Little did I realize that this wonderful, sunny morning was the beginning of my worst nightmare. It was at that time of the year when wanderlust reared its head.

I woke up in my nice cozy bed at about seven in the morning with a tingly feeling of excitement passing through my veins. I got up and looked outside my window, astounded at the colour of the sunrise sending rays of light bouncing of my gleaming boat and hitting me in the eyes, knocking me back almost blinding me. Little did I realize that this wonderful, sunny morning was the beginning of my worst nightmare.

It was at that time of the year when wanderlust reared its head. I would usually go out to sea traveling the far-flung reaches of the earth, finding hidden backwater twisting into what I like to think was uncharted territory alone in my Kawasaki boat. This was not just any old boat, this was a hybrid, a unique invention that my dad had given me a few years back, just before his death.

On the first floor, is the kitchen and lounge area. There is a swimming pool on the top deck, as well as a heated Jacuzzi and a sauna. It also has an elevator planted in the center of the boat which can take you to all of the 3 floors as it is very convenient seeing as my boat is such a large a vessel. The ocean called to me as though holding a conch to its lips.

I made my way over to the wardrobe and pulled out my favourite set of clothes, as well as my suitcase. I then left the tranquility of my flat in Bali to meet my new best friend, my floating playmate across the road on the beach, the mystery awaiting me hinting blatantly at the adventures to come. I called over a few Balinese village people and asked them if they would help me detach my boat from the dock. The bribery of hard cash was all the incentive needed.

After a few short minutes had passed by, I was ready to set sail. I slowly walked up the jetty and glanced back at my house one last time. I waved goodbye and within a couple of minutes. I could no longer see land at all. The moment to “cast off” came quickly. I walked slowly to the control booth prolonging the anticipation of the feel of the wheel between my hands as I gave it permission to run through my fingers as it decides which direction to take, allowing me the illusion of feeling the choice is mine.

I peered over the edge of my boat looking directly down at the water,

noticing how shiny it looked, kind of like a brand new car that had just been polished. It was so shiny that I could see the reflection of the sky on the water. The water looked tropical even though we were far away from the shore. There were a few patches in the sea where there were hundreds and thousands of fish swimming around in shoals, some of which were jumping out of the water at very fast speeds possibly because they were frightened. They were a very bright silver colour that caught my eyes immediately, and I think they would yours to. I think they were called perch.

I also thought I saw a shark, but I was not too sure, I might have imagined it because I was so exited, especially with the display of fish jumping around everywhere. I have no clue at all what type of shark I thought I saw but if I had to guess I would probably say a basking shark. I looked at my watch, I couldn’t believe how fast time had passed, it was already four in the afternoon so I decided to go make me some food seeing as I didn’t really eat breakfast and that my tummy ...

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The boats cooking abilities are first class for a boat so it was not too hard to make food. As I approached the fridge I leaned over and pulled out 2 eggs and some bacon with a couple of frankfurters and put them in frying pans and cooked them. Whilst cooking the bacon, there were small amounts of fat shooting of the frying pan, a slight amount hit me in the eye. God it, they were on fire, it felt like someone had put out there lit cigarette on my eyelid it was that bad. Within a few seconds my eyelid had turned numb. The heat of the fat must have killed all of the nerves in it. I spun around with my eyes closed against the pain, whilst doing this I knocked over the frying pan sending the grease and bacon all over the carpet. I ran around frantically with my eyes closed banging and bashing into walls, tripping over all sorts of things left lying around on the floor, I didn’t have any sense at all of where I was going. I tried to open my eyes but the pain just shot around my eyes even more and became even more excruciating. I leapt towards where I thought the bathroom was. I splashed water over my face, attempting to clear my eyes, it just wasn’t working, they were still on fire. There was no other way to kill the pain. What could I do, my mind went blank. I decided I should head for my bed and try to get some sleep or at least take my mind off of things. I fumbled my way to my bedroom, crawled into my red, silky, king-sized bed I was tossing and turning and within 10 minutes I spiraled into what I can only describe as a nightmare.

I had a dream, a dream I will never forget, and a dream that still haunts me till this day. It all started of with me peering of the side of my boat, looking into the darkness, alone is what I thought, but I was wrong. A man of some sort slowly and carefully crept up on me from behind and swung a plank of wood at me swiftly, sending me flying off the side of my vessel into the water. Whilst falling of the ship, I got one good glance at the guy. He wore a large black straight jacket, and I can still picture his face. He had very bushy eyebrows and a dark tan what I could see of it as it was smothered in tattoos and looked like a member of a primitive tribe.

I hit the water face first. The clash was painful. I knew the current was rather powerful this far out at sea so there was always a possibility of drowning. And with the amount of sharks that have been known to be lurking in this part of the sea, I was frightened. I had never encountered a shark before in my life and I did not want this time to be the first.

Clashing with the water, with such force must have knocked me. I regained consciousness and had no clue at all where I was, it took me a couple of seconds to remember fully what had happened. I was lucky to be alive. I had to try make it back safe onto the boat. I kept swimming and swimming for my life, I just didn’t really seem to be getting anywhere.

