Synkroniciti is excited to welcome author Ryan Deegan from Nevada. “Just a Lighthouse” is a gripping, atmospheric, Gothic tale about twins born with a genetic condition that will result in their early deaths. Shocked, their parents retreat from high-society life to an island vacation home which is repurposed as a sanctuary for these ill-fated siblings, a place where Mother and Father can keep some illusion of control.
“They are not to go near the water. They are not to stray from sight or through wood. They are to keep their feet dry and noses warm. Mother and Father dictate from behind a dais of their own guilt, very aware of the irony of preserving that which cannot be preserved. /Decrees are how they love. Rules, how they hug.”
The children have an otherworldliness about them and don’t have much of a relationship with their parents. Their only friend is a stray cat. One wonders if it would have been better not to know their genetic defects, but it doesn’t matter any more.
Ryan’s writing is haunting and poetic, showing rather than telling, using form and space to augment the sense of desolation and loneliness that chokes this little family and pervades the tale. His descriptive passages are musical and vivid. We are transported to the seashore near the lighthouse, the surf beating against the rocks as it rises and the sun playing on the water. Life and nature are wondrous gifts and yet deadly ones. Ryan’s story is a modern myth, a cautionary tale about overprotective parents trying to cheat death. And yet, would we do any better in their circumstances?
Read “Just a Lighthouse” in Synkroniciti’s “Vulnerable” issue, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Ryan Deegan lives in the deserts of Las Vegas, where he masquerades as an airline pilot by day so he might write stories by night. His primary focus is long form fiction. Recent work can be found in the ASP Bulletin. You can connect with Ryan at ryandeeganauthor.com.