The Transmission

Jared was twenty-two when he had heard it, a friend of his worked at a lighthouse out on the coast, and he had invited Jared to come see the place, the friend was bored often at the lighthouse, little to do other than head to the nearby town and drink at the pub, so he had invited Jared with the hopes he would take a job there and make it less mind-numbing. Jared had politely accepted, but had no intention of taking the job, he was a city man, and the contrast, he had figured, would be horrific. But nonetheless, he came to see the lighthouse. When he had arrived, his friend wasted no time trying to make it seem like the most exciting job in the world, he spoke with a voice full of excitement, and Jared tried not to yawn as he showed him the controls to the lighthouse. They eventually came to the Radio. The Radio that started it all. It was an old thing, looked like it was from the second world war, it was actually the only intriguing thing about the lighthouse, for it was so old and complex-looking that Jared took an interest in all its switches and nozzles. The friend was encouraged by this, and decided to show him how it worked.

“Its simple” the friend had enunciated, he flipped a few switches and spoke into it, and soon a transmission came back from a boat off in the ocean, they bantered back and forth, as a ship-to-shore does, and then they ended the speaking. After that they headed to the pub, drank themselves weary, then staggered home and fell asleep.

Deep in his drunk stupor, Jared fell into a dream that he was working the radio, but whenever he turned it on and spoke into it, the volume was always too low, no matter how high he turned it, only whispers came to him, he woke in a cold sweat, and rose to get something to drink, he walked upstairs to the kitchen, the lighthouse was dark and damp, the rain pounded the roof and windows, a storm was here, and it was turning the waves into mountains that slammed the sides of the lighthouse and the desolate rock it sat upon, great black billowing clouds rained hellfire upon the nearby town, and as Jared pulled a bottled water from the fridge, something out in the ocean caught his eye.

A light

A green light came from the dark blackness of the night, a ship, Jared figured, and it was at that moment that a sudden crackling static came from the radio, and that was when Jared heard The Transmission

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is the high runner and we are in grave danger, please respond! Over!

Jared ran to the radio, picked it up and spoke into it

“Hello!? Hello!? I hear you!”

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Am I speaking to the lighthouse? Give us light immediately!”

Jared cursed and then spoke into the radio again “I am not the operator! I will wake him now! Hold on!”

He dropped the radio and ran to where his friend slept, he jumped onto the bed and threw back the covers.

His friend was gone, nowhere to be found. Jared began to panic, running around the lighthouse roaring his friend's name. No reply. He ran back to the radio

“I am the only man here! How do I turn on the light?”

The man on the other end let out a long string of curses “I don't know! But you'd better figure it out fast son! This thing needs light to get it away! It hates light! Do it quickly before we all die!”

Jared turned and began to search for a switch of some sort, but he then froze. And lifted the receiver once again

“Thing?!” he said, his voice trembling, on the other end of the line, he heard the man respond

“You fool! That doesn't matter now, just turn on the light and shine it on the boat! The boat you damned fool!”

Suddenly the man's voice exploded into a scream so violent and agonizing Jared hairs stood up on end he seized the radio and roared into it

“HELLO? HELLO? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? HELLO? HELLO?”

A response came, but it was not the one Jared expected, a dull, emotionless, almost not human voice replied, and it spoke only a few words

“Find. Oct 12 1851. High runner. wreckage .

Jared began to speak , but the green light from the window shone brighter and brighter, and suddenly blinked away.

then the radio crackled once more, but this time a different voice came through

“Hello? Hello? Who is this? over.”

“YOUR ALIVE!” Jared said in relief “WHAT HAPPENED?”

“Excuse me” came the reply “please use proper terminology when you speak, say over when you end your transmission, makes you easier to understand. Over”

Terror coursing through his veins, Jared spoke into the radio and told the story of what had happened, and asked why the man did not remember, it was not until after Jared realized the first talker, the one who had screamed, and this man had two different voices.

“Alright buddy,” said the speaker gently, “you probably had one too many to drink, just head back to sleep, its alright.” And before Jared could say that it had truly happened, the man spoke his “over and out” and ended the communication

But Jared could not forget. He went immediately back to his friend's bed, and found him sleeping soundly their, deeply disturbed jared awoke him and asked him where he had gone

“What d’ya mean? I've been sleeping all night!” his friend said grumpily, for his sleep had been disturbed

Jared felt his heart plunge. Whatever he had experienced, it had deeply changed him.

