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I don’t know if I would have survived without her. Like most teenagers, I’d never given a second thought to what my final moments would be like. The clouds parted allowing mercurial rays of light to fall over the sand. I walked into the restaurant filled with the other teachers in my travel group. After an exhausting week of teaching the second floor of the bamboo hut was the perfect haven of relaxation. Beanbags lined with sides and acoustic guitars strummed from the floor below. Tranquility. Sunny Kwan, our weekend tour guide from Phuket, was always filled with inspirational quotes. I sat in awe listening to her talk about her budget travels through Thailand hoping to one day to have such remarkable stories of my own. As two gunshots pierced through the silence I couldn’t help but fear this was the end. Across the sand covered street, directly facing our open plan café stood a man gripping an archaic gun. Everyone suddenly dropped down as low as possible. A WhatsApp message vibrated in my pocket sending of wave of panic pulsing up through my body. “Put your phones on silent and head to the boats.” The man brandished his gun towards a startled American family as the father pleaded for mercy. Sunny began beckoning people towards the back of the restaurant and pointed at a four foot drop into an alleyway that led down towards the safe haven of Railay beach. In silence our group began dropping down into the piles of left over cardboard and clambered over rubbish down behind the buildings towards safety. Looking back it was clear Sam from our group wouldn’t be able to escape due to her injured ankle. Her only way out was to run from the restaurant entrance down into the alley. As the gunman moved into the second floor of the restaurant across the street the first chance for the last few to escape was in sight. One more gunshot rung out as he shouted demands in Thai out into the street. Without hesitation Sunny began yelling across the road towards the gunman. She stood at the front of the second floor of our restaurant in his direct eye line. The three remaining girls darted out of the restaurant into the safety of the shielded alleyway. Running down the shingle covered back alleys towards the boats I held my breath hoping it was over. Every corner slowly closer to safety. Finally we turned the final bend to reveal the boats bobbing blissfully in the ocean. With Sunny not far behind we piled into the decrepit boats as the owners, unaware of hostility, began starting the decrepit engines. As Krabi faded into the distance I stared out at the crashing waves in silence. “You just risked your life for people you’ve known only a few weeks” I said clutching onto the side of the boat. “Anyone would do the same” she humbly replied staring into the abyss below. As we stepped off the boat Sunny waved us off towards our coach home. “Good luck. I hope you manage to do tour the world!” she said pointing towards my journal filled with travel ideas. In a world filled with bad news bulletins and excessive social media scrutiny I set off to Thailand for the summer to regain my faith that the world was a culture rich place of wonder and to meet people unlike anyone I’d met before. The trepidation on Railay that day not only made me realise the fragility of life, but it allowed me to meet an emblem of heroism. Sunny put her life on the line to help people she had only known a few days- she how I aspire to be.