Chris would walk on from the cliff edge on a narrow jutted out piece of rock. It was fenced off with razor sharp wire so they he would have to climb that too. The rock was only wide enough for just one person so he had to do it very carefully. Once out to the end he could turn around
and return home. It sounds simple. If only they had turned back now.
It started to rain. Lightly at first, but then as the storm clouds covered the moon and formed densely in the sky it came down heavy. The boys slipped on their old creased up waterproofs and continued up the track. It was so cold they started to run to warm up, but it was difficult against the strong sharp wind blowing in their direction. They staggered their way up, every step now an effort. The rain had become so heavy that the track that they were standing on had turned from being dry, cracked and dusty to becoming a fast flowing mud stream. Their expensive white trainers were getting ruined.
They were slightly worried that when they return home they might get noticed because they were gone. This hadn’t happened before but also they hadn’t been out this late before. They didn’t want to arrive home any later than 2:30 because they thought that that was the best time to return. The grass in the fields was long and was getting thrown around with the wind. They carried on up towards the cliffs.
‘Help’ cried Paul. The others turned around and hurried over to him. ‘My ankle, it really hurts ‘ he moaned. He had fallen in a rabbit hole and twisted his foot. ‘ Can you get me out of here’ he demanded, ‘I might not be able to walk’! They helped him out and he fell onto the wet grass by the side of the track. He took off his soaked, dirty trainer and held his ankle in pain. ‘How does it feel’ asked Chris. ‘Can you walk’ asked John; ‘Because if you cant we’ll leave you here’ he laughed. ‘ I’ll try’, said Paul. He stumbled to his feet and followed to other two. He was OK and soon was walking at a normal pace again. The
rain continued to fall, but with even more strength. The fields were flooded and mud was pouring everywhere. Not the best night to be out.
After nearly half an hour of walking up the track, it came to a sudden end at a gate. The gate was old and covered in barbed wire, which had been wrapped around the wooden posts many times. The gate had notices wrote all over it warning about guard dogs. Ignoring these warnings they climbed the gate carefully avoiding the barbed wire. John ripped his new trousers and he wasn’t very happy. On the other side of the gate was Appleton’s farm, which harvested many things throughout the year. It had a large animal stock, mainly cows and pigs. The farmer who owned it had worked on all his life and was a good farmer, but he was usually very unhappy and shouted at anyone. They knew that if they were caught in his farm they would be in serious trouble., so bearing this in mind they crept silently through the farmyard.
A large pig grunted and ran out in front of them looking very happy in the thick mud. The fain fell harder and thunder boomed setting off many car alarms back in the village. They had nearly reached the farmhouse when a loud, angry bark came from the stables. ‘Do you think that it’s the guard dog?’ shuddered Paul, ‘ It might be very angry’. ‘Oh shut up Paul!’ cried Chris; ‘Just keep moving’. A bright light came on downstairs in the farmhouse and they heard voices. A man shouted about noisy dogs and there was a woman’s voice as well. ‘Come on let’s go before they come out, if we get caught here we will be in deep trouble’ said John. The others agreed and followed him past the milking sheds and into a dense hedgerow of prickly, sharp bushes. They scratched their arms and faces as they battled through it all.
A path led through a small group of trees and they stumbled on the tree roots that emerged from the ground. The trees were thick so they were sheltered from the rain, but it was still cold. They decided to stop for a while and wait to see whether the rain would stop. After ten minutes or so it still hadn’t stopped and sounded as though it might have got heavier. They moved on out of the trees and into a large soaked out field, trudging through the mud completely covering their trainers and splattering their trousers. The field had been harvested and was now overgrown with weeds. Up ahead they could see a fence and behind that the grass coming to a sudden end. A lighthouse that had been derelict for years stood very close to the edge and someday soon it would fall over.
They peered over the edge of cliff and saw hundreds of meters below them the sea crashing onto the base with a huge force. Out on the horizon their many large boats and some smaller fishing boats nearby being tossed about by the violent waves. They climbed the fence that stopped people and animals getting too close. It showed many warnings and dangers showing that many people had died before. Chris and John laughed and said that if they stayed to their plan it would be OK, but Paul wasn’t so sure. They stood right on the edge looking down. Beside them was the dare. An overhang, which extended out from the edge about fifteen meters and was only wide enough for one person. John wasn’t scared. All he had to do was to walk out and then back again. Simple. That’s what they thought.
‘Come on John, you can do it’ urged Chris and Paul, ‘Yeah its easy and we want to go home’. John felt scared
but he tried to hide these feelings from the others, and wasn’t the sort of person to back out of something. ‘OK’ he said, ‘Here goes!’. He started to walk very slowly at first, with care in every step, but then faster as he gained confidence. He reached the end very quickly and stood still looking downwards. He didn’t say anything, he just looked. ‘Come on John it’s done’ Chris shouted, ‘Lets go home’. John was excited and he jumped up and down unaware of how weak the rock must be. Then they all heard it. A slight rumble at first that developed into a loud crumbling noise. Paul noticed it first. ‘RUN’ he cried. A large crack appeared through the cliff and just where John was standing the rock was crumbling off and falling. John ran towards them as it collapsed behind him. He jumped as the cliff disappeared underneath and he fell. ‘NO’ yelled Chris and Paul who ran over to look over the edge. To their shock and disbelief they saw John there just underneath them holding on to a tree root. ‘I can’t hold on any longer’ he moaned. His hands were slipping down. They held out their hands and tried to pull him up but they couldn’t reach. ‘Hang on I’ll go and get help’ shouted Paul.
Paul ran off back through the field towards the farm shouting for help. The farmed must have heard because he came running through the trees shouting about being on his land. Paul explained quickly what had happened and the farmer agreed to help. The two of them ran off in the direction of the cliff. They climbed the fence to where Chris was and the farmer bent down to pull him up. John emerged and the farmer pulled him up onto the grass where he lay breathing heavily. ‘Thank you, thank you so much’ gasped John. The farmer began to stand up but must have slipped on something as he went straight
forward and rolled over the edge. Chris dived to try and stop him but failed. They watched him fall to his death on the rocks below. They were speechless. They just looked at each other in complete shock. Then they ran.
They returned home without being noticed. They went to bed but none of them slept at all that night. They just laid there going through everything in their minds, especially John. The next day when they went out the town was full of police. They met up later in the day and agreed that hat had happened last night must be kept to themselves. They couldn’t bring themselves to go to the police about it. The police investigated many people but not them. They counted themselves lucky. They had been unhurt but they couldn’t hide the fact that someone had died because of them.
A year on they hadn’t said a word to any one about it. They had given up the dares and had found other, normal interests. They had learnt their lesson the hard way. That night will stay on their minds forever but that was something would just have to live with.
