Entry 1

Diary 

I can’t find them. I searched high and low but no one is here but me. I called and called and called but there was no answer. I had to finish up all the chores by myself. 

There’s a big storm coming in. I heard it on the forecast first and then it rolled in around noon. I can hardly see anything that’s out there; the winds are so strong and the rains are too thick. On top of that the light stopped spinning again. I had to spend the greater half of today fixing it, and then the jetty but I’ll get to that in a bit. 

At first I thought the screws were loose, so I tightened them all, then I thought it needed more oil, so I oiled it. Then I had to pretty much pull the whole thing apart. I noted the details in the report so there’s no need to write them all down here as well. I think I inhaled some mercury as well… the basin was open for too long and I don’t know how much exposure I got. I’m hoping it will be fine. They're coming for me after this storm. I know they’ll be here. 

“Someone will always come lookin’,” is what Charis always said when I first arrived. So no matter how bad I fuck up someone will come. I just have to keep on remembering that. 

I found Umin’s diary on the shelf today too. It was right out in the open by the fireplace. I don’t know why they put it there. Maybe they wanted me to find it after they’d gone. I don’t even know where they went? Why did they leave me? The diary didn’t have anything in it other than the normal bitching and moaning that they did anyway. They went on and on about dreaming of someplace warm. Don’t we all? Was a waste of my time go to through it. 

Right, the jetty. Some of the planks on the end were coming loose and I had to go out into the storm to fix it. I lost about half of the nails I brought over the edge and into the water. I could hardly see anything and the salty water kept getting in my eyes. Eventually I did manage to get it fixed for when the boat comes. Hopefully soon. 

Entry 2

Diary 

Shit’s always broken around here. The damn light stopped rotating again and it was the clockwork this time. One of the gears got rusted and I had to scrape all of it off and re-oil it for it to work, but I managed to get it right and the light is rotating again. 

I just gotta wait out this storm. Just gotta wait it out. I wish I knew where everyone went. I mean, I have a feeling they are at the bottom of the ocean, but I wish I knew for certain. 

Speaking of the storm, I forgot to put in extra logs for the fire and it was out when I returned to the cottage. But the fire was so nice when it was up and running. I could feel the warmth seep into my bones and it felt like I was alive again. 

The cottage windows were acting up too. The storm was making them rattle and shake so bad I thought they would break. I managed to find a way to secure them by pulling apart an old chest in the pantry and using the wood. There was nothing in the chest except dust so I doubt anyone will miss it. 

I thought I saw a ship on the sea when I was repairing the windows. For a minute I thought it had finally come for me to save me from this damn place and put in the replacement wickie. But I blinked and it was gone. Maybe I just imagined it, but I recorded it in the ship log all the same. 

But that’s not what’s really important. I broke a thermometer today. I was shaking so bad from the cold that I fumbled it and when I caught it, it smashed against the wall and I got mercury all over me. This is the second time in two days that I was exposed. I don’t know if this is a bad omen or something. I don’t know if I believe all that stuff about fortune telling but I feel cursed. 

Entry 3 

Diary 

Nothin’ broke today with the lighthouse and maintenance is all good. 

But something happened in the night. I awoke to a loud bang on the window. I thought the wind had smashed something against it and I needed to see if it broke but it was in one piece. But… I saw a handprint on the window. I thought it might have been Charis or Umin trying to wake me up so I hurried outside to look for them, but there was nothing. There weren’t even footprints in the mud. 

There’s an old legend about this place from the mainland. They say every third or fourth lighthouse keeper kills someone, whether it's another keeper or a stranger it doesn’t matter. As far back as anyone can remember there’s always been a murder and the keeper refuses to say why, just that they had to, that it was their duty.

I don’t know if I’m being warned by ghosts or if I’m about to be a victim. Either way I just have to survive this storm. 

Entry 4

Diary 

You know how I wrote about Umin being cadgy and on edge just before they disappeared? Well I found an empty bottle of rum under their mattress. I bet they thought Charis was gonna find it. Or I would and snitch. 

