‘Don’t, Drew, please don’t!’ I shouted as he ripped off his tie and jacket while running across the beach. We’d heard shouting, the cries of a mother whose little boy had been swept out to sea. And Drew, my fiancé, didn’t think twice. He just ran towards the water.
‘Wait for the lifeguards,’ I called after him, but he didn’t stop. He ran out as far as he could. He was just ahead of his best friend, Jake, and two of the staff members from Bussu Bay, the beach hotel where we were staying. He was different from the others, though – that was why I told him not to go. He wasn’t as strong a swimmer. He wasn’t at ease in the water. It wouldn’t take too much for him to get into trouble out there. It wouldn’t take too much for ‘Don’t, Drew, please don’t!’ to be the last words he ever heard me say.