Chapter 5 #5
I watched as the waves splashed up onto the sand and then slowly retreated back, and each time they did, the waves brought up various-sized shells and small debris.
I gathered a few of the bigger shells I could find, as well as some smaller pieces of shell, just in case Sadie could use them for something.
I pocketed my findings, and then I got to work using the sifter. I used it to scoop up some of the more loose sand nearby, and then I carefully held it in the waves.
The water made all the smaller particles flow out, while the sifter acted as a net for the bigger chunks, and I was able to get several more pieces of shell, along with a few almost perfectly preserved, larger shells.
I went back to the pile of loose sand I’d originally dug up to see what else I could find in there, and I scooped the sifter through the sand again, but this time, I felt the outer ring of the sifter hit against something hard.
At first, I thought I’d inadvertently found a crab buried beneath the sand, but the sound of impact had too much of a metallic ring to it.
I carefully set the sifter aside, prayed I wasn’t about to be pinched or bitten by something, and dug my hands into the soft sand in search of the mysterious object.
It wasn’t long before my fingers brushed across something hard and smooth, and I knew it had to be the object I’d hit the sifter against. I felt around some more, but the object didn’t feel very big, so I carefully closed my hand around it and withdrew the foreign item.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
It was a strange, heavy metal tube, made of the same dark metal the weird item I’d found in the café tip jar had been made of. It was almost bullet shaped, and it had too many little protrusions and divots, similar to the other piece I’d collected.
I glanced around to ensure nobody was watching, and then I pocketed the item.
I wasn’t sure why I kept collecting these strange, foreign objects. For all I knew, they were just broken pieces of something that just so happened to be made of the same material.
But there was that small, nagging feeling again, and it told me there was more to these pieces than what met the eye. They were important somehow.
Besides, it was far too much of a coincidence that I happened to come across them both times, and each time they’d almost felt intentionally hidden. There had to be more to them than that, and I’d never believed in coincidences.
Once I made sure the little object was securely in my pocket, I checked to see if there were any other little foreign pieces lying around, but I didn’t find any.
So, I grabbed the sifter and went back to collecting shells and stuff for Sadie. I made about six more trips back and forth between the soft sand pile and the waves, and by the time I was done, I had more than enough of a collection for Sadie to choose from.
I returned to the dark-haired woman, and she’d made a ton of progress on her castle while I was gone.
I let out a low whistle when I realized she’d even used a stick to hand-carve little stairs leading up to the castle’s main entrance.
“Do you like it?” she asked as she glanced up at me with a small smile.
“Remind me to never enter into a sandcastle-building competition against you,” I joked.
Sadie laughed, a real, genuine laugh, and it was really nice to see her looking more joyful and free than she’d been previously.
“Did you find anything good?” she asked, and her eyes were bright with excitement.
“I did,” I replied as I knelt down beside her and revealed my various treasures of seashells and smooth stones. I kept the metal contraption hidden for now. “Will any of these work?”
“They’re perfect,” she assured me, and her eyes were still filled with glee.
She began to pick through my findings and separate them all into small piles. Smooth stones here, larger, more intact shells there, broken shell pieces in a third group, etc.
Then I watched in fascination as she used them to add to the castle. She set the larger shells into random places along her castle’s walls, and she placed the smaller fragments on the tops of each of the stairs. Finally, she stuck the smooth stones in a line along the base of each wall.
Then she leaned back to admire her handiwork.
“It looks great,” I said in admiration.
And it was true, it looked like the type of castle one would see in a fantasy movie about mermaids or something.
“I couldn’t have done it without your keen eye,” she said as she shot me a wide smile. “Thanks for your help.”
“My services are available for your use anytime,” I replied with a mock bow.
She laughed, and once again, I found myself thinking that this felt like a very normal date.
I really wished it’d been under better circumstances.
As we sat there beside the little castle, I suddenly got a strange and uneasy feeling. It was like all the little hairs on the back of my neck had prickled, the way they would if one felt a cold breath behind them.
I glanced around the ocean instinctively, because I knew this wasn’t just paranoia.
Something was wrong.