I was starting to run out of breath. I seemed to have been swimming for hours. I was sinking. I started to feel the pain inside my lungs, as though they were swelling up and about to explode. There was just no energy left inside me. I made one last lunge towards the surface, coughing and spluttering.

I then woke up, shaking with fear, almost jumping out of my bed with fright. The first thing that came into my mind was what had this dream to do with anything. I don’t usually have unrelated dreams. I wondered if it was a sign of some sort.

I got up and went up a deck and realized that the boat was motionless. I made my way to the control booth. I tried to figure out what was wrong. I tried everything I could to get the boat to work again but it just wouldn’t start up. My trip was over before it began.

I slowly made my way across to the nearest phone that was located on the ship, I picked it up and carefully and dialed the number that put me through to the local coastguard. I told them my exact situation and politely asked if there was anyway they could possibly tow my boat back to the shore. They replied,

“I am sorry Sir, but there is no way at all for even the largest boat that we own to possibly tow a boat of yours that size. We can come and pick you up but we will have to leave your boat there until there is another way of towing it. It will only take us a few minutes to reach you using our high-tech location device.” I asked them to do that, and angrily hung up the phone.

A couple of minutes later the local coastguard approached my boat. We anchored our boats together. I crossed over onto his vessel and we were off. The man who came to pick me up seemed odd, he was acting very strange. He was very quiet and avoided eye contact.

We were about half way back to shore when suddenly the boat came to a halt. I walked across the side of the ship to find out what was wrong and why we had stopped. As I came up to the wheel room, a man shot out from behind the door. He picked me up driving me half way across the ship heading for the side of the boat. I struggled to break free from the tight grip he had around my waist. Finally I managed to free one of my arms that was wedged between his arm and my body. I swung my arm back and threw a great big punch at his face, attempting to break free. I hit him directly in the middle of his nose, causing it to bleed.

He rammed me into the side of the boat, bashing my back against the metal railing sending jolts of pain down my spine. He went to throw me off the side of the boat but luckily for me I had a good grip onto his jacket. I went flying over the side of the boat, banging and crashing on the way. I held onto his jacket to keep me from falling into the water, pulling him over with me. Suddenly it hit me, I knew it. He was the guy in my dream.

We hit the water with a clash. I came up to breath and he was trying to escape. He wasn’t going to escape from me this time. I thrust through the water after him, slowly but gradually started gaining on him. Finally I caught up with him. He spun around and we grabbed each other by the throat, choking each other. He dragged me under, trying to drown me. I got another good grip onto his jacket and pulled him under too. We wrestled underwater, pulling and pushing each other. At one point I even took a chunk out of his arm with my teeth I was that desperate. Blood was splurging out rapidly. The water now looked like a bloodbath.

I came up for a breath of air and about 100 meters away, something caught my eye. It was moving towards us at a fast pace, it was rather difficult to make out what it was but I knew it was not good. I felt a tug on my leg and I went back under again for the third time. I came up for a breath of air yet again and this time the animal approaching us was now about 50 meters away. It was now in range for me to tell what it was. A SHARK. I swam off with terror with the man right behind me. He had not noticed the shark was still out there to get me, whereas I was just trying to get back onto the boat.

As I reached the platform, I saw the man quite a bit behind me. He didn’t seem to be a that good swimmer. I reached up to the platform and pulled myself up. A part of my trousers got caught onto a sharp part beneath the platform. I yanked and pulled on my trousers for me to break free but it was no use. I looked over my shoulder and saw the shark and the man heading my way. The shark was tailing right behind the man. From where I was it didn’t look like he was going to make it back to the boat in time. No matter how much I despise this man, I could not just let him die. I shouted out to him,

“Swim faster there is a shark tailing you.” He turned around and saw the it.

“HELP ME,” he shouted. I told him that I was stuck and that I couldn’t do anything to help but hold out my hand and help pull him in. The shark started gaining on him. Whilst I watched them get closer and closer to the boat, I was still trying to release my trousers free from the platform. As he came within a couple of feet from me with the shark about 10 feet behind him I held out my hand and told him to grab on. Suddenly the shark disappeared. Finally it came down to the last foot or so. His fingertips were now touching mine. I pulled with all my strength to raise him out of the water. I saw something that caught my eye in the water below, it was the shark. It shot out of the water sending the man flying into it’s mouth about 5 feet in the air. There was no way he could have possibly survived that collision.

I lost sight of the shark, it must have gone under again. I pulled on my trousers yet again. I looked up and there was the shark heading my way after me this time. It neared and neared whilst I was pulling on my trousers until it came within about 5 feet from me. Finally my trousers came loose. I jumped up as fast as I could and escaped away from the shark at the last second. I made it on board. I searched for the man on the top deck, but he was nowhere insight. The water had calmed down from what it had been. But it was now blood red. I knew that this was from the man and that there was no possible way of him still being alive.

I drove the boat all the way back to the coastguard headquarters and explained all that had happened

The end.