Maybe they got into a fight over it and they both fell off into the ocean. Maybe Charis pushed Umin? Or Umin pushed Charis? 

Maybe, I have no idea. Maybe they are both alive somewhere and this is just a funny prank. There were some rumors about there being tunnels underground. I haven’t found any and I searched and searched. 

I guess I’m just thinking of falling since I almost fell today. I was up on the rim of the light room, making sure everything was lit when I felt a strong gust. Maybe it’s because I’ve been imagining Umin and Charis pushing each other, that I feel like it was a shove. A windy shove. A ghost shove? Just some wind…. Just… just some wind. 

Entry 5

Diary 

I heard them. I heard Umin. I know I did. I heard him talking to me. It was faint and it sounded like it was far, far away, like the wind was just barely able to carry their voice. I followed it all around the cabin trying to hear where it was coming from and what they were saying. I could barely make it out. 

“It’s not right…” “It’s not right…” the voice said. But then I heard nothing. This was in the morning so I went on to do the rest of the chores for the day. 

I oiled up all the gears in the clockwork to make sure it wouldn’t rust again. And then I oiled up the rest of the bits and bobs too. I remember when I first got here Umin didn’t care to talk at all to me. Charis was the one in charge so I was too afraid of getting too friendly with her. She’s a real stick in the mud anyway. 

Umin and I would oil up everything together. I tried talking to them at first but they didn’t want to say anything. It wasn’t until I slipped on some oil on the floor and fell on my ass they burst out laughing at me. That seemed to break the seal and we were able to talk fine after that. 

The rest of the day was smooth until I took a look at the fog horn house. Someone, and I’m not naming names, left a container of mercury on the floor. On. The. Floor. Where I tripped over it. And got it all on me. I was able to get most of it off, but gods know how much of it I absorbed. I think I’ll die of mercury before my relief comes the way I keep getting it on me. I put it on the bottom shelf of a cabinet nearby. I also found a pen and labeled the damn thing ‘MERCURY’ to make sure everyone knows what it is. 

But that wasn’t the most important thing that happened. Someone else is here. Someone else has been in the cottage. I saw.. Well I didn’t see them. I saw their boots. Someone else left their boots by the door. 

I called out to Umin but they didn’t answer. I searched high and low all around the place where they could have hidden but I didn’t find anyone. I’m sleeping with a shovel next to my bed. 

I can’t help but think back to one of the stories of the Lighthouse Murderers. The one who killed a local fisherman who went ashore in a storm with a shovel just like this. 

I know I’m gonna have nightmares. 

Entry 6

Diary 

I am officially fucked. I saw the lifeboat come loose from it’s tie and I ran down to the shore as fast as I could. Normally I am perfectly able to get down there in less than a minute, but.. Well I couldn't sleep last night since I was thinking about those boots. It was too late when I got down there. The boat had already smashed itself into the rocks. 

There’s no way off this island now… not that I could go out in the storm, but.. If it had cleared early then I could have just left. I can’t now. I’m stuck here with whoever owns those boots. 

Entry 7

Diary 

I heard someone again! It sounded like Charis… It was that old song she used to sing, about a flower and a lover, some old folk tune. I heard it when I was filling up the lamps. And then, well I put in too much oil and the damn thing nearly exploded. 

It knocked me on my ass and all I could think about was the story she told me, about how one of the people she worked with died. She said they had been oiling up all the gears and was covered in the grease when they overfilled the lantern. She said they were up in flames in an instant and they didn’t even look like a person by the time they put it all out. 

I’m lucky that all it did was make my eyes burn and my ass hurt. 

But it was her! I heard her! Once I had recovered I went out to look to find her and I saw light from somewhere else on the island. I hurried down there to the caves by the jetties where she used to go. 

I had never thought much of it before, but, was there something down there? It was far too late and far too cold for me to go exploring further than what I found. 

