Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

Beachcombing for Iron	By : dweller_of_roots Category: +G through L > Lighthouse: The Dark Being Views: 1025 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Lighthouse: The Dark Being, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
The two things we take for granted every day are sound, and light.
I started a book like that, once - Though to my own admission, the rest hadn't been quite as good.
The quiet tapping of raindrops, like fingers against the windshield of my car, only served to punctuate the intense solitude of the open road. I saw one other vehicle, total - tourists from another state, driving into the distance with glazed but pleasant smiles upon their faces. They'd come here sad, and left the coast happy - yet they'd still left, all the same. Swerving through a puddle as my thoughts once again my thoughts drifted to the other world - serene, isolated, peaceful - but mostly, isolated. As far as I knew, Liryl was the last human living there. Tourists tend not to make the jump between dimensions, at least outside their minds.
Pulling up to the Pier, I was treated to an excellent view of the cliffside. Jeremiah's beat-up old rig was already in the parking lot, baby-on-board sticker less prominent now that Amanda was a child - but still present. Barring the bicycles and cars of the employees, there wasn't anyone else there.
... I'm sure business'd pick up again during the summer. The doors whistled as I stepped through them, some electronic bauble telling the staff that another customer had arrived. Nancy, a waitress from the next town over, whispered something to Beth - the proprieter, and walked over with a smile. We'd worked together in the past, so it wasn't uncommon I'd step in here for lunch, though I guess I hadn't in some time. Holding up my hand vaguely in a attempt to wave and gesture to whichever booth the doctor and Mandy had found themselves at the same time, I smiled back.
"Wow, you look like a wreck! Doctor Krick and Amanda mentioned they'd been expecting company... Booth on the far left, the one with the wide view. Pass on that I'll be right with you - "
And with another slight smile, she walked back behind the counter.
They were probably wondering what the doctor was up to now. He'd become a bit of a local celebrity since the incident... Not that anyone felt it was anything but an experiment in electrical power generation, or something like that. And despite the shadiness of Jeremiah's work - he and Mandy had become pretty popular. In small towns like this, folks either stick together - or tear each other to shreds. And luckily for the doc and his daughter, it was the former. My mood having improved a bit at the thought, I navigated my way through boothes upholstered in a very unnatural shade of green - where Jeremiah and Amanda were leaning over their table and attempting to solve one of those menu-mazes that some resteraunts hand out.
... I don't know what it is with people here and puzzles, but the ones here are fiendish. Too many spirals and corridors, can drive you mad if you stare at 'em too long. Part of the local charm, I guess.
"Doc, Mandy! How you two doing? Crazy weather out there - the skies seemed to split almost as soon as I'd headed out the door - wow, that's pretty intense, Mandy."
Her gap-toothed grin staring at me in proud, Mandy held up the maze - which was almost complete.
"I solved it!"
"Dad helped."
The latter was tacked on politely, but in reality - Mandy seemed capable of pretty much anything she set her mind to. I didn't want to ask the doc about it too much - but I wondered if maybe there wasn't something in the other world that made you think a bit clearer, more deeply - or if perhaps Mandy was just really gifted. Either way, the smile on their faces was one hell of a nice change after so many days spent cooped up in doors. Why did that thought make me grimace..?
"You seem distressed, friend. Please - sit with us. I already asked for some cold tea to be brought out - I know it helps you think."
Damn decent of you, doc. I couldn't help but notice the two of them had already finished off fairly tall glasses of cloudberry smoothie - it looked pretty good, though a bit too sweet for my tastes. Still, as I toasted the two of them and took a swig from my glass - I once again felt a little bit better.
"Eh, not really distressed. Tired. Haven't slept much, recently. I guess, it's been all the rain - keeps me up at night."
Doctor Krick stared at me with the perceptive gaze of a scientist. I turned away.
"... I was wondering, doc."
The thoughts came out of left field, though they'd been growing unbidden in my mind, for some time.
"That machine - the portal."
My voice had become little more than a hoarse whisper.
"Did you... Destroy everything..?"
Anger blazed in the corners of Jeremiah's eyes. No, not anger - defensiveness. A hasty defense, thrown up to make certain that no one would overhear this conversation and assume anything, at least without knowing the doc like I do.
"Everything! My notes, the blueprints, the correspondances - all of it is, as you know, nothing but cinders in the fireplace!"
"... All of it, Jeremiah?"
Turning to make sure that neither Nancy nor some paparazzi'd materialize out of the ether, Jeremiah sunk back into his chair, shoulders sagging - in defeat or relief, I couldn't tell.
"No, of course not. The portal is still there - inactive, but yet it remains. I could not bare to - to disassemble it.
Maybe some time ago, in another life, I would've considered him mad, vain, or foolish. As it was - I understood him.
And maybe, if I was lucky - he'd understand me.
"... I want to go back, Jeremiah. I - I need to get my thoughts to a new place. I feel like my life is in stasis, here. Could it - would it be possible, to..."
I trailed off as the doctor watched the rain fall. It had become heavier, fuller with time - each raindrop a tiny prism of water crashing as a pale reflection of the waves below, now roaring against the shore. It was almost perfect - there would, after all, be a storm tonight.
"Only for a few days. A week, perhaps. It might not be best to stay in that place any longer. Curious as we are - it is curiousity in the first place that created our problems. I would not want to... Repeat those mistakes."
I nodded, not saying anymore - but hoping that my expression accurately conveyed my gratitude, and not just the exhaustion I felt. Maybe that's what he'd seen reflect in the rain - and taking pity on an old friend, that'd been enough to sway the doctor's mind.
... Regardless, the rest of the afternoon passed in idle chat and small conversation. Amanda proudly displayed her maze-solving prowess to Nancy, who promised that the next one would be 'even harder!' - to which the young prodigy defiantly proclaimed her intent to remain undefeated as champion maze-solver.
After we'd went our seperate ways, my wallet a little lighter and my mind a little clearer, I walked the beaches near the cliffs, looking for strands of broken shell and shredded glass. For perhaps an hour longer than I'd intended, my gaze was drawn towards the sea.
That evening, lightning seemed to strike a certain old lighthouse by the coast.
That evening, I left our world, once again.
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Beachcombing for Iron