Bernie Glubb was a strange creature. So thought his shipmates on board the SS Northern Star. In twelve years Bernie revealed little about himself, not even the city in which he was born. Some thought he had a Scotch accent, others an Irish accent, still others thought he was a Yorkshire man. But he said so little it was hard to judge with certainty. However Bernie did have the reputation of being a first rate seaman, a hard-worker, a reliable pair of hands.
Now in 1901 he had acquired a job as a lighthouse keeper. Not just any old lighthouse, it was Innismor, the most remote speck of rock in the British Isles . A tiny, desolate and windswept rock forty miles off the South-West corner of Ireland
Even that long lonely two-day journey through the misty Mountains of County Kerry to the tiny fishing port of Sneem
Then there was the weather. Padraig knew that here a gale could come off the Atlantic without warning; he had many times seen waves higher than the lighthouse and winds so strong that a man could be lifted off his feet by them!
The lighthouse soon appeared on the horizon, a single whitewashed stack that seemed to rise out of the very depths. The bare rock it was built on was mainly submerged, no more than fifty square feet were visible above the water, but this was enough to send many ships to their watery grave.
Old Padraig manoeuvred their tiny fishing smack through the minefield of submerged rocks and dropped Bernie at his lighthouse. It was the tiniest patch of barren rock, apart from the lighthouse there was nothing here. But Bernie waved goodbye to the boatman and went inside. Old Padraig would not return for three months, in that time Bernie’s only function was to keep the light shining at night. If the light went out passing fishing boats would spread the word, another keeper had gone!
Bernie now settled into his new Island home. Outside the lighthouse a few steps on the seaweed covered rock led to the sea, so his entire world would be the lighthouse! It was a plain but functional construction on three levels. Ground level was a kitchen and storeroom, second level was a sleeping room, top level was the light room itself. Up in the light room even on a clam day the wind whistled eerily through the place, during a storm it would seem as if all the fury of hell was hitting the lighthouse!
Today was quite a calm day however, unusually a fog bank rolled in. In the evening Bernie heard strange noises, ethereal noises, almost like singing. Mournful, plaintive cries, almost human but still not human. Would could this be?
After a time Bernie plucked up the courage to scout around outside on the small patches of seaweed covered rock. The singing stopped, instead there were splashing sounds. After a time he realised that seals had pulled themselves up onto the rocks, they enjoyed the foggy weather and made noises that sounded almost like singing! When he approached them they had returned to the sea.
Everything about this place seemed strange, other-worldly, particularly at night. Strange sounds were always present, the cry of the various seabirds, seals, whales, the wind and also other sounds that Bernie couldn’t recognise. To a lesser man the eeriness of the place would be unbearable, but Bernie could stand the solitude. The only thing he couldn’t stand were his old shipmates and their never ending prattle.
The wind around the lighthouse was unbelievably strong; one day after mopping up Bernie threw a bucket of dirty water out the window without checking the wind direction. The wind blew the entire load of dirty water right back in, drenching Bernie in filthy water. He would not make that mistake again!
One night, about a month into his tenure there was a fearful storm. Bernie was no coward but tonight he found the securest place in this old lighthouse, the alcove below the stairs, there he spent the night. The wind blew as if it hard blown its last, the noise of the great Atlantic waves pounding the structure made it seem as if the lighthouse would be swept into the sea. To be out on the sea in this weather would be terrifying!
About an hour before dawn Bernie was woken by an odd sound. The wind it seemed had dropped slightly, but the sound that had woken him repeated again. It sounded like a low painful moan then a slithering sound. There in the darkness, just a few feet away. He heard it again and every hair on Bernie’s head stood upright. A pitiful moan then a pronounced slithering, as if something slimy was hauling itself along the ground. For a moment panicked thoughts raced Bernie’s mind. It could be a giant eel, or a sea serpent. And worst of all, it was already inside the lighthouse!
Bernie raced up the stairs to the safest place, the light room. He securely barred the door behind him and listened. The sound had seemed to follow him for a while, and then it stopped. Perhaps it had gone into the bedroom on the second level, whatever ‘it’ was. Slugging a mouthful of brandy from the first aid kit on the wall Bernie unbarred the door and went down the stairs. The dark stairs were quiet now, not a sound was to be heard. But Bernie could not be sure that there was nothing waiting there in the darkness, a moaning, slithering sea beast!
