His beard rubs against my cheeks. His mouth is warm against mine, inviting. The smell of him is cotton and the sweetest wine. His favorite. Though my face is wet with sweat and tears, it’s more than I could ever pray for.
“I’ll protect this place,” I manage when we pull away to let me rattle in a breath. “I’ll make sure no one ever—”
I cough. I can’t stop. The taste of copper fills my mouth. As my vision narrows, James shines. I slump backward on the bench, the pain washing away like footprints under the crash of waves. He’s nothing short of celestial.
He holds my hands like we’ve never been able to before. He squeezes, over and over. Like a lighthouse’s beam, guiding me home. I grip as hard as my failing body can manage. “Maybe someday you’ll no longer need to protect anyone anymore. You can find me. Find this.”
“This was enough.”
A flash. Like the light of the lens passing across me.
He’s gone.
And I’m alone. And I’m dying.
No more pain. No more labored breaths. A coolness, like the presence of his hand when we danced but all over me at once.
I look out onto the burning island and past it to the harbor. The dinghy is still afloat, far ahead of the panicked men rowing back to the nearest land they can find without their leader.
The sun sets as my body settles into its resting place beside James’s skull. No more pain or bargains. No more fight or fear.
I wake into the first night of my afterlife.
I am now the ghost of the Devils Island lighthouse keeper.
And I’ll ensure I am the last.
