt as if Robert were living out a hellish version of the same day over and over wherein each dawn brought nothing but more despair, broken only by brief moments of clarity between bouts of terror and confusion.
In his last moments of lucidity, Robert realised that he had lost himself completely and in an act of desperation, he climbed to the top of the lighthouse and then with a final cry, leapt off into the night sky. He fell past the cliffs to the rocks below as if all his pain were there waiting for him.
The next morning, a fishing boat found Robert's lifeless body at the base of the cliff. As they laid him on deck, they noticed that despite his grim fate, a faint smile spread across Robert's face as if he had found peace in his final moments.

Uploaded

January 29th, 2023

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