He paused for a moment outside the door to the bedroom, then lantern in hand he boldly went inside. The sight that greeted him he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams!
Inside a young woman sat crouched in the corner, soaked through and shivering. So that was the source of the strange sounds, it was a young shipwreck survivor! She had been dragging her exhausted body across the floor, hence the slithering sound.
Bernie wrapped a blanket round the frozen girl and carried her into the lighthouse. She hardly weighed anything and was able to climb the stairs easily. He laid her in his bed, covered her up and went to find the brandy. When she had recovered maybe she could tell him who she was and where she had come from.
The gale howled round the lighthouse that night. A real Atlantic storm.
Bernie had made himself a bed on the floor and he rose frequently to check on the girl. A couple of times he found that she had thrown off her covers and he had to carefully replace the blankets. During one of his visits the moon had found a gap in the dark clouds and its beams shone through a small window onto the girl’s pillow making her fair hair shine. She looks like an angel, thought Bernie, feeling a lump in his throat.
The next day dawned with dark clouds scudding over the sky. The seagulls shrieked as they rode the wind and dove into the rolling sea.
Bernie climbed up to his bedroom from the galley where he had cooked a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast for himself and the little orphan from the storm. He knocked on the door and waited.
“Come in…..please come in,” came a weak voice from inside the room.
She was sitting up in bed with the covers pulled up under her chin. Her golden hair cascaded down round her and Bernie could see that she had green eyes.
“How are you feeling?” asked Bernie as he placed the tray on the bed. “I hope you slept well. I put you in my bed last night. I slept downstairs…. ” Bernie knew that he was babbling, but she was so beautiful!
“How can I ever thank you for your kindness?” said the maiden.
“Never mind that, it was the least I could do for you,” Bernie said. “But what happened to you? Did you fall off of a ship?”
The girl lowered her head and Bernie saw tears begin to run down her face.
“Don’t cry,” said Bernie kindly. “You can tell me when you feel better.”
The days passed and the girl grew stronger. Her name was Persephone and she told Bernie that she was eighteen years old, but each time he questioned her about her history the tears would begin to fall and he would have to leave her to recover.
One night Bernie woke up to the sound of a harsh rasping noise. It seemed to be coming from all over the lighthouse and reminded Bernie of sandpaper rubbing over a piece of wood.
The lighthouse keeper ran up the stairs to Persephone’s room to comfort her in case she was scared, but when he arrived he found both her bed and the room empty.
Listening to the grating noise Bernie thought that he could also hear someone chanting. As quietly as possible he climbed the last flight of stairs that led to the light room. Nearing the door he carefully glanced in to the room, careful to avoid being seen.
Persephone stood in front of the glass of the windows and every rotation the back of her body was bathed with the light from the lamp. She turned slightly towards Bernie and he saw that her eyes were shut and she seemed to be reciting some sort of prayer. Its cadence rose and fell and at times sounded musical.
The rasping noise was quite loud and as Bernie was about to step forward, thinking that she was sleepwalking and lead Persephone back to bed, a nightmarish creature’s head appeared on the other side of the glass. Bernie shrank back in terror.
It could only be described as having the features of a huge slug. Its horns rose and sank and when it opened its mouth rows of small sharp teeth were revealed. Its head swayed from side to side almost in time with the girl’s intonation. Huge globules of slime ran from it onto the glass coating the windows.
How Bernie made it down the two flights of stairs he will never know, but eventually he lay down on his bed, covered his head with the blanket and tried to sleep. The rasping noise continued to near dawn and then it stopped and Bernie fell into a feverish sleep.
“Hey, wake up sleepyhead!”
Bernie woke to the sight of Persephone standing in the door of the galley. He sat up and rubbed his face. He struggled to remember the events of the previous night and wondered if he had dreamt them.
“I’ll get the breakfast on,” said Bernie, struggling to stand up.
“No,” said Persephone. “It is my turn. You have been very good to me, now let me help you.”
Bernie had never tasted such a good breakfast as the one Persephone prepared. The eggs were soft and the bacon crisp. Just how he liked them! He went up to the light room with a cup of tea wondering whether he would have to swing round outside later, on a bosun’s chair to get the glass clean. The globules of slime would have dried solid by now rendering the lighthouse useless.
