Jacob’s mind raced in an attempt to find some way to help her. Erin was dangling from the lighthouse staircase, having fallen through on their first ascent up the rotten spiral. Her eyes were full of fear, and he knew that were she to fall, she would not survive. The lighthouse tower was built over a solid stone basement and the drop that would have only been 20 feet to ground level, was essentially 35 feet straight down to a hard stone floor below.
Erin’s hands were slipping and as Jacob inched his way to the edge, he heard the sound of the wood cracking and splintering below his feet. He searched frantically for some object he could extend to Erin, allowing her to grab on to something more stable, but saw nothing close by.
Time was running out, like sand from an hour glass. He could see in his mind the last few remaining grains dropping into the inevitable. The shadows below, hidden from the light of the small windows above, appeared to come alive and reach for her as she dangled seconds from death’s grip.
Jacob’s heart thumped louder and louder and he knew he could do nothing but watch as Erin’s body plummeted to the ground below. His mind knew that he would once again be alone on this God-forsaken island and he could not bear to come to terms with that.
His muscles tightened and his mind raced for an answer, one that he knew was right at the front of his thoughts. It was like looking through a dense fog, at some bright light in the distance that was just out of reach. Suddenly like a train rushing at him, he reached for the wooden boards along the side of the walls and pried with all of his strength. He heard one nail, then another, and then the final springing free. He used the board to extend out to her.
Her eyes were clinched shut, bearing the full brunt of her dead weight just at the ends of her fingers was too much to witness with eyes wide open.
Jacob’s voice screamed at her, but she never opened her eyes to look up towards him. As her fingers gave in to the pain and stress and let loose of their grip on the half broken board, she felt the prodding of the board tapping her shoulder. As if by some miracle she reached out just in time to grab hold of the board. The nail that was still embedded cut her wrist and she screamed out in pain.
Suddenly like a missile the sound of Jacob’s voice cut through the air.
“Hold on tight! I am going to pull you up.”
She nodded, still in pain and balancing herself with the last ounce of strength she had left. Her arms burned in resentment and fought her every second. It took a few moments until she was safe in Jacob’s arms. His muscles tightened around her as he held her close. She returned the hug with gratitude she had never known and allowed the moment to last as long as she could.
She was safe. Once again this stranger had saved her. She knew in her mind he was no longer a stranger, but rather now qualified as one of her closest and only friends given the circumstances.
Jacob’s thoughts wandered in and out of confusion and relief.
After a brief moment of hugging, the silence was broken by the sound of the boards under their feet making an unwelcome sound of splintering and began to give way. As if by some chance, Jacob lifted Erin in the air and tossed her to the steps above. As he did so, the steps below his feet crumbled under the weight and force and he began to fall.
The fall seemed to last forever and as Jacob hit the ground the air was knocked from his lungs and his eyes stared blank at the ceiling above.
Erin watched in utter disbelief, shock over taking her entire body. He had saved her. She knew not the reason but this man had saved her once again and in doing so had forfeited his own life. She saw blood leaking from his body as it lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, 35 feet below.
As if by some miracle, she could hear a labored breath. It resonated like a hammer and anvil from the floor below.
He was alive!?
Erin could barely breathe, her mind taking in the full brunt force of the miracle at hand. Her heart raced in her chest and she knew deep down inside, she must find a way to get to him before his breath stopped. She had to find some way to help him as he had done for her so many times. It was Jacob that needed saved this time and she would do whatever it took to make sure that happened.
Jacob’s eyes stared at the ceiling, strangely his mind had not went blank as he fell, but rather stayed motionless and painless. He could hear his own breathing and saw Erin looking over the broken steps above in complete horror and anguish. He could not feel his arms, fingers, legs…or anything for that matter. He was a complete numb corpse with only his lungs still taking air in and out.
He thought of the many urban legends surrounding a guy who lay there, alive and barely so, while being embalmed on a cold morgue table. His eyes flashed back and forth, unable to believe what had happened and afraid all at the same time.
