I was building a sand castle with my little brother, Josh, when I first met her. Josh said that our castle needed a moat, so I grabbed the bucket we'd brought and went to go fill it while Josh started digging the moat. I walked toward the edge of the ocean and stopped. The water felt cold and waves lapped gently at my feet. I waded in knee deep, then waist deep. I filled the bucket and was about to head back to shore when I saw something. No, not something. Someone!

It was a girl. She was far out and I could see her hair waving wildly in the wind behind her as she swam toward me. She was a fast swimmer. One second she was far out at sea and the next she was only twenty feet away from me. She was really pretty. She had long blond hair that went down all the way to her waist and wide blue eyes. She swam closer. How was she not freezing? The water was so cold, goosebumps had already appeared on my arms and I'd been in here for less than five minutes. The girl looked up at me. She pointed to the beach. "Do you nnnneed hhhhelp or something?" I asked, my teeth chattering. She nodded and pointed to the beach again. I guessed she wanted me to help her onto the sand.

I walked towards her. "Cccome on!" I shivered. She let me grab her arm and lead her to the beach. More like drag her. When we reached the sand, the girl collapsed. I rushed to grab her a towel. "What's goin on?" Josh asked, looking up from digging his moat. "Nothing," I replied. "Pass me that towel." He passed me a blue towel and I set down the bucket full of water and rushed back to the girl. That's when I noticed she had nothing on. "Here wrap yourself in this." I said, handing her the towel. She did, then tried to stand. I helped her up. "What's your name?" I asked. She didn't reply. "Can you speak?" No answer. "Can you write?" She shook her head. I had no idea as to what I should do.

I led her to our spot and I noticed that she had difficulty walking. She stumbled a lot and I had to catch her twice before she fell. Finally, we reached the blanket and she sat. Josh, who was adding shells to his sand castle, glanced up. "Who's that?" he asked, gesturing to the girl. I shrugged. "She can't talk, so I don't know her name." I told him. "Where'd she come from?" The girl pointed out to sea. "Out there I guess." I said. "Maybe she was on a ship, there was a big storm, it sank, she survived, built a raft, the raft broke, she saw land in the distance and she swam to shore." Josh concluded.

I shrugged again. "Maybe it's possible I guess." The girl sighed and shook her head. She opened her mouth, as if to speak. But she didn't say a word. "How come she can't talk?" Josh asked. "I don't know." I said. "Then how are we gonna commucate with her?" "It's communicate Josh, not commucate." I told him. "And I don't know. Let's just take her home." We started gathering up our stuff. Mom and Dad had wanted some quiet, so they'd sent Josh and I to the beach for a while to play in the sand. Well, for Josh to play in the sand and for me to watch him. I gave the girl my cover up to put on. She took it and frowned. "You put it oover your head and put your arms through the sleeves." I explained. With a little effort and a little help from me, she finally got it on. Then, she wrapped the towel around her waist. "Carry the bucket and shovels." I instructed Josh, who had to turn away so the girl could put on the cover up. Luckily, there was no one else on the beach except for us. "Why can't you do it?" he wined. "Because I gotta help her up the steps. She's wobbly as it is." I pointed to the girl. Josh mumbled something under his breath.

Getting the girl up the steps was not easy, at all! She almost fell about ten times and Josh yelling at us to, "Hurry up!" didn't help. About 10 minutes later, we finally made it up the steps and walked down the path to our beach house. Josh rushed ahead while I stayed behind with the girl. "I didn't even tell you my name yet did I?" I asked. She shook her head. "It's Sirina." The girl stopped suddenly. "What?" I asked, concerned. She shook her head and continued walking. I frowned. She'd looked so startled when I'd told her my name. But why? Who was this girl and where did she come from?