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Back The Lighthouse Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. PART ONE
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. PART TWO
  13. 12
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 18
  18. 19
  19. 21
  20. 22
  21. 23
  22. 24
  23. 25
  24. 26
  25. 27
  26. 28
  27. 30
  28. 31
  29. 32
  30. 33
  31. 34
  32. 35
  33. 36
  34. 37
  35. 38
  36. 39
  37. 40
  38. 41
  39. 42
  40. 43
  41. PART THREE
  42. 44
  43. 45
  44. 46
  45. 47
  46. 49
  47. 50
  48. 51
  49. 52
  50. EPILOGUE

But that still didn’t make any of this right. No matter how heartfelt the reasons might be, confronting the truth was more important than living this lie. Ryan deserved to know the truth. He deserved to be with his mother and his sister, deserved to be able to move on in peace, not be condemned to eternity inside a prison that wasn’t even real. But how could he break free? It was obvious he needed help, but could Amy and her mother do anything? Could they make any difference at all? Amy wasn’t sure, but she knew that Ryan deserved nothing less than her best effort to try. This entire town, this fantasy, though borne out of Ryan’s best intentions, borne out of the love that he held for his father, needed to come to an end.

“All right, Mom, I have no idea how any of this works, but Ryan means a lot to me and I can’t just stand by and leave him to suffer like this.” Amy stood a little taller, lifted her a chin a little higher. “Is there anything we can do?”

“There is, but we don’t have much time.”

“Then tell me what it is. I want to do whatever I can.”

Her selfless words drew a smile of pride from her mother. “First, you must get yourself to the ranch. The most important thing is that you find Ryan, and quickly. He’s going to need you, Amy. He’s going to need you by his side.”

Amy felt her heartrate quicken. “All right, and when I get there, what then? What exactly am I supposed to say? ‘Hi, Ryan, sorry I ran out on you before. Oh, by the way, you died, and you’ve been living in wonderland for the past two months, and the little girl you met this morning is actually your unborn sister?’” Just saying those words aloud had Amy helplessly shaking her head. “He’s going to think I’m crazy, Mom. I mean, listen to how that sounds.”

Before she got an answer, a commotion rocked the sky: more thunder, more lightning, this time centered to the north. Her mother’s face dimmed with worry.

“At this rate, you won’t need to tell him anything,” she said. “This storm is exactly the same as the one the night Ryan died, and it’s only getting worse. This world is unraveling fast. Ryan’s on the verge of discovering everything out for himself. Any moment now, the truth is about to be revealed. What you need to do is make sure you’re there with him when it happens.”

“That’s it?” Amy asked, surprised by the simplicity of the plan. “How long do we have?”