Bedtime Story, Part 1

There was once a boy who lived by the sea. He loved to build sandcastles too close to the water, so that the waves would destroy them, making him feel like a powerful and capricious god.

One of the sandcastles would not wash away, though, even when the waves rushed over all else, smoothing out the sand. It did not become a lump of sludge, either. It stood, a little crookedly, for three days and three nights. Finally he took a shovel and smashed it.

Inside the sandcastle was a beating heart, bleeding but alive. He picked it up in trembling hands and felt rooted to the spot.

Last I looked he was still there, under the stars, not sure what to do next.