Sandcastles

• Ella Ryan, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

"Can We go down to the beach, mother?" The young boy asked as he came through the front door.
"Again? You two spend too much time down at that beach."
"Please mother, I like the beach. We can play ball, we can run in the water, we can build sand castles..." The young boy's mother sighed.
"Okay, you can go with Katherine, but look after her. Don't let her go too deep or get too sandy." The boy nodded before running to grab his shoes and sister. Just before he got out the door, his mother called out to him again.
"Oh and Albert, be back before dark." The young boy nodded then ran out the door.

Down at the beach, Albert and Katherine didn't go in the water and they didn't play ball. Instead, they sat up on the sand and built a big sand castle together. Many days, weather permitting Katherine and Albert were found down at the beach. They would come home sandy from building sand castles, but all that was soon to change.

As 1914 approached, Albert came to be 18. As the news spread around about the Great War, Albert was eager to sign up. His sister didn't want him to leave. She tried to talk him out of it, but she was unsuccessful and before Albert knew it, he was being shipped off to war.

He sat, shoulder to shoulder, on a small wooden boat. The waves were pushing the first ANZAC’s closer and closer to the dark, Turkish shore. He could feel the fear radiating off the person next to him, amplifying his terror.

“We are here to fight for our country. We are here to fight for all our brothers and sisters. We go in together and we fight together!!” The captain shouted out. It didn’t make Albert’s fear disappear, it made it grow and the closer and closer they got, the bigger it grew.

When they thought they made it to the shore unnoticed, the Turks started shooting at the boat in front of them. As soon as they knew they were in shallow water, all the soldiers jumped out the boat. As they ran to the beach, many were shot during the advancement.

Albert made it out of the water, yet his fear was still there and bigger then ever. Only once when he made it about halfway up the beach, did his fear disappear, deflated by a bullet. He was left on the beach and over time, sand came and covered him. He was one of the many soldiers who died and became sand castles.