As Bernie reached the top level and stepped into the room he was amazed to see that the glass which normally was slightly grimy shone in the morning light. It looked as if someone had polished them till they shone.
Bernie raised his cup of tea and took a swig. He felt satisfied even happy. With a cooked breakfast in his stomach and a hot cup of tea in his hand, why, he was ready for anything.
When he eventually went back down to the galley he found that Persephone had washed the plates and cutlery and they were neatly stowed away ‘Bristol
The girl was standing by the open door looking out to sea.
“Thanks for the great breakfast,” said Bernie. “And for washing up.”
Persephone suddenly swung round and placed a hand on each side of Bernie’s head. He thought for a moment that she was going to kiss him, but all she did was close her eyes and stand rigidly.Bernie felt the pressure increase in his head and then:
The sun was high in the heavens and the beach spread out in all directions. The golden sand, the blue sea and the green marram grass. Bernie knew where he was, it was on the beach at Brightsea. Looking down he saw he was a little boy again. He had a spade in one hand and a pail in the other and he was running towards the wet sand near the water.
“Come on,” he screamed back to his brother Billy. “Lets get these sandcastles built!”
The boys fell onto the sand and began to dig.
“I’ll make a moat!” shouted Billy.
“Ok, I’ll start building the walls,” Bernie replied.
Soon both boys sat within their castle watching as the advancing tide approached the battlements. Billy’s moat started to fill up and for a few minutes the boys felt that their fortress was impregnable. But inexorably the water began to dissolve the walls and they fell softly into the water.
“Bernie, Billy!”
They heard someone calling to them from up the beach. Bernie stood up and saw his mother waving a towel above her head. Why did he feel like crying he wondered? Mum was waving as hard as she could.
“Bernie, Billy come and get some sandwiches and lemonade!” Mum shouted.
“Come on Billy,” said Bernie. “Race you up the beach!”
The boys picked up the spade and pail and began to race up the beach. Bernie looked up at his mother up by the dunes. She looked tiny from where he was. Dear old Mum, thought Bernie. I hope she made egg sandwiches.
Suddenly pain shot up from Bernie’s foot. He must have kicked a rock. His foot was agony. He looked up just as the golden beach, the blue sea and his brother Billy – melted away and he found he was looking into the gaping mouth of the slug creature that he had seen the previous night.
The beach had been an illusion and if he had continued in it, would have run straight into the slug’s mouth and been killed. He looked down at the protruding rock that he had staved his foot on awakening him in time from the dream. Pain had destroyed the mirage.
Turning around quickly, Bernie ran back towards the lighthouse. When Persephone saw him running back she tried to shut the door on him but Bernie weighed twenty stone and was travelling fast when he hit the door driving the little girl off her feet. He swung the heavy door shut and banged the two metal bolts home. There was a meaty thump as the slug attempted to smash the door in, but the seasoned wood held.
“What the hell were you trying to do?” screamed Bernie at Persephone who was lying on the ground holding her head. “Is this what happened to the lighthouse keepers before me. You hypnotised them and let them run straight to that .. that monster!”
“I had no choice!” sobbed the girl. “If I don’t do what he says he will never release my parents and they will remain in his thrall.”
Bernie carried Persephone up the winding stairs to his bedroom, where he tended to a cut on her head. The girl cried as she related to the lighthouse keeper what had happened to her.
She had been travelling on the S.S Cyclone on passage to America Lancashire . The voyage had been uneventful until they sailed into the open water to the south of Ireland
A bright light suddenly appeared in the centre of the cabin and Persephone thought that it was an angel come to rescue them when a voice had spoken out of the light asking if she would put their souls into the charge of the light. Persephone readily agreed but the water suddenly rushed in and they were drowned. The little girl told Bernie that it was a peaceful death for her and she had looked forward to joining her parents in Heaven, but that had been withheld from her.
She had opened her eyes to find herself in a cave full of rotten meat and mouldering bones. Here she had met up with the slug like creature. He told her in offering their souls to the light they had actually become slaves to it as the light was one of his manifestations. Persephone was used by the creature to attract human beings to it for food. The slug had granted her the power to mesmerise her victims who through a trance condition were led to their deaths by imagining they were somewhere else. The true condition not obvious until the last moment when the slug’s teeth bit home!
