By the time they got down onto the wet sand he'd had enough. He didn't want to be part of this challenge anymore. He didn't care if he looked like a coward.
He turned his torch around to look at the bulb in the centre of the big glass lens. It was such a weak glow now. Usually he couldn't turn the torch to face himself because its light was so blindingly white, but now it was such a soft orange that he could see the filament perfectly. Had it not been so dark he would probably have turned it off, so poor and inadequate was the beam it cast.
'Stop,' he said suddenly.
Marinka was a few steps ahead. She slowed and turned to look back at her friend, the contours of her face slightly hazy through the thick wall of fog.
'What's up?' she asked.
Teun let out a sigh. 'Look, you win. I've had enough of this.'
Marinka looked at him for a second. Her face was blank. Then her lips spread slowly into a wry smile and her eyes sparkled with victory.
Teun shrugged. 'I don't care. I give in.'
'But you came so far,' said Marinka. 'You really want to turn back now?'
'Yes. I don't care.'
'Sure sure?'
'Yes.'
Marinka grinned. 'I knew it was you who couldn't get Grandpa's story out of your head.' She let out a little laugh. 'So… a bit scared?'
Teun couldn’t hide his annoyance. 'Can we just go back?'
His question was met with a smirk and he quickly followed with: 'Yes, fine, I'm a bit scared. Happy? I know there's probably nothing out here but I'm scared anyway. I'm just a big baby. Okay?'
Marinka was relieved to hear that. Finally the tension had been released and she no longer had to play the tough guy. A weight seemed to lift off her shoulders and a feeling of warmth filled her chest.
'You know what... I was a bit scared too,' she admitted. 'I got goose bumps all over. It’s pretty creepy out here and we're a long way from the beach house.'
'A bit too far if you ask me,' said Teun. He gestured with his hand to leave. 'Come on...'
But Marinka didn't move.
'Come,' said Teun again.
Marinka stayed put. She simply smiled at him. 'We're here,' she said quietly.
Teun frowned for a movement, uncertain as to what she meant. Then his eyes widened and he whispered: 'Tobban's Bay?'
Marinka nodded.
Teun's senses pricked up. It was suddenly so quiet. He could not hear the usual rumble of the ocean because they were in a quiet bay where only tiny waves lapped the shoreline. The eerie silence gave the place a dark, haunting atmosphere.
A wave of panic swept through him. He shook his torch in the hope of waking up the battery. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect to the one he was looking for. The last little glow of light died out.
Marinka let out a chuckling snort. 'Mistake. Lucky I brought along the cheap piece of plastic.'
Teun didn’t really care about that. 'Come on,' he said with a little more urgency in his voice. 'Let's get out of here.'
But Marinka didn't respond. She turned her torch toward the sea, which could only have been about twenty paces away. She didn't feel like the dare was quite finished. She had bested Teun, which had buoyed her courage no end, and now she wanted to best Grandpa.
'How long?' she asked.
Teun frowned. 'How long what?'
Marinka looked back at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 'How long should I turn the light off?'
'What?'
'Ten seconds?'
Teun couldn't believe his ears. 'You want to turn the light off?' Are you crazy? Don't turn it off at all!'
Marinka looked out to the black sea. Not that she could actually see anything out there in the darkness.
'You really think the lighthouse people are going to get us?' she asked.
'I don't know. I'd rather not take the risk thank you.'
'Well, you turned your light off.'
'I did not.'
Marinka shrugged. 'I’m going to go for ten.’
‘Don’t you dare!’
My torch, my rules. I think ten seconds.'
Teun shook his head vigorously. 'You can't. Ten seconds? Grandpa said they move like lightening. If you turn it off that long they'll be all over us!'
'Oh, so you really think they'll come?'
'Look, I think I'd give it fifty-fifty right now,' said Teun. 'This place gives me the heebie-jeebies. Not ten seconds.'
'How about five then?'
