Compo 7 by Aaron Loh

"Would you care for a cold drink?" I asked while I fished out my money. "No thanks, I already have a bottle of water." Tim replied. Despite the scorching sun that seemed to bake the ground, Tim and I decided to go to the beach and play beach volleyball before going for a swim in the sea.

The beach was packed with holiday-goers, tourists and small children. The hub-bub of the crowd added to the cheerful atmosphere of the beach. Nobody seemed to be detered by the hot sun. I started gulping down the coke that I bought to quench my thirst. Throwing the bottle away, I decided to resume the game.

"Woosh!" Something big flew overhead and landed into the sea with a big splash! The crowd ceased in its animated chatter and looked to the sea to find out what was going on.

Suddenly, all the hell broke loose and people were running amok, pointing at the far end of the sea. We could make out the figure of a man who was desperately struggling in the water. One of his legs seemed to be injured as he had difficulty keeping himself afloat. Fear gripped me as beads of perspiration flowed down my cheeks. When I came back to my senses, I alerted Tim who was oblivious to the incident as he was lying down to rest. From afar, I spotted something bobbing up and down in the water. It was a toy helicopter! One of its sharp blades must have slashed the man's thigh. The situation started to seemed hopeless.

Fortunately, one of the muscular passer-by had no qualms about saving the man and immediately leapt into the water. He swam towards the man and dragged him towards the shore, where he started to perform Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation on the unconscious man. The injured man's thigh was soaked in blood and there was a nasty gash on it. The passers-by called the ambulance and soon enough, an ambulance van arrived with a few paramedics who transported the man onto a stretcher before escorting him to the hospital.

The heroic and lion-hearted deed of the courageous man did not go unnoticed. Not long after, he was swarmed by a group of swooning beauties. After all, he deserved the attention for what he had done earlier. As for the helicopter, no one knew who had caused the helicopter to splash into the sea. Tim was quite traumatised by the incident. I made a mental note to be more careful of any unidentified flying objects. Lady Luck smiled on us at that time. Who knows for sure what could have happened to us?

This incident would be forever etched in my memory.