The Lantern Keeper - Part 3 (The Light within you)

Arjun’s palms were damp, and his breath shallow as the second lantern dimmed. The shop no longer felt like a quiet refuge. The shelves of lanterns seemed alive now, their soft glows swaying as though whispering among themselves, waiting for him to fail or rise.

The old woman finally stood, her frail figure surprisingly steady. She walked toward a small wooden table at the very center of the shop. Upon it rested a lantern unlike the others. It held no glass, no frame, no flame. It was simply empty.

“This is the last one,” she said, her voice softer than before. “But you will not light it with fire.”

Arjun frowned. “Then how?”

She placed the lantern in his hands. The metal was cold, heavier than it looked. As he stared into its hollow core, a creeping dread settled in. Unlike the others, this lantern gave him nothing—no flicker, no hint of life, only a deep void staring back.

“Close your eyes,” the woman whispered.

Arjun obeyed. At once, he was pulled into darkness.

There were no walls, no floor, no ceiling. Just endless black stretching in every direction. Panic rose in his chest. He called out, but his voice was swallowed instantly, leaving only silence.

And then the whispers returned. Not the ones from the second lantern, but different—sharper, crueler, intimate.

You don’t matter. 

You are replaceable. 

No one truly needs you.

The words pierced deeper than any he had heard before. He fell to his knees, clutching his ears, trying to block them out. Yet the more he resisted, the louder they became.

In that crushing darkness, the first lantern’s memory returned—the boy desperate to be heard. Then came the second—the hallway of whispers and the cloaked figure dissolving into silence.

He realized it now. The lantern was not empty. It was waiting.

Arjun pressed his trembling hands against his chest. He took a breath so deep it shook him, and instead of fighting the voices, he spoke—not to them, but to himself.

“I matter… because I am here. I matter… because I choose to. I carry light, even if no one else sees it.”

As the words left his lips, warmth bloomed in his chest. A glow, small at first, then stronger, radiated outward. The darkness cracked like fragile glass, shattering into a thousand pieces.

The lantern in his hands was no longer empty. It burned brilliantly, brighter than any other lantern in the shop, its light alive with his own heartbeat.

When Arjun opened his eyes, he was back. The old woman stood before him, her gaze softer, almost proud.

“You see now,” she said. “The greatest lantern was never on these shelves. It was always within you.”

Arjun lowered his head, overwhelmed yet lighter than he had felt in years. As he stepped out of the shop, the rain had stopped, and the street glowed with the quiet brilliance of dawn.

He walked on, the lantern in his hand, its flame steady, no longer for the lost—but for the found.

***The End***

#life #shortstories #flashfiction #suspense