The only thing making the light was a small compact mirror with circles engraved along the edges. The one that Charis used to have to do her eyebrows. I remember her every morning at breakfast penciling them in. I asked her why she bothered and she just laughed and said ‘somethin’s gotta keep me sane.’ 

My mother used to do the same thing. This place really felt like home sometimes. No place else quite had the same breakfast. But none of that matters. If I have time… I need to go into those caves!

I put the compact mirror on the table. Charis’ room is still locked. I don’t know if I should break it open or not. If things get really desperate I might have to. 

Entry 8

Diary 

I must be real cold. Real real cold because I’m starting to dream of warm places too, just like what Umin wrote about. I dreamt of the fireplace in the living room and what it would be like to live under it. Then something jerked me awake. 

I heard a loud blaring of chimes, like a whole lot of bells fell down some stairs. It wasn’t like the fog horn or anything that’s normally on this island. I think I’ve got tinnitus from testing the horn today? I had to go make sure it was working properly since who knows what this storm will bring. 

It sounds odd but I’ve grown to really like that loud sound. It feels like something familiar in all the strangeness that’s happening around here. It’s something that I know how it’s supposed to sound and it always sounds the same. 

There was a sail up on top of the lighthouse today. I had to cut it down and almost fell off. It must have blown away from a wreck somewhere. Maybe it was that ship I saw when I was reinforcing the windows. It was just a plain white sail, so there’s no way to know where it came from. I folded it up and put it with the rest of the spare cloth. 

That’s where I found the gun. It looked newish. I mean I don’t know much about guns but it wasn’t a historical one is what I mean. Charis was in charge of the cloth. What.. what was she doing with it? Why did she think she needed it? She was the only lady on the island, I can understand being paranoid and extra cautious but… why was it in with the cloth and not her room? Or on her person? ...Was it even hers? 

I.. I remember seeing them argue down by the jetties before they both disappeared. It didn't make any sense at the time, but I think I overheard “found something.” They both shut up about it when I approached. But it couldn’t have been the rum because Umin was the one who said they found something. What did they find? Was it this gun? 

I don’t know what to do with it, so I took it with me. It’s under my bed now. I didn’t check to see if it was loaded. 

Entry 9

Diary 

I’m getting real tired. I don’t know how much more of this I can do. The mechanism needs to be wound every 30 min. The foghorn goes off every 30 min. So I sleep in the fog horn room. It hurts. The chimes. It hurts. I’m so tired. 

I went into her room. I. There were mirrors everywhere. All of them were made by the same person, or in the same style. I guess she liked their stuff. But there were so many. So many mirrors. Big, small, all with the engraved circles. What… What did she need them for? I’m too tired for this. 

Entry 10

Diary 

I saw them! I saw Umin! They were outside! I saw them! In the dark, in the night. Just for a moment when the lighthouse was alight in the lightning. There he was standing outside the window. I ran out to see him! But he wasn’t there. No bootprints. Nothing. I don’t know where he is. Where did he go? 

The roof is also getting bad. The one on the cottage. I had to go up there today and fix it. It was leaking in my room. It was leaking in Charis’ room too. The water on the mirrors on the floor. It reflected more. It reflected endless and I could see all of everything over and over and over. 

I’m so tired. 

But I think things are starting to go well! The barometer said… It said that the storm will end. Then I can sleep. Then I can finally sleep. 

Someone will always come lookin. 

Entry 11

Diary 

I’m writing this before I go. I guess I want someone to remember I guess. Or someone to figure it out. 

You know they used to make mirrors out of mercury. Way back when. 

I found more bottles of the stuff behind the stone cairns. There was an old legend Umin told me about how everyone stood for someone a keeper killed. I never stopped to notice them and just laughed it off. 

There was mercury in a pair of boot prints in front of them, reflecting everything. The longer I stared at it the less I understood. There were more prints leading off down towards the cave. 

I’m going to take the gun with me. I’m going to find out where she is. 

Charis. Umin. All the candles have gone out.