May 25, 2006
“Don’t let the light go out.” These words echo in my head as I sit on top of the lighthouse gazing out along the brilliant beam of light into the deep navy color of the starlit horizon. So this is my punishment for disobeying my commander, to be reduced from the head engineer of the greatest warship to ever sail the seas, to a lowly lighthouse maintenance worker. To be fair the light is quite an engineering marvel; gone are the days of single large lamp bulbs and signal fires, instead this light consists of no less than 1,000,000 LED bulbs ordered in an array and focused into a single beam using a series of lenses. It would still be perfectly functional, with half of the bulbs burnt out, which begs the question: why do I even need to be here?

May 26, 2006
Once again I sit on my perch atop the lighthouse. Ominous stormclouds, loom over the tiny island foreshadowing an incoming storm. If anything were to happen to the lights it would be tonight. On one hand, it would be nice to see some action, but on the other hand I fear what will become of me if the light does go out, and I can’t fix it.
The first droplets fall against my balmy skin. Faster and faster, the cool raindrops sizzle against the warm surface of the lighthouse. I take refuge within the light enclosure, not a moment too soon as bolt of nature's electric fury strikes the top of the lighthouse, shaking the structure beneath my feet, just moments after I enter the bright, air conditioned safety of the lantern room. I thought that this would finally give me something to do. There would be no way the delicate electrical wiring of the light array would have been completely unaffected by such a tremendous electrical disturbance, but there was no visible damage to any of the lights. Each and every one of the million lights continued burning on as usual; examining the control panel underneath confirmed my suspicions, the lighthouse was truly completely unaffected.

Nothing could possibly damage the light to warrant my intervention, relaxed now, I lay down and listen to the pattering of raindrops all around me.

May 27th, 2006
I woke up early in the morning before the crack of dawn with a pit in my chest. It was just a dream but it was like no dream I have ever had—it seemed both too real and too fantastical at the same time. I remember visions of the storm, of the lighthouse the only beacon of light in an infinite void. Then lightning, tremendous bolts of lighting, unleashing mother nature's imposing power directly onto the lighthouse. But there was something more ominous, something not of mother nature, a feeling of fear and foreboding so strong it consumed my entire body, my entire mind. A feeling so strong it could not have had worldly origins.

The lighthouse remained, standing ever tall and bright against the vast flat plane of the Ocean. No harm had come to the lighthouse which means that I have successfully completed my job for at least one more night. The nightmare was just that—a nightmare.

June 4th, 2006
The past week went by without a hitch, each day was ethereally calm. After mother nature showed her fierce side in the storm last week, she showed her elegant side in the days following. However it seems that another stormy night would be coming soon. I can see wispy clouds hovering in the horizon, almost like an omen of what is to come.

June 5th, 2006
As I predicted yesterday: today is another stormy night. This time perhaps even more so than last week. Although a steady stream of water is falling from the heavens and smashing into the sides of the lighthouse, the logical part of my mind is sure that everything will be perfectly fine. But anxiety lingers in the back of my head. During the last storm I had dozed off and in a dream I had felt a strange and trepidacious force, an overwhelming sense of impending doom; what if that happens again?

I won’t let it. Whatever wicked forces entered my head the other night couldn’t do so as long as I am awake right?

I sit inside the light enclosure, listening to the steady, cacophony of rain against the glass. Lightning in the distance slithers across the clouds. For a second I thought I could see a ghastly figure illuminated by the lightning, but after a blink I could see that it was no more than a smudge of condensation on the glass. But still, I could not shed my unease as the center of the storm barrels towards my location.

Soon enough, the lightning increases in intensity. It surrounds me now. Strike after strike, shaking every molecule of my body. It has lingered here for what feels like hours. It should have begun to let up but now but if anything it increases in intensity. I can no longer focus amidst the relentless bolts of lightning. I feel a familiar feeling. But worse. Far worse. I see figures. Shapeless yet shaped. Solid yet gaseous. Gliding through the air. Swimming through the clouds. From all sides… Surrounding me. T?h?e?y’r?e? ?c?o?ming ?cl?o?ser?…?c?????l?????o?????s??????e??r???????.????????????.????.?????????.??.???????.??????.??????????.?????.c?????????????????????l?????????????o????????s????????????e???????????????r??????????????.???????????????.????????????????????.???????????????.???????????.????????????????.???????????????.?????????.????????????????????

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?I? s?a?w? thi?n?g?s?.?.. Hor?r?ib?l?e ?th?i?n?g?s...Th?ing?s ?out?side? ?t?he world..?. ?Th?in?gs? ?n?o? h?u?m?a?n? s?ho?u?l?d ?ha?v?e? t?o? s?ee.?..? ?Bu?t? I ?did… ?I? w?as t?h?e?re..?. ?I? ?t?ry? not ?t?o? think… ?To? c?l?e?ar m?y ?m?i?n?d…? ?I ?c?an’?t?…? ?I ?ca?n?’?t… N?o?… ?No?....?. I can?’t? ?li?ve….?.?.?. I?t'?s? ?a?ll? to?o ?m?u?c?h.?.?..?.?………..   .       .        .         .          .