The Frozen Ghost

Victoria

The cold wind whispered in to my ears and the waves crashed against the rocks shattering into a thousand tiny droplets on to my face. The sea was getting restless, I thought and pulled my hat deeper on to my head so it would not fly away. I was sitting on the warm rock and the autumn sun burned my bare legs and arms but the wind came from north foreshadowing winter’s come. My fishing rod quivered attached between rocks beside me but it attracted few fish. I stared at the sea and the tiny island, with a big and beautiful old lighthouse, in the horizon. It was called Beacon Island. During my 19-years of life I had never seen any light in there, it had been abandoned for a long time, I figured. I sighed and stood up trying to pull my long dress down so it would not rise in the wind. I grabbed the metal bucket beside me and examined the two tiny perch inside it.

“You go back now”, I told them and flipped the bucket so that the minnows dropped out with the little water in it, down back into the sea. Before they reached the water the wind grabbed them and for a while it looked as if they were dancing in the air. I took my fishing rod from between the rocks and reeled the line in. Then I climbed down the slippery, black stones to the sandy shoreline and started making home with the rod in one hand and the empty bucket in the other. The autumn sun had warmed up the sand and it felt nice under my bare feet.

I did not get far before I noticed someone approaching me along the shoreline. I stopped and squinted my eyes. The blond strands of hair too short to reach my braid were pushed on to my face by the wind and I could not see well. I was able to make out the person only when she was really close to me. I saw how a dark-haired young girl jumped towards me. She was wearing a denim overalls and a burgundy shirt under it. She was waving at me and I waved back. I did not remember seeing her before and in our closed island everyone knew each other. Beside the girl strutted a huge, furry Bernese Mountain Dog with its pink tongue lolling out as it went.

The girl stopped in front of me and the dog halted beside her obediently. The animal looked at me curiously.

“Hello!” The girl blurted out a loud greeting and tilted her head to the side smiling.

“Hey”, I answered unsure.

“You aren’t afraid of dogs, are you?” She asked. Her short, dark hair was swirling wildly in the wind. I shook my head and the girl muttered a release command to the dog. Right away, the big dog jumped and ran to me happily. It circled me sniffing and wagging its tail, licking my legs. I would have crouched to pet the creature if my hands were not full.

“My name is Annie. We just moved here, or not here but there”, the girl explained and pointed the island were the lighthouse was. I looked at her puzzled.

“I am Victoria. You moved into the old lighthouse? No one’s been there in decades.”

“I know. We rented a cabin here and will live in this island as long as it takes to renovate the lighthouse. Mom and dad plan to make it our home but an attraction to visitors at the same time”, she went on exited. I did not like what I was hearing, I did not care for outsiders, they scared me.

“Tell me, Victoria. Could we become friends? I haven’t seen anybody of my age in the island but you”, Annie inquired. I nodded smiling, even though, I gathered she was at least three years younger than me. Annie returned the smile.

We became good friends with Annie quickly regardless of the age gap. Annie turned out to be five years younger than me but mature for her age. We spent a lot of time on the beach even though the weather had gotten chill and the temperature dropped on the minus during nights. Bambam, Annies’s Bernese Mountain Dog, was always with us and I liked the dog a lot. I had been an animal lover since birth and my family had always kept pets such as sheep, chicken and cats and our neighbor had three Shetland Ponies. I was raised with animals. Bambam was a well-trained, little dumb but cute, big fur ball who adored his owner. Bambam also had a deep love for ball games. Annie once showed me Bambam’s ball collection she had under her bed in a shoe box. It was filled with different sized and colored balls that Bambam had found. Every time we went for a walk he seemed to find something resembling a ball.

Four weeks went by and the cotton-like first snow fell gently in to the ground covering the brown grass burned by the sun. The renovation of the lighthouse was ready and Annie invited me to a sleepover in her new home in Beacon Island. My parents were fond of my new friend and gave me the permission right away. Of course, I was old enough to make my own decisions but I still respected them highly and asked their opinion every time before doing anything. So I, Annie and her mom and dad, we took a rowboat to Beacon Island. After the cove would freeze during winter, we would be able to walk on the ice and get to the island that way. Annie’s parents let us get off the boat and then they turned and rowed away. They had agreed to us spending the night in the lighthouse alone. I found it very exiting!

The lighthouse looked tall and robust in the winter sun. I had never seen it so close up. The outer surface was decayed and rough and the rock underneath was covered in slippery, black ice. The door inside opened with a creak and everywhere smelled of detergent and chloride. Interior stone walls had been painted with light and colorful tones and there were paintings on the walls that depicted old sailing ships at sea. There was new, modern furniture and it looked like any house, really. Although, I had no clue as to what lighthouses would normally look like on the inside. My grandmother and grandfather had told us not to go to Beacon Island when we were little, I did not recall why. Nevertheless, there had been so many things to do in our own island that I guess it was why we never even tried coming here to see the lighthouse back then.