The warmth came suddenly, down his back and legs, and the smells blasted through his numb mind, absorbing the dank odor of a musty basement. The smell of copper slapped him like a wet glove, not copper…blood?
He was bleeding, that was what the warmth was. He was bleeding and he could feel the blood leaking from his open wounds and could smell the coppery scent as it rolled across the stone floor. His heart beat pumping his life out onto the rough surface.
His fingers twitched and his toes did the same. The feelings rushed into him like a wave, hitting him of a sudden brute impact. His mind knew he was alive, now he knew that for sure. He let the feelings take him over, the pain causing him to grit his teeth and suck in labored breaths. He tried to lean forward, but the pain burst through his head like a railroad spike. He tried to speak but only could produce loud breathing sounds.
Suddenly he knew there was something down here with him. He heard the lapping sound of a tongue—a dog? He could smell a rotting animal smell and he could feel the hot breath of a creature just out of the light, its shadow twitching like a seizure in the cold, damp darkness.
His eyes watched, in complete horror as the creature emerged just into his vision, out of the darkened hue of the basement. Its arms were a pale grey, hairless and yet not completely bare, as patches of dark matted muddy clumps lined their surface. The face was a twisted visage of teeth and blood covered lips, not entirely inhuman and not entirely animal. The nose was stretched in a long, snout-like way that resembled that of a rodent. The teeth were jagged and sharp and cut through the darkness like tiny blades, reflected the little light from above in a sheen gleam.
The creature was in total about the size of a small child, its claws scraping the ground like a dog trying to get its master to play. It jumped from side to side, never straying too far into the light, and yet unwilling to give up on reaching Jacob’s limp body. It knelt to the ground, licking the blood that leaked from him like a dehydrated dog in the heat of summer. Its legs and body were mostly human, bipedal and yet enlarged to produce an almost animalistic nature.
Jacob could smell the rotting odor and if he could feel his arms and legs, he would have run up the steps as fast as he could. His mind was struck by complete and utter fear. Not only was he in the most pain he had ever felt in his entire life, but he was inches from death at the hands of some demonic dog-child.
The creature growled and danced about once more, walking around Jacob as if pacing. He thought it was going to lunge at him, though it kept its distance from the light. Jacob’s eyes roamed the surrounding darkness, which enveloped him in a perfect circle. The window above, in the shape of a circle, cast a glow around him like a spotlight from a stage show.
Suddenly he felt strength return to his arms and legs, like a burst of adrenaline. He could feel the pain subside from his limbs and broken torso. The snapping of bones re-aligning themselves was nothing short of madness, though he could feel the sharp pains as his body fought to heal itself. The creature growled in earnest and contempt.
It’s cruel and twisted face twisted into an evil grin. Its eyes gleamed a bright red and of a sudden, the creature vanished back into the darkness. He could hear the creature’s breathing and growls as it ran further and further away, only to be joined what he recognized as a second creature only by distant sounds and torment. He could feel his body once more, complete and he once again tried to move his head, though still in horrid pain, he sat up and stared all around him.
Sure the danger was either gone or at least not in the immediate area, he crawled onto his hands and knees and searched the room. A hand on his shoulder brought the fear back into his heart and he turned ready to fight or die trying as Erin’s face shot him a terrified look.
He dropped his hands and collapsed.
“I think I need to rest,” was all he managed to say before he slowly slipped into the blackness. He could faintly feel Erin tugging him, pulling his body up the stairs and he tried desperately to aid her and use his own muscles to push himself along, but he could barely manage to keep his vision from dropping away.
His eyes sprang open and he sat up, now dazzled by the light of the fire roaring in the tiny stove of the lighthouse kitchen. Erin sat beside him, rubbing his head with a water soaked piece of fabric.
