Young Storykeeper Volume III

158 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE TEN | 159
THE LIGHTHOUSE
It was Saturday night. Maggie was tossing and turning in her bed, dreading going
back to her nightmare. Maggie was eleven. She had rosy cheeks and bushy red hair and
wore dungarees with a different coloured t-shirt every day. Her mum and dad had passed
away five years ago, so she lived with her grandad beside Galway Bay. Maggie loved the
beach and some nights, when she had trouble sleeping, she would walk down to the beach
to breathe in the fresh air.
That night Maggie decided to get dressed and take a walk on the beach. Outside, it was
cold and foggy and there was a beam of light from the old lighthouse. Maggie looked up at
the lighthouse and saw the silhouette of a person.
“B-but we don’t use lighthouse keepers anymore,” she whispered. When she looked up
again, the figure was gone. She ran home as fast as the wind.
The next morning, Maggie told her grandad that she was going for a walk. Maggie
wasn’t ‘just’ going for a walk - she was going to meet her friend Seán to tell him about the
figure in the lighthouse. Maggie told Seán EVERYTHING but Sean looked unsure.
“I know you don’t believe me and that’s why we need to meet on the beach tonight,”
she told him.
That evening after dinner, Maggie went bed and read a book about mysteries in
lighthouses (which said nothing about mysterious figures) and after a while she dozed off.
Suddenly BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP went her alarm.
“11:45 already?” Maggie muttered as she manoeuvred out of bed and carefully got
dressed. Maggie met Seán on the beach. When they reached the lighthouse, they knocked
on the door... no answer. Seán opened the door slowly and they stepped inside. They climbed
to the top of the lighthouse where they found a frightened boy dressed in ragged clothes.
“Ummm... Hi there, what’s your n-name?” Seán asked.
“M-my name is Jack,” said the boy in a foreign accent.
“What are you doing here?” asked Maggie.
“H-hiding from war,” he said.
“Why don’t you come back to my house?” asked Maggie, “You’ll be safe there.”
When they got home Maggie’s grandad was shocked to see Jack.
“Jack!” he said.
“What?! How do you know Jack?” asked Seán.
“Oh…” said Maggie’s grandad. “So, Jack is a refugee who travelled here by boat,”
he explained. “One night I was walking on the beach and I saw a boat with a small boy
inside, shivering from the cold. He needed warmth, so I took him to the lighthouse and
brought him food every night.”
“Why travel all the way to Ireland?” Maggie asked.
“Well, Ireland is like paradise compared to Jack’s country,” Maggie’s
grandad said.
“But we can’t keep him in the lighthouse!” said Maggie.
“I know,” said Maggie’s grandad. “That’s why I got this adoption
form!”
Maggie ran over to her grandad and hugged him. “I’ve
always wanted a brother!” she exclaimed as she ran over
and hugged Jack.
Aoife Black
Co Dublin
THE ADVENTURE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE
Sophie was so excited. Tonight she was camping on the beach. Sophie and
her parents all walked down to the beach. Her father put up the tent and
Sophie went down to watch the lighthouse shine its light. But there was
something unusual about the lighthouse, it wasn’t shining its light. Sophie
ran back to her mother and father to tell them about this unusual thing
and to say that they had to go and investigate but her mother was gone to
buy breakfast for the morning and her father was nowhere to be seen. So
Sophie went to investigate all by herself.
She crept up the lighthouse stairs really slowly. But then she got the
biggest surprise. There was someone sitting on the chair alright but he was
fast asleep. Sophie tried to wake him up but it was no good. He was in a
deep, deep sleep. Sophie thought everything would be okay and that the
guy on the chair would wake up.
But then Sophie saw something. It was something bad, something
very bad, something very, very bad.
There was a SHIP coming and it was coming right for the lighthouse.
This lighthouse has been here for years and it can’t get knocked down now!
Sophie thought to herself. And also there was no sign that the guy on the
chair was going to wake up.
Sophie didn’t know what to do but then she got it, she had an idea - the
only thing she could do was to turn on the light. She thought it wouldn’t be
hard because it just a big light but it was super hard. Where was the button
to turn it on? Was it facing the right way? The ship was coming closer and
closer. And then something amazing happened. The guy who was asleep
finally woke up. But there was no time to chat though. Sophie explained
everything to him, he turned on the light and the ship turned the other way.
“Hurray!” shouted Sophie. The guy thanked Sophie for warning him
about the ship.
Then Sophie went down to her mother and father and told them all
about her adventure at the lighthouse. Sophie and her parents all got into
the tent and had a good night’s sleep!
Isabella Ryan
Co Dublin