This is an extract from a young man’s larger piece about travelling the world and learning to be happy, following the difficulties of the teenage years.
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After months of my mum’s urging me to leave, to go out, to live my life, I decided to book the flight to Thailand for 2 months. I had been lazy for months, eating junk food and feeling depressed, and even when I tried to go out I just couldn’t be arsed. Melancholy and abnormally sad, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I just wanted to not be dedicated to something I didn’t enjoy and to have the opportunity to live my life. I might still not know what I want to do with my life, but at least I’m living now.
 
As I walked through the markets of Koh Tao, I could smell the fresh food: tangy and spicy, the scents washed over me. Looking around me, the colours were vibrant and almost as intense as the crowd. This energy continued to follow me, as I walked to the beach.
 
As I stepped on the beach, my feet began to sizzle like bacon. Quickly, I whacked on my crocs in sports mode. The sand was white like freshly made vanilla ice cream, melting into the sea. It was even busier than the markets and full of occupied lounge beds.
 
However, as the boat rocked up, then I started to get properly excited. I had been scuba-diving before, but never with sharks. The boat was the size of a school bus, blue with a net on the side, and the journey was rocky. It took us to Sunset Cove around the other side of the island; it was still bright daylight, but you knew it would look great in the evening.
 
The cove was broad with rocks jagging out of each side. When looking out the side of the boat, the water was very clear and very blue; despite being deep, I could see all the way down to the bottom. There were no other boats. The cove was empty apart from us.
 
On my boat, there were three families from Germany, Thailand and New Zealand; a further group of four young kiwis; and a solo backpacker from Iceland, who was very eager to let everyone know that he was a solo backpacker from Iceland…he would not shut up. Everyone was meant to be going into the water together; it was a big group.
 
Some guy booted me off backwards, and I braced for it to feel like the English seas I’m used to, but instead it was luke-warm. As soon as I felt the water, I could hear the fish digging for gold, or at least some food in the pebbles below. Scales in a rainbow of colours and majestic blues, reds and yellows swam around me. They had curious little beaks, and I knew instantly that these were the parrot-fish.
 
As I dove deeper, laying on the ground, watching the parrot-fish, I started to feel that eerie, ominous feeling of dread. It was like I was being watched. I shifted to have a look behind me. Nothing. I figured it was just me being nervous, so I decided to move to a different spot. While kicking my legs to a different spot, I heard a girl scream.
 
Quickly, everything I escalated. I started to see red. It was clear that my best chance was to get back to the boat, but I knew that you’re meant to stay low around sharks. As I was swimming back, I saw its shadow, but luckily they don’t normally attack beneath them, so I was able to keep moving.
 
Once I was under the boat, I stopped. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. I breathed and thought, ‘here we go. This might be it. Let’s do it.’ Then I started to swim up as fast as I could, screaming as I went to decompress my lungs. Chomp! The bottom of my flipper was gone. I kept swimming.
 
When I finally got to the boat, I felt hands grab me and pull me up. That was when I saw my flippers, how close it had been, and how lucky I was.
Sadly, the little girl didn’t make it. She had been one of the German family. Her name was Julia.
 
That night was not my best in Thailand. I kept seeing her blood everywhere and replaying the moment in my mind. My mum wanted me to come home, but I wasn’t going to let this stop my adventure. Julia was dead, but I still wanted to live.