Long stairs crept up the walls all the way to the top. I followed Annie as she introduced her new home to me. On the very top, there was the beacon I had never seen lit. Around us circled big windows and the scene was breathtaking. In a bright day like that you could see so far. I had never imagined anything like that. Winter sky was clear and baby blue, the sunlight was reflected by the sea and I could make out all the nearby islands. I found our house peeking in the distance, it looked very different than the picture I had in my mind. I saw sheep pacing slowly across the island, scrabbling the thin layer of snow in order to find dry branches under it. Two hungry seagulls flew over the sea searching for a meal. I admired the beauty of the landscape and felt a little sting of jealousy due to the fact that Annie had the privilege to live in a place like that.

At the nightfall we made a little nest from blankets to the couch and stayed there munching treats and playing card games. Bambam lay beside the couch under our feet begging for scratches. He had already given up what came to the treats as he knew we did not share our food. It was pitch-black outside but inside we had a dim light and a couple of orange, beeswax candles burning on the coffee table. After the serene day the wind was now rising and we could hear it whistling through the walls. The hand on the clock had already passed midnight and the temperature inside seemed to be dropping so we dug even deeper under our blankets.

We were just starting a new game when the lights suddenly flickered.

“Oh, it seems like it’s going to be a stormy night”, Annie said and kept dealing. The lights flickered again and were then cut off completely. A frightening darkness swallowed everything around us and I could see nothing but the candles on the table and Bambam’s face beside them. The dog got up and started pacing around whining.

“Phew, lucky we had the candles otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see anything”, Annie said jumping off the couch and dropping her gray blanket on the floor. I felt anxious as I did not like the dark. To be honest, I was scared of the dark.

“Come Bambam!” Annie whistled. “We have our own generator but I can only access it from the outside. Don’t worry, I try to get it working and we’ll have the light back in no time”, she assured me and grabbed her dog by the neck fur gently to guide him to the door. But Bambam disagreed. He got free and started growling at the door. It was too black for me to really see the dog well but I heard from his voice that the hair on his back rose up. I got up and stumbled towards the girl and the dog. Annie sighed theatrically at the dog and opened the door. The strong wind forced itself in and messed up my long, blond hair.

It was dark outside but the thin snow shined a little. I was terrified and froze in my place. Even though, it did not feel too cold outside, the sea was frozen! Waves had turned into clear ice in the middle of movement and the wind made the light powder snow swirl on it. The dim moon was shining through the stormy clouds in the sky.

“It’s not possible”, Annie whispered and stared at the sea as if she was bewitched. I knew, I looked the same. Right then, I saw a figure gliding through the ice towards us. It was a man wearing a giant raincoat. He stretched his arms towards us and lifted his head so we could see that under the hood there were no face at all, just black emptiness.

“Get inside, Victoria! Now!” Annie yelled and pulled my arm. My legs felt as if they had turned into liquid and I could not move. Annie managed to get me moving nevertheless, and pulled me inside closing the door behind us. She was panting in horror.

“What was that?” I was able to ask. Bambam snugged himself against my legs and whined scared. Even in the darkness, I could see that the stress had made dandruff appear on the dog’s fur.

“I don’t know. Lets climb up, I feel safer there than at the ground-level”, Annie answered and we stumbled up the stairs. We were so scared we stayed up till morning staring into the darkness outside through the windows, baffled by the frozen sea, listening to the wind howl around us. In the end, the tiredness won and we fell asleep clinging to each other. My eyes closed and I was carried into a frightening and confusing nightmare where the man without a face chased me. To me, he looked like a lighthouse keeper. I had never believed in ghosts but then again, maybe they were real after all?

After that night we did not want to spent another night in the lighthouse. I noticed that Annie had lost a lot of weight and looked more pale every day. I did not look too good myself either. The sea was not frozen and my mom and dad said it never had been. Had we just imagined everything?

Winter went and spring came. Everything turned to normal but I kept seeing nightmares. The lighthouse keeper’s ghost came to me in my dreams every night and at some point I started talking to him. The faceless man assured me that Annie was plotting something sinister. He told me that Annie planned to drown me. I did not understand why I was having such horrible dreams. I started avoiding Annie and we were together rarely anymore.

Grandma refused to talk about Beacon Island. When I asked her why she had forbidden me to go there when I was a child, she only said:

“That place doesn’t have a pleasant history. Let it go, it’s all in the past now.”

Grandpa was easier to persuade into talking. He told me that a long time ago there was a keeper in the lighthouse. Living there with his wife and daughter. One night the beacon was not lit and people became worried so they went to the lighthouse to check what was going on and found the wife and the daughter dead inside. The lighthouse keeper was never found and people were telling stories that he killed his wife and daughter and fled. Some said that he had gone mad in his isolated island as he had been a sort of a hermit, never socializing with anyone else but his family. I felt shivers down my spine. After hearing the story, I was sure, I would never go back to Beacon Island.

Summer came and my nightmares stopped. Mom was worried that I had fallen sick, so thin and pale I was. I tried to eat better and hoped that the sun would give me a healthy tan. I was sure, I would get brisker now when I was able to tend to the flowers and animals and go to the beach and enjoy the warmth. We became friends with Annie again, forgetting the past winter. I was not sure why our friendship had fallen out, because of my nightmares? All the sorrows brought by the harsh winter had been swept away by the summer’s sun and I enjoyed my friend. Actually, Annie was more like a sister to me. We were even closer than we had been last autumn.

