The Lightkeepers

4

The stairs groaned. Hollow footsteps echoed in the silent lighthouse. My mother smiled as

she walked past, heading up toward her and my father ’ s landing, a mound of blankets in her arms.

Dad soon followed, huffing from fighting with the stairs.

“ I would ’ ve helped, ” I mumbled, thinking about how difficult it was to single-handedly

reattach the six-foot section of stairs to the main staircase.

“ I know, but I also know you need rest. You ’ ve been on guard duty all day, ” he said tiredly.

I nodded, stretching and set my plate aside. With the second set of curtains drawn at the

entrance to my cozy niche, effectively closing it off to the staircase and landing, I quickly changed

into a loose t-shirt that had once depicted my favorite television show, that is before we were

plunged into the Dark Ages again, and a pair of sweatpants. I set my shoes on the landing outside

the elongated window sill and winced as my feet hit the cold metal stairs, gliding softly down the

staircase until my feet came to a stop about four steps before the drop-off. I glanced to down and

saw the six-foot length of stairs resting on the floor below, the pulley system at the ready to heave

it up again. Without the section of stairs, there was a gap between the base floor and the staircase,

one of the many zombie counter-measures we came up with to scrounge together some peace of

mind. Supposedly, they couldn ’ t climb, and I hoped I would never find out.

It was still a mystery to me how Henry and my dad got the staircase apart in the first place,

or how they’d managed to find the wood for the new support beams to stabilize the rest of the

stairs. I tried not to question it too much, for fear of challenging the universe further. Sighing, I

returned to my window and climbed onto the foam mattress topper we had cut to size to fit the

alcove ’ s floor. I placed my knife atop its hook and unstrapped the pistol from my ankle. Flipping

the safety on, I dropped the magazine and pulled the slide back to empty the chamber before

loading the single bullet back into the clip. Setting them down beside each other, I laid back on

my bundled-up sweatshirt and pulled the now unfolded blankets up to my chin. My body tensed

as I laid awake, chasing sleep.

Eventually, I found it. All too soon, the nightmares started.