Iain Kelly

The sun touched the horizon at midnight. As low as it would go for another month.

Aboard the Royal Navy brig Fancy, Percy lay awake in his hammock. Even below deck sunlight seeped in.

Thomas snored next to him. Percy turned away from him. Another night without sleep. He was exhausted. They had been at anchor blockading the small port for four weeks. When they had arrived the sun had risen. It had yet to set.

Why was it so hard? Just close your eyes, he thought. The light still found a way in. It had riddled his mind. It wasn’t natural. It should be dark at night.

The hallucinations started again. The screaming, bright light wouldn’t leave his brain. Thomas snored louder and louder. Percy felt like screaming to make his mind stop racing. If he could just have some peace.

He fingered the knife in his hand. Thomas had to stop making that noise.

Written for ‘What Pegman Saw’, a weekly prompt based on a view from Google Maps. The idea is to write a piece of fiction of around 150 words based on the prompt. Full details can be found HERE.

This week we’re in Hammerfest, Norway – so far north that in summer the sun doesn’t set for two months. In 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British Navy blockaded the small port before attacking and looting the small town. More information on Wikipedia.

For more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.