After some time, Annie managed to talk me over to going to Beacon Island. And we had a great day there playing games and fishing. However, when the sun started to set in the horizon, we made our way back in a rowboat as I was still not ready to spent a night in there. The water was gently rippling against the boat and the droplets on the oars glistened in an orange hue in the setting sun as Annie rowed forward in the cove. Somewhere far away a seagull started laughing. I let my eyes close and felt the warmth. I loved summer. I was just thinking about the little fish I had gotten and that I would offer them to my two cats for supper as suddenly, I lost balance and fell in to the water forcefully. I opened my eyes but they could only see the chill sea water everywhere. I felt my lungs filling with it. I panicked and started scooping the water around me in order to find back to the surface. Then, something hard struck my head and I spun deeper. I knew, I would drown if I did not get to the surface soon.

It felt like an eternity as I spiraled around in the water. I tried to follow the sunlight coming through the surface. Finally, I managed to get my head above the water and immediately started coughing. My head was spinning and it was hard to see at first. I was afraid I would pass out. Then I calmed down and saw that our boat was floating beside me turned over. Annie held on to it and looked at me:

“I bumped into something”, she said calmly. I nearly drowned but the girl had made no effort of saving me, I thought in terror. Or was it just my imagination? She had been in danger too. Suddenly, I felt something brush my leg. I looked down and saw an empty face deep in the water. Black face, the lighthouse keeper’s face. I heard a blaming voice echoing in my mind: She did it on purpose. She tried to drown you.

I started screaming and shaking my legs in horror so that the ghost would let me go.

“What’s wrong?” Annie asked. I calmed down and looked at the water again and there was nothing in there. I shook my head. I did not want to tell the girl what I had seen.

The next night I could not sleep. Had Annie really tried to kill me? She was an outsider in our little community, after all, I had to remember that. My dad had often reminded me, that you could not trust outsiders.

Days went by and I asked my mom to tell Annie I was not feeling well and did not want to see anyone. Mom was worried. She said I looked feverish. I was having nightmares about the lighthouse keeper again. I was so afraid to fall asleep I tried to keep myself awake with excessive amounts of coffee but in the end, I always got too tired and the dream world took a victory over me. The nightmarish, faceless ghost would find me and assure me that my best friend was trying to kill me. She will try again. Beware! You need to defend yourself.

That day the weather was calm and warm, the sky clear and bright. But the air was still and felt like it was preceding a thunder storm. I sat on the rock like so often, on the beach wearing my summer hat. I looked at my bare legs that were pale. I had no tan. Maybe I had spent too much time inside that summer. My eyes met the towering lighthouse in the horizon. How was Annie doing, I wondered to myself. I sighed and closed my eyes. The sun shined through my eyelids and turned my world into a lovely yellow dream. The air smelled of sea shells. Minutes went by and I almost fell asleep. Suddenly, my skin turned cold and I felt goosebumps on my arms. I opened my eyes and the yellow was gone, the whole scene was bland and gray. After a while, my eyes grew accustomed to the brightness and I saw that the sea was frozen. I screamed and pulled the fishing rod in my hand but the line would not rise. It had stuck to the frozen waves. I dropped the fishing rod and stumbled up on the icy rock. My toes were freezing. I raised my hands to my chest and tried to warm them up. Then I heard someone yell to me:

“Hey Victoria! What are you doing there?” Annie was standing in the frozen, hard sand on the shoreline with bare feet, hands wrapped around her and wearing a green summer dress. She started making her way up the rocks and I immediately panicked. She could easily push me into the sea and I could get really hurt falling and hitting my head on the rock or the ice.

“Don’t come!” I screamed to her and she looked puzzled. She stopped but only for a second and then continued climbing up. I grabbed the knife I used to gut the fish, and hid it behind my back.

Soon Annie was standing right in front of me, looking straight into my eyes. Her eyes were pale blue like ice.

“Are you alright?” She asked carefully.

“Don’t come near me!” I yelled and tried to back off but I lost my balance and almost fell. I was slipping on the black ice and panicked. I plunged forward with all I got and stroke the small, sharp knife right in to Annie’s chest. Her eyes grew large and she was staring at me in shock. Then she opened her mouth and bright red blood gushed from her lips. I snapped out of my fear and closed her into my arms.

 “No, no, no, no, I’m sorry Annie...” I kept repeating and hugged her while her body turned lifeless in my hands. I saw something in the corner of my eye. I slowly turned my head and there he was: the lighthouse keeper’s ghost in his big raincoat. Even though, he had no face, I could feel him smiling. He turned his back to me slowly and started disappearing towards the sea. The water behind him broke free as he went and the waves crushed against the rock. The heat of the sun returned agonizing and I felt sweat gathering on my forehead. Then I heard a sad whining and looked down. The big, black Bernese Mountain Dog stood there hopeless with a yellow tennis ball in his mouth.