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@f3nixSource:https://steemit.com/finishthestory/@bananafish/finish-the-story-contest-week-50
Here is my entry for Finish The Story Contest - Week #53!
You can find the contest at:
https://steemit.com/finishthestory/@bananafish/finish-the-story-contest-week-53
Original Story
La Sentinelle
by @Brisby
Raging waves howled their fury against the granite of the lighthouse. Roiled by the gale force winds, the sea surged an endless barrage upon its foe. Beneath a canopy of leaded clouds, the frothy waters would accept nothing less than surrender.
The formidable tower, La Sentinelle, held firm to its duty. Dovetailed blocks flexed with the powerful onslaught to cleave the wall formed by the angry swells. Torrenting waters split, spraying up into the path of the shining lantern’s light.
Within the lighthouse, Hugo washed his dishes to the accompaniment of thunderous echoes. A seasoning of nine years had inured him to the turbulent storms off the coast of Hirveä. Most evenings the crashing waves were naught but background noise. Tonight though, he savored the violent melody of this final personal performance. Tomorrow the relief crew would arrive and he'd be bidding his post farewell.
Like the sea, time was always moving. Traditions of history slid away in the face of advancing technology. La Sentinelle's conversion to automation was cost effective and practical. No more need for a lighthouse keeper. Spreading the towel across the drying rack, Hugo clicked off the kitchen light. He chuffed to himself, wondering if he should get one of those cushy ‘tour-guide’ gigs up in Lutia.
Unperturbed by the waves that lashed the third floor window, he considered the packing he'd left to do. There wasn't much left. His plaid bedding and books could wait for the morning. Clothes wouldn't take long to throw into his worn duffle bag. The old radio would fit in there as well. It wasn't his but he figured that nobody was going to notice it missing. What did an empty lighthouse need for a radio anyway?
Hand trailing along the curved black iron of the railing, Hugo climbed the spiral stairs to the watch room. He crossed to the window, making a note to unpack his camera to take some pictures before he left. The low pressure front would have moved on by then and he could sell the daytime view to tourists.
Another monstrous wave broke against La Sentinelle's side. Subtle tremors shook the floor beneath Hugo’s feet as a wash of water blackened the window. He stepped back from the glass, feeling the tendrils of alarm creep along his spine. For an infinitesimal moment, everything went silent. Gone were the reverberating echos, the creaks from the wooden flooring, and the rush of his hastening breaths.
Sound returned with a vengeance. Sharp cracks and the shrieking shatters of exploding glass from below sent Hugo running to the stairs. The relentless sea had finally broken La Sentinelle’s defenses! Churning waters flooded in, rapidly surpassing the fourth floor. The lighthouse keeper watched the rising waters claim the fifth before turning to flee up the stairs to the lantern room.
Scrambling into the safety of highest room of the lighthouse, Hugo stopped cold. The beacon, that salvation for sailors, was no longer shining. Instead the room was awash with a haze of emerald light.
Here is my ending
He felt the sea roar under his feet, for a moment he thought of returning to turn on the emergency generator, but another collision of the waves on the outside made him stop.
"Apparently, it won't just be my last day at work, but my life as well."
A melody began to resonate and without knowing where it came from, his foot began to tap the floor to the rhythm of the tune.
A phrase over and over again, repeated in the background:
I'm waiting for it, that green light, I want it!
The green light was intoxicating. His hip began to swing to the rhythm of the music.
Suddenly, his body swirled around the large, damaged lens of the lighthouse. Dancing to the beat of lightning and the collisions of the sea against La Sentinelle.
He took a flashlight as if it were a microphone and began to sing, caressing with his honeyed words the light of the lantern
Thought you said that you would always be in love
But you're not in love... no more
He closed his eyes, his body knew the whole area by heart. He threw his cap into the air and let his long hair scatter all over his shoulders. He shook his head back and forth in a frenetic state of ecstasy, letting his hair strike his face from one side and the other as he sang even louder. Like there's no tomorrow.
Beams of light surrounded his body and others accompanied him in his dance.
"Hugo! Hugo!" They cheered to the sound of the song that did not cease in his mind.
He unbuttoned his shirt, and caressed his whitish chest, as he waved and repeated on his improvised microphone.
I'm waiting for it, that green light, I want it!
I want it!
Jumping aroung and bending as he wiggled his shoulders.
Two men rushed at him and injected him with a painkiller.
"Target secured," commented one of them on his communicator.
Finally, they climbed Hugo's body into the helicopter and moved away from the lighthouse.
"Poor man," commented one of the rescuers.
"Nine years in the lighthouse?"
"That's right," replied the other
Inspired by the song Green Light, Lorde (I've never heard it before, I just pictured Hugo last dance on the lighthouse)
Loneliness does many things to the mind ;)