An old looking ship sailed through the calm waves of the Atlantic ocean, its bow parting the waves like a living thing. The clouds loomed above, there were no signs of the mighty sun.
The boat was modest but sturdy, its hull painted a deep navy that had faded in patches from years at sea. A narrow deck ran along the sides, with a few lifebuoys and railings showing chipped white paint. The upper cabin, adorned with small portholes and a slightly crooked mast, gave the vessel a quaint, almost nostalgic air. It wasn't built for large hauls, just a handful of passengers and a few crates of cargo, but it moved through the water with steady purpose, its engines humming beneath the deck.
It had not left the shipyards long ago. But it was already surrounded by water from all sides with no land in sight.
A man was standing next to the railings.
The man had black raven hair that fell down to his shoulders. Neatly styled bangs cascaded over his face, reaching past his eyebrows. His skin was pale, and he did not bear any moles on his body. His eyes were sharp, they were dark in color.
He had low cheekbones and a sharp jawline. His lean body was covered by a white crisp shirt that was tucked into his dark trousers carefully, over his shirt he wore a light brown trench coat. He was slightly tall.
Standing next to the railings, he looked at his phone screen with a thoughtful expression.
[Levi where are you? Why did you turn off your location?]
[You mutt! I swear you will regret your actions once I find out where you are!]
Those were the last messages he had received before the service was finally gone. The sender was a woman named Seraphine. But it did not matter anymore, he was about to leave everything behind.
He had experienced too much.
The screen of the phone closed up. Then he wound his arm back, gripping the phone tightly, and hurled it into the ocean. And just like that, there was a small splash on the water as the phone hit the water and sink into the depths of the ocean.
Levi looked at the vast expanse of water in front of him for a while, until he heard a voice addressing him.
"Hey there, you must be one of the new applicants too, right?" Her voice was calm, as if she was used to approaching people without any hesitance. "My name is Mattie, what about you?"
The girl had shoulder-length brown hair that framed her face beautifully. Her messy bangs cover her forehead, reaching slightly past her eyebrows. Her skin was alabaster. Her eyes were beautiful, hazel brown in color. She had high cheekbones and a razor sharp jawline.
She was wearing a dark brown turtleneck with a scarf around it. She also wore shorts and some boots, as well as a pair of gloves.
"Yes... I am an applicant. Name's Levi." He only gave a brief response, not knowing how to reply.
Folding her arms behind herself, Mattie offered him a smile. "Nice to meet you Levi, I look forward to working with you in the lighthouse. It will be new experience for both of us."
Then she tilted her head. "Unless you have worked in one before too?"
"I haven't. This will be my first time..."
"Oh! You must be nervous then. What have you studied anyways? I read that this place only accepted people with a higher education."
"Medicine."
Mattie's smile faltered for a second, then she immediately fixed it and coughed nervously. "Uh... Levi, I think if you have studied medicine you would have many more job opportunities, why exactly are you here..?"
Levi did not answer immediately, and when he was about to speak Mattie interrupted him.
"Oh.. I am sorry for asking, it must have been a personal question, I did not want to sound insensitive."
Mattie was going to continue apologizing if she did not see the way Levi looked at her blankly, so she laughed nervously to fill in the silence.
"What have you studied?"
Her expression turned slightly somber when Levi asked that question, but she replied quickly anyways.
"Art!"
'I see.. so that's why..'
People who graduated from art did not have many job opportunities. It would be logical to simply look for other kinds of jobs.
"Do you want to come with me? I will introduce you to the other applicant."
"Lead the way."
Both of them walked to the bow of the ship, the cold wind caressed their skins, gently brushing their hair.
There Levi saw the other applicant that he would be working with who know how long.
Her face bore a sharp, confident beauty, with features that seemed sculpted for poise and allure. Her skin was fair and smooth, the kind that seemed untouched by blemish. Striking eyes, a vivid shade of blue, glimmered with both mischief and certainty, framed by long, dark lashes. Her hair was a faint shade of brown, with the end of its strands painted in a blue color. The ponytail swept outward, heavy and full, while shorter locks framed her face neatly. Her bangs were parted just enough to reveal her eyes, with the tips brushing lightly against her cheeks, softening the sharpness of her expression.
The girl was about to wave at Mattie, but stopped when she saw Levi walking behind her for reasons unknown. Mattie did not notice this gesture and walked up to her.
"I found the other applicant." She said as she pointed at Levi. "Levi meet Saranda, and Saranda this is Levi."
Levi nodded at Saranda. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah. Good to meet you too." Saranda replied bluntly.
Mattie, who found their silence decided to speak up once again.
"We will be living and working together from now on! We should get to know each other!"
Saranda was about to speak, but she was interrupted by the boat's horn.
The horn made Mattie flinch a little, covering her ears with both of her hands. However she removed them slowly as she gazed into the distance with an unreadable expression.
The low hum of the engine faded as they neared the looming shape on the horizon.
The lighthouse in the image stands tall and solitary in the open sea, anchored firmly to a solid stone base that's darkened by years of crashing waves. Its tower is pale and weathered, showing streaks of age where salt and time have eaten into the surface. Narrow windows climb up its height like silent watchful eyes. Near the top, a small platform encircles the red lantern dome, bright yet slightly faded, the only vivid color against the muted blues of sea and the grey sky.
This... was going to be their sanctuary for a long time.
And the source of their misery.
***
The three youths soon came down the ship with their baggage in hand. After them, several workers started carrying goods into the lighthouse.
The path that lead to the entrance of the lighthouse was short and slippery. Fortunately the ocean was calm today.
Levi walked ahead, making sure to take his steps carefully, the lighthouse seemed even taller up close. He opened the door for the two women to enter first.
