Off the southern tip of Sakonnet Point, Rhode Island, stands a lighthouse long since automated. It flashes every six seconds, as it should—except when it doesn’t.

Fishermen have reported irregular blinks: seven seconds… nine… then three in a row, far too fast. Local Coast Guard insists the timing circuit is flawless.

But here’s the thing:

Every time the rhythm falters, a boat is lost nearby.

Not wrecked. Lost. As if it never existed.

The blinks don’t warn.

They count.

What happens when the lighthouse stops blinking altogether?