The Lighthouse

At the end of my long life, i found myself on a old vessel i bought with my remaining coins, coins i had ammased with time and fatigue.

I had finally mustered the courage to visit the true end of the blue planet, kilometres away from the concrete roads and the gorgeous green hills that once formed my home city, now i was stuck in-between the crispy waters of an hostile ocean, all alone, with no one to embrace other then myself.

As i simply sat down with a chair to look at the foggy horizon, my tired and cataract ridden eyes barely managed to spot a feeble light stabbing the fog clouds despite it’s weakness: I had stumbled upon an abandoned lighthouse.

As my decrepit vessel continued to slowly float around aimlessly, i couldn’t do anything but admire the rotting wood building, it’s bright colours now completely faded and turned into a muddish brown, while the glass that once encased it’s luminous bulb was now completely shattered by the power of the elements.

The tower seemed as if it had been left there for decades, perhaps even a century, and yet it was still standing proudly.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.

The water started to move even more intensely, shaking the poor boat with excessive strength, i could barely even hold to my cane from how violent the waves had become. My vessel was getting ripped in half by the elements, and yet, i couldn’t take my eyes away from that light.

Despite the flickering nature of it, the bulb still shined with as much power as the sun, an indomitable force of human genius that withstood the test of time despite it all, i couldn’t help myself but shed a few tears from such a spectacle.

My cane suddenly fell into the sea, and as I kissed the vessel’s wooden floor with my dried lips and my long beard, i came to a realization:

I couldn’t get up.

My body was in pain from the fall. My potassium levels were approaching zero. My lonely arm could only try to push itself up, but without my cane, it would have been a futile endeavour.

I looked up with the little strength that i had.

I looked up at the lighthouse.

The lighthouse continued to weakly shine it’s light. Trying to remove the strong fog.

I felt as if it was trying to help me, it’s light maybe notifying another vessel of my presence.

I couldn’t help but remember those old times of my youth when i asked for help, and received none.

Now, powerless, i couldn’t ask for help, and yet, someone, or rather something, was giving me a thin line of hope.

I continued to watch the lighthouse, i still couldn’t get up.

My breathing was getting heavier, my heart started to throb to a point where my chest felt as if it had been stabbed by numerous daggers, my eyesight got even weaker, and the only thing that kept me company was a mere lightbulb.

I brought a phone with me before i started this travel, just in case anyone wanted to contact me.

No one did.

My friends had either all died, or age had weakened them to the point that my name, to them, was nothing more then a mere word with no significance.

My parents had long abandoned this mortal plain, with the only person left being my children.

I tried to be a good father, but the pains of my youth never truly let me be what i should have become.

Now that I have reached the final stretch, i was here, stuck in a boat that was just about to collapse, barely able to even breathe.

But as i tried one last time to look at the lighthouse, my eyes saw something: A child.

A child waving at me.

A child that looked just like me.

He was there, just waving.

Holding something i couldn’t quite see well.

Maybe a plush, maybe a computer.

I couldn’t know.

At first, i felt only a sense of confusion.

Then, i felt another sense,

Comfort.

I felt comforted for once.

I don’t know if i was hallucinating or not, but, his presence gifted me a momentary time of bliss.

I tried to wave him back, but my lonesome hand was too weak to even move.

I just smiled back, as he continued to wave.

Then, he left.

I was now stuck again with no one to wait for me.

I thought it was the end. The final chapter of my story, after all my time writing on a basic desk, with a boring keyboard, this was the true finale to it all.

I didn’t wanna go.

Then he came back with two other people who looked just like me, but at other stages of my life.

They also waved at me.

I smiled at them.

They comforted me once again, and, as the vessel finally broke, i finally closed my eyes, and let it all go away.

The sea calmly brought my lonesome self to a shore, too weak to even open my eyes, but just strong enough to feel the sensations: The loud yet soothing breaking of the waves, the wind that made the leaves rumble and produce a melody of pure relaxation, the coarse sand that was now all over my body forming a invisible casket to protect me, and the insects who, after god knows how many years, finally had something to feast upon as they bit my flesh away from me.

I should have been losing it by now.

I should be crying and shouting that i did not wanna go away.

My attachment to life was still Oh so strong in me. I couldn’t let him be forgotten, and neither could i let all the wonderful people that entered and left my life disappear into the ether.

I should have been fighting for my life just as much as i had done for the past 72 years.

And yet, thanks to those apparitions, my mind finally felt at ease.

My biggest fear in life was dying alone, but now that it was happening, i could only smile, and feel free from all the turmoil that i had to pass through my entire life.

All the insults, all the hurt, even my illness finally faded away, as i managed to slain it at the cost of my own life.

The planet was finally reabsorbing me back in to continue the never ending, majestic beauty that is the circle of life, i was repaying my debt with Mother Nature.

I was finally going back to my roots.