Nobody would believe him, his friend, after he told him, his family, the police, the news, nobody. They all called him crazy. It was not until a month later that Jared remembered the words of The Transmission

“Find. Oct 12 1851. High runner. Wreckage.”

Remembering the high runner being the name of the ship, he took to books, and to his horror, found a log of a ship that had gone missing without a trace of the same name in that time frame, in the area of the lighthouse.

Curiosity overtook his fear, and he came back to the place where it had happened. He spoke with the locals, and heard tale of the wreckage of an unidentified ship somewhere off the coast, ran aground on a reef above water, they would speak no more, the sharp fear in their eyes told Jared that odd occurrences were associated with this ship, he paid a handsome sum for a man to sail him out to the ship. And so it was, they arrived at the wreckage late and night, and as they neared Jared felt something call him to the ship itself, not a voice, not an image, but an ancient feeling, he took a rowboat alone and rowed to the ship, before he left, the captain of the ship told him they would wait three hours, then leave, as they would assume him, dead should he not return in that time frame, when Jared asked what could possibly harm him, the captain went silent and would say no more. His curiosity, and the ancient feeling spurred him on, and he reached the ship with little difficulty, he walked through the wreckage, careful not to fall through the floor, and eventually came to a radio room, and there, laying on the floor, lay the dead body of a man, fresh as could be. Jared leapt back in fear, but the feeling came ever stronger, and tore him forward, he inspected the corpse, and saw it could only have been dead a few days, it held the radio transmitter in its hands, and this made little sense, The Transmission had been a month since the event, but this body showed no decay. He stood and looked at the radio, and on a whim, turned it on.

It sparked to life, and static came from the transmitter, he picked it up and tried

“Hello?”

Nothing.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

Suddenly, the radio emitted a loud feedback, so loud it caused him to drop the transmitter and cover his ears, and that was when it happened.

Something seized Jared from behind

Something with cold fingers and dank breath pulled him to the floor

Something grabbed at his throat, jabbering in an odd language all the while

Jared screamed in fear and shoved it off him, he rose and turned to fight it.

Nothing was there.

Deeply terrified, Jared attempted to run, but as he reached the trapdoor to the deck, it slammed shut above him and seemed to lock from the outside, he pounded and screamed for help, but nothing came. He then felt a thing grab his leg and drag him down it was dark as night in the ship, and he struggled with something humanoid in the darkness, but humans have no cold slimy skin, and humans have no sharp teeth and tear at flesh, and humans do not jabber in a language -or gibberish- completely undecipherable, with effort, Jared escaped, and ran to the captains room, tears of fear running down his face, he shut the door and barred it, sending himself into an even deeper darkness, he ran to the bed and covered himself in the covers like a child afraid of the dark, he covered his head and weeped, his sobs and curses to have ever learned of this place carrying above the night wind.

He heard the door creak open. Jared shut his eyes tight

Slow Footsteps walked into the room. Jared ceased to breathe, praying the covers would hide him in the darkness.

The footsteps came to the bed, and he heard slow ragged breathing.

His heart pounded harder and harder until Jared was sure it would give him away, until suddenly, the footsteps turned back to the door, the door opened, then shut, and the footsteps receded away.

Jared waited for hours, but the footsteps did not return, he uncovered his head and sat up, squinting into the room, he looked all around

nothing.

Jared began to rise, when suddenly, a sound came from the floorboards at the end of the bed

Jared froze in terror.

A squelching sound came as something peeked its head over the edge of the bed, unable to see, Jared's fear reached all-new highs

A white dot opened suddenly at the end of the bed, then another next to it. Eyes.

And slowly, a bright grin of teeth cracked its way through the darkness, completing an unseeable face, the mouth opened slightly, it seemed to be laughing.

And Jared screamed in horror as a chthonic demon, forgotten by all time and understanding of humanity, clambered over the edge of the bed and threw itself upon him.

His agonized screams were so loud the boat that had borne him there heard them, and in terror sailed away, never to return

Nobody ever knew what happened to Jared, but why would they? Nobody ever searched the wreckage, and a life became history, history became legend, legend became lore, and then it was forgotten forever, and so it was, as all things that horrify humanity do, this too was forgotten.