Page 29 - Southwell School Year Book 2018

YEAR 7 CAMP: TAURANGA
Death on a Sliding Mat
The rst piece of advice my friends gave me was, “Whatever you do, don’t scream!” Well, that was going to be impossible because we all knew I was going to.
My hands trembled as I plopped the red foam mat down on the slide. This was my big moment - I was about to go down the hydro slide at Waimarino Water Park. I examined my life jacket to make sure that it was tight, then I looked at the mat.
It sat there, waiting for me patiently. The mat was evilly smiling at me like it was planning something. I looked down the slide towards Ms Foster. She gave me
the all-clear thumbs up. I mounted the mat and stretched my legs out. It made some annoying squeaky noises. I took three big gulps of air. It trickled down my throat and blew all the butter ies away. The butter ies tried to ght back, but they couldn’t. I shivered out of fear. Suddenly negative thoughts rushed through my mind. “What if I die? What if I go in the water the wrong way? What if I do scream and choke on the water?” I tried to block them out because I just had to go down. I realised I was delaying the line, there were a lot of students waiting for a turn. I told myself, “3,2,1... Go!”
I used my hands to launch forwards, but it didn’t work. I only moved forward an inch! I pushed harder, but I still only went forward a little bit. Inching your way down a slide is not ideal, but at that moment I knew it was my destiny. I kept inching along for about ve metres and then ...
“Help!” I yelled. “I’m stuck!”
I’m pretty sure I inched three-quarters of the slide. I looked over the edge and saw Methaya and Katie laughing at me! I felt so embarrassed and betrayed. I eventually reached the nal drop of the slide. I told myself, “You are one with the mat,” and with all my might, I heaved myself forward. My mat nally understood what I was trying to do and proceeded forward by itself. “Finally.” I thought to myself as I sped down the ghastly slide. Suddenly I felt sick, my heart started pounding really fast almost as if I was going to die. I let out a big, long, loud and ear-deafening scream. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”
I clung tightly to the mat, scared of what was waiting at the bottom of the slide.
I was ung into the air, (sadly, my last piece of protection, the mat, was separated from me) frantically I took one last, big breath. I looked down at the water, death awaited me. I said, “Hello,” to the water and “Bye,” to my life. SPLASH! I crashed into the water, my butt going in rst. I could feel the water explode out like a geyser above me. I felt a sudden cold chill down my spine. I apped my arms like a chicken and pushed myself up so my head bobbed out of the water. I opened my mouth and gasped, then I looked around.
My mat caught my eye rst. I swam over and started to push it, but my wet hands prevented me from doing so. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my friend Lucie courageously leap in. She swam over and took my mat before it made a break for freedom downstream. Lucie pushed it to the ladder and I gradually swam over.
I felt so heavy in the water, my wetsuit clung to me so tightly I thought it would squeeze the life out of me. I felt like I was going to sink, but thankfully my life jacket kept me a oat.
I grabbed hold of the ladder and swung myself up. As I climbed my way up, the water dripped down my legs. My wetsuit felt heavy like I was carrying dumbbells. I felt a gush of air rush down my wetsuit. Katie and Methaya rushed up to congratulate me.
“Good job!” they said.
“Thanks,” I replied
I felt so good. I have always been scared of jumping into deep water, even with a life-jacket! But I felt more con dent now, like a bird that has just learnt to y!
“How did I survive that?” I thought to myself. I was so shocked and surprised, but proud of myself at the same time. I enjoyed the slide a lot! Waimarino, I’m coming for you again!
Nika Asadi
Southwell School Yearbook 2018 27