Teun had the feeling that Marinka was about to turn the torch off no matter what. He could tell in her voice that she was in a plucky mood and there was nothing he could do to talk her around. Even if he tried to wrestle the torch off her - a rather extreme tactic that she would probably find amusing - he couldn't stop her flicking it off for several seconds. If anything she'd probably leave it off a little bit longer just to teach him a lesson.
'Three,' he said.
Marinka agreed with a nod. 'Three.'
Without a second thought she switched off the light.
The two of them were instantly engulfed in darkness. They couldn't see each other, nor could they see the sand beneath their feet, nor could they see the distant reflection of light on the distant wave-tops that were visible most other nights. There wasn't much to hear either, except the lapping of a single tiny wave on the shoreline about twenty paces away.
Marinka counted slowly to three and then tried to flick the light back on.
'Shit,' she exclaimed.
'Turn it on!' cried Teun.
Suddenly a mechanical whirring sound from Marinka’s direction and immediately a weak beam of light streamed onto the beach. The reassuring light was back. Marinka had been unable to switch the light back on using the on/off switch because it had jammed, but thankfully she was able to use the hand trigger and pump it into life.
Teun's heart was racing. 'That wasn't three seconds. That was six!'
Marinka gave an apologetic look. 'That wasn't my intention. Honestly. That little plastic on-switch is stuck.'
Teun walked up to her and leant over to look at the torch in her hands. Marinka, who was still pumping the handgrip, held it up to show him the problem area.
'Give it here,' said Teun. He took the torch out of Marinka's hand and began pumping the handle. With his free hand he tried to loosen the jammed switch. 'Cheap piece of plastic rubbish,' he muttered under his breath. He'd seen such transparent day-glow products before and knew they were just kid’s toys. But he didn’t have much luck flicking the switch out.
Suddenly he saw a dark outline in the sand. He was looking down at the torch and it caught his eye. There was no doubting what it was. He pumped the torch harder and pointed the beam straight at it.
'Look!' he exclaimed. 'Look at the sand!'
Marinka followed the torchlight and saw it too. There was a distinct set of footprints in the wet sand that stopped abruptly just a few meters away. It was plain to see that they were coming from the direction of the sea. Yet there was no-one around. Not a soul. It was just like the prints Grandpa had described… the ones left by the lighthouse people. They came out of the sea and then stopped.
'Maybe they were already there,' she said quietly.
Teun shook his head. 'That was just now... I'm sure of it!'
He spun around with the torch and shone it in other directions.
Marinka saw his panicky movements and tried to calm him down. She put her hand on his shoulder. 'They can't get us so long as the light is on! Just take it easy!'
Then Teun spotted another set of footprints. They were fresh just like the first set. The sand around the edges of each impression had a gentle buckle and the glistening salt water had only just started to pool in the bottom… exactly what could be expected of an impression made just a few seconds ago.
He reeled back from them as if in a daze, swerving and staggering. 'They're all around us!’ he cried. ‘They're everywhere!'
'Just don't panic,' said Ma
rinka.
But Teun couldn't help it. He pumped the handle faster and faster. He cranked it so hard that the little motor began to scream. That made for a nice bright light but it put a lot of strain on the small device.
'Where's the beach!' he cried. ‘Which way is it?'
He was completely disorientated. The tracks of footprints seemed to come from all directions and he started confusing them with his own prints. He couldn't tell which way the water was nor which sides the dunes were on. It was so dark.
Marinka was scared out of her wits. She was terrified by the footprints, and terrified by the sight of her friend in such a state of panic he was nearly out of his mind. She wasn't sure which way the beach was either. The fog was so thick that they could barely see more than a few meters, and she couldn't hear the sounds of the sea any more over Teun's ranting.
'Just don't panic,' she said again. But the tears now streaming down her face wouldn’t have put her friend at ease.
'Where's the beach! Where is it?' cried Teun over and over. He wasn't sure if he was heading toward the beach or the water.
Marinka tried to look for their trail of prints. If she could see them then she could get her bearings. But Teun was flashing the torch erratically and staggering around in such a stupor it was impossible for