Oh!My Captain | KSJ FF[Slow Updates]

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I had always had the same dream since I was young... like I was being transported into a fairytale. The ocean waves crashed against the rocks around the dock as I waited.... And then the ship pulls in, the anchor drops and a manly figure, tall and lean opens his arms to me as I run to him. I do not know his name, I do not know his face. I only know he is everything and he feels like home.
My mother called it the cry of the sea wife. She said the spirit of the lady of the lighthouse had whispered to me in my dreams. That's why since I was young I'd dreamed the same dream every night. Little things would change here and there, sometimes I'd be sipping tea first before heading down to the dock of the lighthouse. Sometimes I'd be knitting in my grandmother's rocking chair while I waited... but as soon as the clock chimed... I'd get up and head outside and down the path to the docks of the lighthouse.

I loved the old abandoned lighthouse, I wanted so badly to clean it up and make it a home. Get married and raise children in the comforts of the lighthouse home.
My mother always insisted the place was too run down, or too much to repair. She told me I needed to study, work at the fish market and earn what I could, save money and move close by so I could come home for a home cooked meal. I always insisted my mother was lonely. Her whole thing about being the wife of a sea made man was that it was lonely. She knew better than anyone. Father was a man of the sea. He'd been gone for years. I remember him, I was nine when he left, it was the last we'd seen of him. Word came a year and half later... after six months of no letters or anything... his ship had gotten caught in a nasty storm.
Since then, mother has worked hard at the fish market in town, and I always go with her. Every morning we're up by 5am and out of our little house near the cliffs by 6am. The thirty minute drive to town is a nice ride... I get to see the ocean as we follow the road to town. I've been doing this ever since I was young. At 17 now... I am more than seasoned on how to drive the same path.

"Mama, stop clutching the glove box like I'm going to crash... I've been driving this same route for you every morning since last year." I had to remind her, she seemed to think I was new to this. We pulled into the parking lot of the dockside market and she took a deep breath.

"Today... you start earning your keep." She grinned, unbuckling her seat-belt of our old Chevy pickup, I shook my head and got out of the car after her. Handing her the keys as I knew she'd be the one to drive us home later. The docks were always quiet this time of morning, with summer fast approaching, I knew the quiet wouldn't last. I'd have to enjoy the spring for what little time there was left.
The only hustle around the docks were the fishermen and their boats, pulling in their hauls from days at sea. Mr. Kim, Mr. Cross, and Mr. Baek were the three who were often in this early on a thursday.

"Hey there Mrs. Marin." They called in unison as they waved to my mother.

"I see we brought miss Yara to work." Mr. Kim said with a smile as he helped my mother open up the stand on the docks. She set up everything, all her sea inspired trinkets that she always made. Mr. Kim hurried back over and got onto his boat with the others.

"Going to be gone long, gentlemen?" Mother called to them.

"Just a two day trip. Martha should be by soon to open up. Give her my love." Mr. Cross called back. Mother nodded and waved as the three men and their crew headed out to sea.
My day was spent helping my mother, listening to the locals chatter like gossiping geese. The rumors around town, the selling of property, the accomplishments of local children as their mothers bragged and exaggerated for sure.
Mrs. Kim stopped by and spoke to mother before picking up a new shell chime to add to the chime my mother had made for her. She talked about their son coming home for the summer and how well he was doing. I wanted to roll my eyes. It's not that I didn't like the Kim's son, we were friends.. I think. We used to be very close but as he was sent off to school abroad and only came home at certain times... we didn't really hang out much, part of it was he was older than me, and I was a girl which in kid terms meant I had cooties. It didn't help that he always saw me as a little sister anyway, so I guess he got tired of having a kid sister follow him around.
At the end of the day, Mother drove us back home and I wanted to do nothing more than set up my telescope at the abandoned lighthouse.

"And where are we going?" Mother asked after dinner.

"Oh you know... just going to set up the telescope outside and star gaze. Mind if I camp out?" I asked. She smiled and shook her head.

"Alright, but you stay close and take the lanterns with you for light." My mother knew very well I wasn't going to camp in the yard, she knew I was going to the lighthouse. I packed my sleeping bag and a duffle with the three lanterns and some snacks and water. I stuffed everything into the back basket of my bike that I usually carried groceries in, after making sure it was tied in securely, I peddled off to the lighthouse.