Young Storykeeper Volume III

184 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE TEN | 185
THE BROKEN LIGHT
Valentia Island, 1925
A blistering wind blew right into Jack’s
pale face as he stepped out onto the rocks
beside the island’s lighthouse. It was midway
through his night shift and time for a break
to get a quick bite to eat. As he turned to
leave he noticed a ship slowly coming into
view, being battered by the strong Atlantic
waves. It was sunk low down in the water.
The weekly mail ship from America.
“God speed, bon voyage,” he muttered.
“You’ll need it on a night like this.”
All of a sudden, he heard a loud bang
and everything went pitch dark around him.
Jack held his breath for a moment, but
nothing happened. With a puzzled look on
his face, he wandered back up to the big
lamp at the top of the lighthouse, armed with
his trusty old torch. The moment he entered
the now pitch dark room he winced in pain.
He’d stepped on a sharp shard of glass.
He shone his torch around in a sudden
panic, only to realise that there was glass
scattered all over the floor and no light! He
couldn’t understand it - last time he had
checked the lamp it was perfect. What about
the ship? It would hit the rocks without the
light to guide it. Then he spotted something
very strange in the corner of his eye, lying on
the ground. A bullet had smashed the lamp.
Gangsters! They were trying to run the ship
aground on the rocks to steal its valuable
cargo.
No time to lose - what could he do? He had
to warn the ship before it was too late. But
how? The lamp was shattered in tiny pieces
all around him. The spare was in the shed at
the bottom and would take two strong men
to lift, he could never manage it alone. Then
he remembered - his torch!
He quickly grabbed the biggest shard
of glass he could find.
“This had better work,” he muttered
under his breath. He shone his torch out
towards the ship, before carefully angling
the large piece of glass in his remaining
free hand. The light of the torch suddenly
magnified as if by magic, reflecting off the
shard.
“That’s it!” shouted Jack. “Now just
pray they see it.”
He turned the torch on and off, three
short flashes, three long flashes, three short
flashes. SOS, the international distress
code. It seemed like hours, then he saw a
flash coming from the ship. They had seen
him! He saw it turning away from the rocks
outside the lighthouse. His quick thinking
had worked. Everyone was safe. Slowly he
climbed back down the stairs into the cold
night air. Then it hit him - he realised just
how hungry he really was... and he’d left his
sandwiches behind him at the top.
Sam Casey
Co Dublin
THE LIGHTHOUSE ON THE COAST
There lies a really old lighthouse out on the
coast of Galway, aged one hundred and nine
years old. It was one of the first lighthouses
to be built in Ireland and one of the tallest. It
is called the Atlantic Navigator. It means that
it will guide any ship that comes in from the
Atlantic at night or in fog, like all lighthouses.
It has really thin walls, so it is very cold and
loud.
But since 1964, people have not dared
to go into the lighthouse. In February of that
year Bill Lynch came to fix the bulb in the
lighthouse, hoping that no ships would arrive
while he was doing it.
It was a really stormy night, 8:30 in
the evening and Bill had almost finished
replacing the bulb. Bill was working long
hours because he was the only engineer
who fixed lighthouses along the west coast.
Bill went downstairs to get something
from his van, when he realised the storm had
broken the latch on the outside, and locked
him inside the lighthouse.
He got creeped out then suddenly,
when he heard things breaking and smashing
in the basement. Bill called, “Hello?” No one
replied, but then he heard deep voices. He
didn’t know whose voices they were, and he
couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Then out of the dark, spooky and loud
basement came the name “Pennywise”… Bill
shouted as loud as he could “Aahhhhhhhhhh!”
he remembered that Pennywise didn’t exist
but was just a character in a scary movie.
Then he woke up. He had fallen asleep
on the job.
He went downstairs, and when he
attempted to open the door it was locked,
just like in his dream. Bill was stuck in the
lighthouse overnight.
Suddenly Bill heard glass smash to
pieces up where the bulb was. He got his
hammer and slowly creeped up the rackety
stairs. When he got to the top he saw there
was no one there. But when he looked
through the open window, he could see the
shadow of something large on the rocks.
It was a giant cargo ship that had crashed
ashore.
The next morning people came
and found Bill. He told them about what
happened and the mysterious ship.
The Coast Guard came and saw that it
was a ghost ship. It was a ship that people
could not control in the middle of the ocean -
the Coast Guard saved the people, but some
people said it was hijacked by pirates after
the people were saved. It had floated by
itself across the seas for months, and here it
was on the coast of Galway.
Now people don’t dare go into the
lighthouse because of this story, and believe
that it is haunted by the ghosts from the
ghost ship.
Eoin Caulfield
Co Galway
TAR LIOM
Tar Liom
Tar mo sholas.
Is mise an teach Solais.
Ag féachaint ar an báid
agus an íascairí.
Ag taitneamh mo sholas
treoir a thabhairt duit.
Tar liom.
Tar mo sholas.
Ashton Takkali
Co Dublin