eerieindiana | Eerie, Indiana fanfiction: DST

The lighthouse stood on a jagged promontory that jutted far out into the lake, and it shone darklight over the choppy waves. A seagull wheeled over the surface and the black beam caught it. For a moment the gull hung in midair, a frozen negative image of itself, a cyan explosion of outstretched wings and open beak set against a night-time sky of pale silver. Then the lamp rotated away, the midnight colours righted themselves, and the bird fell like a stone into the dark waters, dying silently as all its autonomic functions tried to reverse direction all at once.

Deep in the sheltering shadows of the woods, Janet Donner loosened her white-knuckled grip on Marshall’s arm, and he flexed his fingers to aid the returning blood flow.

“Holy corn,” Mars whispered in tones of deep awe. Janet shut her eyes, pressed her lips tight together to keep them from trembling, and inhaled deeply through her nose to keep herself calm.

“It’s been happening every night since the clock change,” she said, when she could trust her voice not to betray her by shaking. “Come midnight Eerie time, the lighthouse appears. When the rest of the Eastern time zone catches up, it vanishes.”

Marshall set the small handheld video camera down on a makeshift tripod made from a camping stool and a lot of duct tape, pointed it out over the lake, and zoomed in as far as he could on the slim white tower that rose from the foam-tipped waves. Janet fed small twigs and dry leaves into the campfire and poured two steaming cups of hot chocolate from an industrial-sized thermos. They sat for a time in quiet and friendly solidarity.

“I’m glad you called,” said Mars.

“I’m glad you came,” said Janet.

Beneath the water, amidst the muck and slime of the lakebed, the mermaids cowered from the annihilating light. The bright corpse of the seagull drifted slowly in the current. A strand of seaweed twisted around the gaping rictus of its beak, and small darting fish fled from it in terror.

Janet

A Ghost in Pink by