My Hero
I could vividly recall an experience I had back then, when my parents brought me to Malaysia for a holiday. By then, I was only at the age of 8. This particular incident lingered in my mind till now, it was an unforgettable one.
“Ma! Hurry up! Let’s go to the pool for a swim!” I exclaimed, wanted to jump into the pool eagerly. I held her hand and kept pulling her towards the pool.
At last, after wasting so much of my energy rushing my mother, we finally found a spot and laid our things down. My mom told me to wait for her before going into the pool, but I fell on deaf ears. Without doing exercises, I dashed and leaped into the pool.
Back there in Singapore, there were different pools for different ages, I was sure of the respective pool I was supposed to go to. However, here in Malaysia, everything was unknown to me. I was fully unaware of my surroundings; all I cared at that moment was to have a swim. I ignored the safety precautions, I even took everything for granted, and that everything was as secured as it is in Singapore.
“Splash!” I landed in the deep pool of water.
Suddenly, I realized that my feet could not touch the ground, thus I started to struggle. In a split second, I found out that I jumped into the wrong pool. I did not know it was an adult pool. However, everything was too late.
There was nobody around me for me to hold on. The pool was close to empty. I tried to struggle vigorously to keep myself on the surface of the water. Nevertheless, I managed to let out a few screams to alert my mother. At the same time, I gasped for air. Water came into my mouth and I started to cough.
Though not loud, I could still hear my mother shouting desperately for help. I stretched out my hand and had a glimpse of hope that she could haul me up, however, to no avail. The distance between me and her was just too far. I am going to drown to death.
Just went I was almost out of breath, I heard another ‘splash’ sound. Soon after, someone tugged my hand and brought me ashore. By then, I was already half unconscious. My saviour made me cough out all the water I gulped in. My vision slowly became clear, and I saw familiar faces.
Mom was the first person I saw, I went to hug her, and I almost lost her due to my stupidity and stubbornness. Tears uncontrollably rolled down my cheeks as I hugged her.
“Silly you, please don’t do it again.” Mom pats me on my back. I could feel that she was shivering too. She must be petrified by that incident.
Later on, my mother turned around and sincerely showed her gratitude to the guy who saved my life. His name was Ben, a Singaporean who was touring over at Malaysia too. My mother exchanged number with him, and even had dinner with him!
Ben told me, “Girl, always heed your parents advices, never do things on your own, because you’re setting your life at risk. Consider yourself lucky this time.” I smiled sheepishly, and nodded my head.
Even until today, I never forgot a word he told me. I’ll always put those words in my heart, and will also keep reminding myself not to make the same mistake again. I regarded him, as my hero.
This was a traumatizing yet unforgettable experience for me; it was also a fruitful one. I will always remember Ben, for saving my life.