A/N: Hi everyone! I just finished reading the Gone series last night, and it was AMAZING! :D This is my first fanfiction for the series, and I hope all of you enjoy it! :) Feel free to leave reviews and constructive criticism! Both are highly appreciated!
Edit 5/16/14: I noticed I made an error. Little Pete is too young to be in the story, but he appears anyway. Sorry about that inconsistency.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gone series. Neither do I own Sam's and Caine's sandcastles.
Sam Temple was visiting the beach. He always loved it there- the bright blue sky, the beaming sun, the puffy clouds, and the rolling waves that leapt upon the sandy shore, liquid peaks in the air mounted by gliding surfers. He waved a little hand at one of them and saw the surfer grin back. He ran over to his mother on his chubby 5-year-old legs.
"Mommy," he asked as he tugged at her tanning leg, "Can I ride on one one of those?"
She peered up at him through her dark sunglasses. "One of what?" she asked patiently.
"Those thingies," said Sam as he pointed at a surfboard. "They look fun."
His mother sighed and tucked a strand of soft brown hair behind her ear. "Sammy, you're too young to ride on one of those. You might fall off and get hurt."
"Don't worry," he said. "I can handle it. I'm grown up enough." He puffed out his chest to make himself look bigger.
His mother suppressed a laugh. It would be quite long before Sam was grown up, but she didn't tell him that. "Okay," she said. "When you can fall asleep with a nightlight instead of the big lamp on, I'll get you a surfboard."
"B-but... It will be darker!"
"And it will be dark when you fall off your surfboard and get your head underwater."
Sam frowned. Why could he never win an argument?
"How about you build a sandcastle?" she asked when she saw her son's expression.
"What's that?"
"It's a building made of sand. You get some pails and shovels, the start making it."
"Where are the pails and shovels?"
"Here." She reached into her beach bag and pulled them out. Sam took them and ran to be closer to the shore. "Be sure to show me when you're done!" she called.
~.+.~
Sam, despite his burning urge to surf, was enjoying his sandcastle building. He shoveled the fine, powdery sand into the bright plastic pails, patted them down, the repeated the process. The soft grains stuck to his pudgy fingers like powdered sugar on a doughnut, and the tide lapped gently on his toes. Every now and then he'd see a tiny crab scuttle by. A thought struck him. They could live in the sand castle! He scooped a hole in the center of the sand castle, filled it with seawater, and dropped the next few crabs in.
Sam was so engrossed with his sandcastle that he didn't notice the other boy behind him until he tapped him on the shoulder. Sam turned around. The other boy was about his age and had dark hair and dark eyes. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar, though Sam couldn't place where he'd seen him before. Definitely not a classmate. He frowned as the intruder held out his hand.
"Hello," said the intruder as Sam reluctantly shook his hand. "My name is Caine Soren, and I am here to claim your sandcastle."
What was this outrage?! After all his hard work... How could someone dare to mess with his sandcastle?
Sam glared at Caine. "No," he said firmly.
Caine blinked, as if confused by the word 'no.' "It's mine now. Finders keepers."
"Go build your own sandcastle."
"I already did!" huffed Caine.
"Then why are you stealing mine?"
"Look," he said softly, pointing over somewhere down the shore. Sam looked over in the direction Caine was pointing at. There was a sandcastle there which, to Sam's pride, wasn't as grand as his. Playing at it was a dark haired girl, smiling to herself and oblivious to the sand caking against her frilly bathing suit. She was also around their age.
"She has it," whispered Caine as if he were revealing some big secret.
"Then why don't you go take it back from her?"
"She said she'd give me a Hershey's Kiss if I let her have it. And I didn't see any point in arguing with her. Now it's your turn to give me your sandcastle."
"It's not my fault that you gave yours away to some girl for a piece of candy. Now go away!"
"Hey!" called a voice. They looked up to see a blond girl, also about their age, with angry sky blue eyes. "You two are acting like infants! And you made my brother cry with your racket!"
"What's an infant?" asked Sam.
"What's a racket?" asked Caine.
"An infant is a baby, and a racket is a loud noise. Now keep the racket down so the infant won't cry!" She stormed off back to her parents, leaving Sam in awe and Caine in frustration.
As soon as she was gone, Caine shoved Sam into the sand. "It's mine! I'm the king of the sandcastle!"
Sam tossed sand in Caine's eye. "No! I built it!"
"Mine!" Punch.
"Mine!" Hit.
"Mine!" Shove.
"Mine!" Wham.
"Mine," said a third voice. Kick.
A soft thudding noise. They looked behind at the source and saw the wrecked sandcastle and the scampering crabs, all the hard work gone to waste. Standing there was another boy their age with sandy hair and cruel blue-grey eyes the color of sharkskin, grinning at the scene of destruction he had caused. He laughed. "It's mine. No one gets to play but me."
Sam and Caine looked at each other and nodded as if their argument had never happened. They each picked up the nearest shovel and chased the boy across the beach.
"IT'S NOT YOURS!"
A/N: How was it? I hope you enjoyed it! :)