"Thank you!" Mattie said as she entered through the door, next was Saranda and Levi was the last.
The room was in a round shape, the floors were made out of wood, in the other half of the corner there was a lot of resources. So much as though it would last them a year even. It made Levi wonder why there were so many, they had told them they were going to visit them every month and refill their resources.
Levi shook his head, clearing his head out of these unnecessary thoughts. The person who owned the lighthouse was no stranger, he was a very rich and an influential man.
The other half of the ground floor consisted of a bathroom. It was a shared one since the area was small, and it was on the ground floor because the water tanks were in the basement.
"Honestly, it is not that bad. I expected something much worse." Saranda mumbled as she looked inside the bathroom. It was indeed clean and looked new, the owner must have renovated the place while he lived here.
After looking around some more, they climbed up the stairs to the second floor. The stairs were very steep and winding, but it was not hard to climb.
The second floor was divided into three sections, each being a bedroom with a good amount of space for a desk and a built in wardrobe in the wall.
"Lets leave the baggage here, we can visit the next floors then come back to unpack!" Mattie said as she looked at the other two with a smile on her face. Without even waiting for their response, she left her baggage in front of her designated room and began to cilmb the stairs.
Levi looked at Saranda, who did not look back and put her baggage in front of her room, then followed Mattie.
'Weird.' He thought as he followed them after putting his baggage down.
The third floor was the 'living room'. It consisted of a couch and a coffee table in front of it. A tiny fireplace with a flue was next to it.
A table with three seats, which was was stationed right next to the window with a vase of flowers sitting on top of it.
The shelf was placed on the other side. It contained dishes, cups and several other things. There was a cloak on the wall that was ticking.
"So... does anyone know how to use this ancient relic?" Mattie asked as she tried to peak her head into the stove, but got pulled back by Saranda.
"I do." Levi replied plainly, then explained why because they were staring at him weirdly. "My grandmother liked her stove for reasons I never asked. Back in her house, she never allowed my parents to install a better heating system into her house."
"Well, that problem is solved then. Lets move on."
They climbed up to the fourth floor. Which was the kitchen.
The kitchen was little more than a corner of the lighthouse. A stout cast-iron stove, blackened from years of soot and salt, dominated the space. Its curved top held two battered pots. Shelves clung to the walls like stubborn barnacles. A small wooden counter, scarred and darkened by decades of chopping. Beneath it, drawers and cubbies held everything from utensils to bundles of firewood.
A narrow sink sat beneath a porthole, its water dripping steadily. From the stove, warmth radiated outward, spilling into the tiny room and chasing away the chill that crept in from the ocean winds.
"A little cramped compared to the other rooms." Levi said as he checked the shelves.
"Still it is better than what we were waiting for, right?"
Levi sighed as he closed the shelf. "I suppose you are right."
Then they finally climbed to the top floor.
The top floor was a small, circular chamber, crowned by the lighthouse's lantern, its glass panels streaked with salt and rain. The walls were painted white long ago, but years of wind and sea had yellowed them, giving the room a weathered, almost ghostly glow.
"Wow... compared to the other rooms this one looks like it has not been touched for several years now." Mattie pointed out.
The massive Fresnel lens sat atop its rotating mechanism, gleaming like a giant crystal eye. Its brass fittings caught the dim light and glinted with a quiet brilliance. The room smelled faintly of oil and metal, a sharp, clean scent that mingled with the ever-present tang of the ocean.
A narrow wooden platform circled the lens, just wide enough for a keeper to walk, lean over, and tend the light.
The three youths were silent for a while. Saranda looking down, deep in thought, Levi was the same, although he was staring outside instead of the floor.
Mattie's eyes were traveling between the both figures. "Lets go down now, since we looked everywhere."
So they did. Everyone climbed down the stairs and entered into their own respective rooms.
Levi was calm as he unpacked his stuff, placing them neatly into the built in wardrobe next to his bed. After checking out the place he was going to live in for a few years, he was satisfied with the results.
Even if the results turned out to be worse, it would not matter to him. He just wanted to run away from her.
In another room, Saranda had finished unpacking her stuff. She was satisfied with how the lighthouse turned out to be. The only problem was that, that Levi guy creeped her out. He had no life in his eyes, as if he was a walking corpse. It was how she viewed him after looking at his eyes.
Eyes were the mirror to the soul after all.
Mattie had come out her room rather quickly after unpacking. She did not like being all alone in a cramped place like that, it felt quite frightening. On the other hand, she was happy with how the interior of the lighthouse turned out too. Her co-workers were good people too, from what she could understand.
***
Some time later, the three youths were standing in the entrance of the lighthouse, watching the ship leave. They were now stuck here for a month, if they wanted to, they could go back. However they could stay too.
This lighthouse was bought by a rich man a while ago, but after some time passed, the man decided that he could not live here and he would pay three people to operate it in his stead. These people were now the three of them.
After the boat disappeared in the horizon, the trio gathered in the living room. Each sitting on a chair around the table.
"Since we are going to work together from now on, lets introduce ourselves from the scratch!" Mattie clapped her hands together as she spoke up, but after seeing that none of the other two spoke up, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I will go first."
"My name is Mattie, but you guys can call me Matt! I am twenty-four! I have studied art, although I could never find a job, so here I am with you guys."
"Levi. I am twenty four too. I studied medicine in Oxford, but I never got the chance to work due to some reasons. I am here because I just wanted some peace."
Levi's answer intrigued Saranda. He had studied in one of the most prestigious universities yet he never got the chance to work? Something was fishy here.
"Name's Saranda. I am twenty-five. I am a firearm engineer, at least was. It was not the best job I could have chosen."
"It is very nice to meet you both! Lets get along!" Mattie said enthusiastically. The night had come, and they were going to spend their first night in the lighthouse.