Why is the Light Still On?

                 Why is the Light Still On?

     A hand and forearm reach out through a lighthouse to
swat a helicopter as it approaches it. When that happens,
the helicopter losses control as it spins out of control
away from that lighthouse. It doesn’t take the helicopter
too long before Brandon regains control of it and heads back
toward that lighthouse.

     Suddenly, the helicopter stops because the hand is
swatting the sky all around it. “I don’t think that they
want us to come here.”

     “No, really! What makes you think that?” Nora asks.

     Brandon moves their helicopter away from the hand that
barely scraps a finger against it. “The hand that’s trying
to kill us is what I’m thinking.”

     Nora turns her head toward Brandon from the chair next
to him on that helicopter. “So, what are we going to do now?
It doesn’t look like that hand is going to let us come any
closer to this lighthouse.”

     “That’s one of the reasons why I have stopped,” says
Brandon. “I don’t know what to do now.”

     Just then, the hand and arm start returning to that
lighthouse. But just before it gets there it jets back out
again. Only this time it’s not swatting. It grabs hold of
that helicopter and begins pulling it into that lighthouse.
Brandon tries to get away from that grip. But he can’t as
they are pulled into that lighthouse.

                             #

     Gregory grabs the tablet away from Michael. “Would you
stop looking at that video.”

     “I want to know how we got it and why,” says Michael.
“And I think that I am close to seeing what it is.”

     “So am I,” says Susan as she leans in between Gregory
and Connie in the front of the helicopter they are on. And
points to where they are headed.

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     Susan pulls her finger back as everyone leans forward
to see what she is pointing at. “We are almost there.”

     “I understand why we are going here,” says Connie. “But
why do we have to do it at night.”

     “For the same reason, our parents have done it,” says
Gregory. “To see that the lighthouse light is still on.”

     Their helicopter suddenly stops. Then lands among the
rocks and boulders in front of that lighthouse. The four
siblings get out of the helicopter and stand beside each
other as they stare at where they are going. All four are
shaking. And it’s not because of the wind that isn’t there.

     “Is that a graveyard over there?” Susan points again.

     “Yes, it is. That’s where we are going next to get to
our parents,” answers Gregory.

     Connie looks at Gregory with a shocked look on her
face. “Why are we going into a graveyard at night?”

     Gregory starts walking toward that graveyard. “Because
I think that’s the fastest way to get to our parents.”

                             #

     Suddenly, the four siblings stop in front of the door
of that lighthouse. They all look up at the light from it
that they can barely see from where they are at. All they
can see is the beam from it as it goes around in a circle
several more times before they return to looking at the
closed door.

     “It doesn’t look like this door has been opened in a
very long time,” says Michael. “I’m not surprised about that
since most lighthouses aren’t used anymore.”

     “This is one of them,” continues Susan. “Because of
radar and sonar, it hasn’t been needed for centuries. It
hasn’t been until a few years ago when it started lighting
this area again.”

     Gregory looks at Michael and Susan. “How do you know so
much about this lighthouse?”

     “Because we did a whole lot of research on it when our
parents came here almost six months ago,” answers Michael.
“We wanted to know everything there is about it before we
came here too.”

     “Twelve and ten,” says Connie. “I’m not surprised you
still like doing research. You’re at that age. Wait until
you are thirteen and fifteen like me and Gregory, you won’t
want to do it anymore.”

     Susan doesn’t respond to what Connie has said. She just
goes up to the door there to open it. she’s about to do that
when a female ghost sticks her head and upper body through
that door. “You are an uninvited guest. You’re not wanted
here. Go away before you end up like one of us.”

                               #

     The female ghost slowly does a half-circle behind the
four siblings. They turn to see what is happening. What they
see are a lot of ghosts there now. Most are just standing
there facing the same direction that the four siblings are.
But quite a few of them can be barely seen in the shadows.

     Michael is now looking at the single ghost at the door.
“That is the hand that grabbed our parents in that video we
mysterious got a few days ago.”

     “How do you know that’s the same hand?” Gregory asks.
“All the ghosts I have seen so far look the same to me.”

     “I don’t know how I know it is the same one,” answers
Michael. “But after watching that video a million times, I’m
sure that it is.”

     The other three siblings turn to face the single ghost
too. “Whether it’s the same hand or not, it doesn’t matter.
We have come to get our parents,” says Connie. “And we
aren’t going to leave here without them.”

     “They may have something to say about that,” says the
single ghost. The four siblings turn back toward the other
ghosts as she swipes her finger behind them.

     The ghosts have also turned toward the four siblings.
And they are now walking toward them. Even the ones in the
shadows have left those shadows to join the others as they
start getting closer to the siblings who are slowly backing
away from them.

                             #

     All four siblings turn and run toward the door. But it
is Michael who opens it. Only the doorknob just dissolves.
Then the rest of the door dissolves too. The single ghost is
still there. But now all of her can be seen as the siblings
run right through her.

     Suddenly, Gregory stops in the middle of that room. He
is almost knocked down as the other three siblings run into
him. “The door isn’t the only thing that hasn’t been used in
a very long time,” says Gregory.

     Gregory and his siblings slowly look around the room
that they are in now. “I think that we should check out the
basement first,” says Connie.

     “I thought that this was the basement,” responds Susan.
“If lighthouses even have basements.”

     “They don’t,” says Gregory. “At least I don’t think
that they do.”

     Michael walks toward the two generators there with the
other three right behind him. “I think that this is the
Generator Room. From the research that I and Susan have
done, that’s what this room is called.”

     “That’s something else that’s weird about this place,”
says Connie. “These generators aren’t on. So, why is the
light in this light still on?”

     “I want to know why the light is on here too,” answers
Gregory. “But the first thing we need to do is find our
parents. Once we do that can find out what’s going on here.”

                             #

     Gregory grabs Michael to stop him as he heads for the
spiral staircase there. “I think that it’s best if we stay
together to find them.”

     Michael turns to face Gregory. “look,” says Michael as
he points to something behind Gregory. “The door is back.”

     Just then the single ghost walks through that door.
Followed by several others. Soon that room is filled with
ghosts as they push the four siblings toward that spiral
staircase. “What are you doing here,” says Gregory as the
four siblings start walking up that staircase backward.

     The four siblings stop just after they reach the next
floor. They look back to see that the ghosts haven’t gone
beyond that staircase. “Why are they following us?”

     “I think that we are about to find out why they are
doing it, Michael,” answers Connie as she looks at the open
door next to them. “True, I don’t know what kind of a room
that it is. But I think that it’s a kitchen.”

     Susan runs past Connie into the kitchen. “I hope that
it is because I’m starving.”

     “You are always hungry,” says Nora. Susan turns around
as her three other siblings run into that kitchen.

     “What took you so long to get here?” Brandon asks. “We
sent you that video over a month ago.”

     Michael smiles at his parents. “So, you’re the ones
who sent us that video.”

     “Why did you send it to us?” Gregory asks.

     “Because we want us to be a family again,” answers
Nora. “And we can’t be that unless you are here too.”


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