Change Of Heart

Zero

SHE LOVED the beach like it was her second home.

Ava went there every week, and each time, she built a different form of a sandcastle which always ultimately ended up crumbling down into a pool of nothingness.

That day was no different.

"Do you need some help?"

A guy's bright-blue eyes locked on her brown ones, as he began to crouch beside her with a small smile.

"What?" she asked, staring back at him with a frown. "Help with my sandcastle? No one touches my sandcastle but me."

"But I want to help." He was stubborn, insistent on getting his way. "I'm really good at making sandcastles, you know."

"Well, you know what?" She stood up, brushing off the excess sand from her skirt. "So am I."

With a triumphant smile, she placed a handmade flag at the top of her castle, overwhelmed with a sense of pride.

But the water had conspired something different for the little girl. In the form of one huge wave, it swept her wannabe-monument away.

She couldn't help it; she started crying. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she fell to her knees, watching her creation break apart.

That was when she felt a hesitant hand on her shoulder.

She turned back the find the blue-eyed boy, his hands already working fast to build another castle. In a few minutes, a new castle was ready, better than the other in so many aspects.

If her sandcastle was a piece of art, his was a masterpiece.

He dusted the sand off his hands and turned to her with a huge grin. "This one's for you," he told her sincerely, "To make up for the lost one."

That was where a friendship which was destined to last for years began.