Persephone wept when she recounted to Barnie, the number of her fellow humans that she had led to their death. Her parents’ souls were the bargaining chip that kept the girl carrying out the gruesome task, for the slug promised that should she stop, then it would hold them in a kind of purgatory where they would suffer.
Barnie left the girl weeping and went down to the galley where he lay down and began to formulate a plan. The creature had to be stopped, but how? It was semi spirit and any physical attack on it would cause it to become ghost like and avoid harm. There had to be a way and he would think of it thought Barnie as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Next morning Barnie took breakfast up to Persephone. She looked as if she had been awake all night. Her eyes were red and weary looking.
“Persephone,” said Barnie as he placed the tray of food on her bed. “Tell me as much as you know of the slug. Is it vulnerable to anything?”
Persephone thought for a moment and then shook her head.
“It can change its state so quickly that it would be impossible to attack.”
Later that day Barnie decided on a course of action that could, and the emphasis was on could, destroy the slug. He slaved in his workshop all day hammering and constructing.
That evening he went up to Persephone’s bedroom. The girl was sitting on her bed and looking out to sea.
“I can hear it calling to me,” she said. “It is hungry and told me that if I did not do what it wanted the next voice I would hear would be my mother’s, crying in pain.”
“I take it, it wants me,” said Bernie quietly. “Well I think it is time we gave it what it wants.”
Persephone looked across at Barnie; she had tears in her eyes.
“You would do this for me,” she asked timidly.
“I want you to call it and tell it that I am in your thrall,” Barnie explained. “You will accompany me up to its great maw and then we will feed it.”
Barnie watched from the lamp house as the great slug drew its ponderous mass onto the beach. It looked bloated and its body was covered with weeping sores. It lay with its mouth wide open displaying sharp, yellow teeth covered with mould and algae. Its huge tongue moved worm like and swayed back and forward.
Persephone walked by a staggering Bernie down the beach. He made out that he was in the middle of a very enjoyable experience as he got closer and closer to the slug’s mouth.
Just as they were about two feet from the monster Bernie turned to Persephone and said:
“Now, place your hands on it and propel it into a dream!”
“It may not work!” she screamed, but placed both of her hands on the side of the slug’s head.
The monster’s eyes turned a milky white and Bernie felt sure that it had succumbed to Persephone’s power. He turned round quickly and unhooked two clips from the back of his jacket. Wires ran from the clips back into the lighthouse.
“Now Persephone, be ready to run back when I tell you!” Bernie shouted, swinging the hooks round his head. They made a whistling as they cut the air. He let them go and they sailed into the open maw of the slug. Bernie turned and ran towards the lighthouse door, he pushed it open and running inside grabbed hold of the starting handle of the electrical generator.
“Persephone, girl, run as fat as you can!” Bernie took a firm hold of the handle and when he saw the girl entering the lighthouse gave it several turns, but it failed. Bernie cursed and pushed the primer pump a couple of times.
“Bernie!” wailed Persephone. “It is coming for us!”
Bernie took a quick look through the door and saw the slug outside the door. It was preparing to attack. Luckily the wires still protruded from within its now closed mouth. Bernie swung the handle for all it was worth.
The generator chug- chugged into life and Bernie heard a loud squealing from outside. The air smelt of burning flesh and he saw Persephone gazing down the beach at the receding creature.
As soon as it attempted to enter the water a large blue spark formed and the slug began burning furiously. The whole conflagration only lasted for a minute but all that was left of the sea monster after that was greasy scum floating on the waves.
Bernie looked over to where Persephone stood aghast.
“You are free now and your parents and all the other souls collected by that monstrosity are also free!”
Persephone hugged Bernie. Her eyes were full of tears that tumbled down her cheeks.
“Thank you. Thank you!” she cried. “But how do I know Mama and Papa are free?”
Bernie gently turned the girl round and pointed to a spot far out to sea. It looked like the sun had broken through and its rays were shining down onto the surface of the sea.
“They are going home, Persephone,” he whispered. “Heaven awaits them.”
Later after they had both recovered, Bernie loaded a boat with food and water and after helping Persephone in with him, he raised the canvas and together they sailed off towards the mainland of Ireland
As for the lighthouse, well, Bernie’s disappearance added to the mystery. Another keeper was found who was brave enough to laugh at the tales of vanishing colleagues and strong enough to keep the light burning at the end of the World.
…………………………………………………….+……………………………………………………………..
No comments:
Post a Comment