“What happened?” Jacob muttered, grabbing his ever throbbing head, the felt as if he had been hit by a Heavy Weight boxer. “Did I just get hit by a truck?”
“No,” Erin’s voice spoke softly, quiet and unsure, “you fell 35 feet onto a hard stone floor and somehow lived with no injuries but a bad fever. You…saved my life. Twice.”
Jacob’s mind fought to recall the events from earlier, but he could only remember the sound of Erin’s voice singing to him as he slept. He was somehow conscious of that part of the last few hours, but nothing else.
“I don’t remember much. I honestly feel like I have a tremendous hang over and haven’t felt this bad since college.”
Erin smiled down at him, “Well, regardless of what you remember and how you feel now, you are alive. I am very grateful you didn’t leave me alone on this damn island. If you die and leave me here, I will find your ass in the afterlife and make it a living hell.”
Jacob’s smile was like a tiny glimmer, shining in the dancing fire. Erin’s heart began to beat faster as she looked down at him, her hero, and the man of whom she knew very little about. She liked that their pasts were not the first thing on either of their minds, as she knew he held within him pain and resentment for something. His eyes always held a mystery and troubled look, when he wasn’t in his thinking mode he was recalling events that either happened or were bound to happen.
He was unreadable, desirable and most of all, dependable. Though the way he had landed, dead on the stone floor and came out of it with only a headache made her slightly afraid of him. She also remembers seeing him, if only for a brief moment between her anguish, rip the side of the lighthouse off with his bare hands before he used the board to save her life. As he closed his eyes and drifted back into his somber dream, she heard movement down the hall.
At first it was only a small footfall on the basement stairs, then it was the sound of claws scraping the rotting wood. Something was coming up from the basement, of that much she was sure. ?
As she reached under her pillow for the knife, she saw a creature, knelt just out of the light of the fire, watching her with interest and malice. As the creature crawled about on the wooden floor, scraping its claws along the rotten planks, she could smell its horrid odor from the cot where she lay only feet from the shadows.
What in the hell is that?
As the light from the fire faded, slowly and surely from the grips of surrounding darkness, she could see the image of a woman standing behind the creature. Her eyes were a beautiful green and she was standing naked in the glow. She was smiling at Erin, a grin that made Erin feel welcome and made her whole body ache with desire.
As Jacob gasped, Erin was on top of him. His eyes were confused and he noticed his headache was gone. Erin was naked and full of a passion he knew so well. His whole body was rushing with rejuvenated strength and endurance. She kissed him, slow at first but then faster and more passionate.
Her hand was down his pants, pulling at him and making him want her like no one had ever done before. She was moving her way down his body, using her hands to guide her along. Her nails dug into his shirtless body, scraping the skin and driving him into a comma of desire. As her mouth moved over him, he took it in like a rush of sexual power.
He threw Erin down on the cot, nearly breaking the tattered wooden frame; he made his way inside her. He pushed himself, harder and deeper into her. He was in control once more and although he was conscious of what was happening; his mind was drunk on desire and lust. He allowed her to grip him around the buttocks, scraping against his bare skin with her nails. He could smell the desire on her, like some animalistic rage within both of them.
He heard her moans and screams as it resonated down the halls and up the tall tower of the lighthouse. Her naked form convulsed in the pulsing light of the dancing flames and he watched as her breasts moved under his momentum. His mind was lost and driven only by power and sexual need.
As he felt himself ready to let go, he saw in the darkness, just outside of the dancing light, the face of a woman he knew all too well. As Erin screamed beneath him and he was gripped with the burning pleasure of an orgasm; he saw the woman walking away. His eyes were shut briefly and they were once again alone; both his and Erin’s bodies lying beside one another at last. He could feel her hands rubbing his head and the slight rise and fall of her chest beside him.
He was too tired to talk or think or move. He allowed her to care for him, like a child. The slight touch of her hand sliding loosely through his hair had him asleep in a matter of seconds, exhaustion finally taking hold once more.
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