The Shipwreck of 1887
On the eve of her wedding, Lenora Hartwood vanished.
The daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate, she was set to marry a man she despised—a business arrangement, not a love match. The night before the ceremony, she fled in a rowboat, seeking escape. But a storm swallowed the harbor, and Lenora was never seen again.
Only one man claimed to have glimpsed her that night: Elias Vey, the lonely lighthouse keeper, who swore he saw a woman in a waterlogged wedding dress standing on the cliffs, staring at the sea.
The townsfolk called him mad.
But every year, on the anniversary of her disappearance, the lighthouse lens would crack, the beacon would flicker, and the sound of a woman singing could be heard in the fog.
1: The Girl Who Remembered the Sea
Over a century later, Mira Kelby arrives in the crumbling coastal town of Blackshell Cove, hired to restore the long-abandoned lighthouse. She’s an architectural historian, drawn to forgotten places—but from the moment she steps inside the tower, she feels something is wrong.
The air smells like salt and orange blossoms (Lenora’s favorite perfume). The tide seems to whisper her name. And at night, Mira dreams of drowning.
Then she finds Elias Vey’s journal hidden beneath the floorboards.
"She comes to me in the storm. She asks me to remember. But I don’t know how."
2: The Ghost in the Lens
Mira begins seeing a woman in white at the edge of the water—always at dusk, always watching. The townspeople warn her: "That’s the Drowning Bride. She’s looking for someone to take her place."
But Mira isn’t afraid.
She digs deeper, uncovering Lenora’s tragic story—and the fact that Elias Vey wasn’t just a lighthouse keeper. He was Lenora’s secret lover, the son of a fisherman, the man she truly wanted to marry.
The night she drowned, he tried to save her.
He failed.
And now, his ghost is trapped in the lighthouse, just as hers is tied to the sea.
3: The Curse of Unfinished Love
Mira learns that the town is built on a bargain with the ocean. Every fifty years, the sea demands a sacrifice—a soul to keep the waters calm. Lenora was supposed to be that sacrifice, but she resisted.
Now, the sea is restless.
Storms brew without warning. Fishermen vanish. And Mira starts remembering things she never lived—Elias’s hands, the taste of salt on Lenora’s lips, the weight of a wedding ring that was never worn.
She realizes: she is Lenora’s reincarnation.
And the sea wants her back.
4: The Choice: Love or Let Go
On the anniversary of Lenora’s death, the lighthouse comes alive. The ghost of Elias appears—not as the old keeper, but as the young man Lenora loved. He begs Mira to leave before the sea takes her, too.
But Mira is tired of running.
She takes Lenora’s wedding dress from the museum archives and walks into the waves, daring the ocean to take what it’s owed.
And then—the sea answers.
Epilogue: The Tide’s Gift
When dawn breaks, Mira is alive, washed ashore with no memory of the night before. The lighthouse stands whole, the storms quiet.
But in her pocket, she finds a salt-stained wedding ring.
And when she looks in the mirror, her reflection sometimes smiles back as Lenora.
Meanwhile, out at sea, fishermen swear they’ve seen two figures walking on the water—a woman in white, and a man with a lantern, finally together.
The townsfolk say the Drowning Bride has found her keeper at last.
Would you like me to add more lore (the sea god’s backstory, the town’s dark secrets)? Or would you prefer a different ending—maybe a bittersweet separation? Let me know how you’d like to shape it!
