Not Just Another Number

Stranger Shorts-Friends?

The sun shines down on a playground on an early September day. Kids run around, laughing and playing with friends.

One little girl sits alone, though. She sits on the swing set, not moving. Her feet dangle below her as she watches the other kids. Her face holds no expression.

Her brown hair is long and in a neat braid, it's the neatest it's ever been. Her brown eyes shine with curiosity as she looks around.

This little girl is named Sarah. And she has no friends.

Well, at least, until today.

A young boy, looking around her age, sees her from the entrance of the park. His wavy hair is moving in the light breeze. He notices that she's alone and frowns.

He tugs on his mother's hand, looking up at her. "Can I go play now?" He asks.

His mother gives him a kind smile and nods. "Of course Steve, be careful."

The boy, now known as Steve, let's go of his mother's hand and races off into the park. He bounds up to the swing set, standing right in front of Sarah.

Said girl looks at him, expression changing the smallest amount. Her eyebrows lift in confusion at this new boy.

Steve gives her a bright smile and points at the empty swing next to her. "Can I swing with you?"

She nods. Steve quickly climbs into the swing and begins to swing back and forth, smile never leaving his face. Sarah just watches him, eyes following the movement of the swing.

"What's you're name?"

Sarah tilts her head to the side. "What?" Is the first word she says.

"You're name," Steve says easily, "so I know what to call ya."

"Sarah." She says, though it sounds strange. She says it as if the word is new to her, like she's only just getting used to saying it.

Steve drags his feet into the ground to slow his swinging a bit. "Cool, I'm Steve. You wanna be friends?" He asks.

"Friends?"

"Yeah, friends. What, you never heard of 'em before?" He jokes, but she doesn't laugh along. She just gives him the same confused look she's been giving him the entire time.

His smile drops at the realization. "You don't? So you've never had friends before?"

She shakes her head. Steve looks at her for a second before his smile comes back. "Then I can teach ya!"

He hops off his swing and stands in front of Sarah. "Friends are like people you tell everything and spend all loads of time with. They're really cool." She nods along as he explains it to her.

He finishes his little lesson with his hands on his hips. "And one big thing about friends is that they never lie! My momma taught me that." He says with a blinding smile on his face.

"Friends don't lie." She repeats.

"Exactly!"

She meets his smile with a small one of her own, understanding the word now. Steve looks smug and proud that he taught someone something. "So," he says, "you wanna be my friend?"

Sarah's smile grows bigger and she nods. "Yes."

Steve sticks out a hand, making her look down at it like it were a confusing puzzle. "We gotta shake on it."

"Shake on it?" She repeats.

"Yeah, I see my dad do it all the time. It's like 'sealing the deal' as he says." He says, making his voice sound deeper as he impersonates his dad.

Sarah laughs at the funny voice and puts her small, pale hand out to take his. Steve shakes her hand vigorously, sealing the deal.

He takes his hand away after a good shake and walks back over to his swing. "Now as best friends, we gotta swing together." He says, already swinging.

Sarah doesn't move her swing. He notices and slows himself. "Why aren't you swinging?"

"Don't know how." She says with a shrug. Steve gives her a look, confused why she wouldn't know how to swing of all things.

He slows himself all the way to a stop, looking down at his feet. Suddenly, an idea comes to mind. He'll just have to teach her.

He kicks his feet to make her look at him. "You just, ya'know, kick your feet out. Like this." He demonstrates the action, swinging just a little.

She copies him, staring to swing. Steve nods and smiles. "Now ya gotta do biiiig ones, that's what gets you all high up in the air." 

She listens to him and she starts to swing higher and higher. Her laugh rings out through the whole park. Her laughter makes Steve laugh, since it's so contagious. He swings, trying to get as high as she is.

They spend practically the whole day swinging together, but soon, they have to leave. Steve shows her how to stop her swing and they both hop off.

"Steve, it's time to head home." A woman's voice calls out to the boy. Steve looks behind him and sees his mom. He looks back at Sarah with a frown. "I have to go back to my stupid home." He gripes.

Sarah's large smile drops a little but then she notices her mom, Mrs.Byers, getting up from her place at the benches with her new brothers, Johnathan, who's her age, and Will, who's just a little baby.

Steves voice makes her look away. "We can hang out tomorrow. We'll swing so high we'll get all the way to space!" He promises.

Sarah smiles and nods. "Yeah!" She agrees. Steve races off to his mom, shouting out a goodbye to Sarah. She waved at him and walks over to her mom.

Mrs.Byers gives her a smile, noticing how she was talking to another kid. In the time that she's lived with the Byers, this is the first time she's ever talked to someone else, and they've visited the park many times.

She bends down to Sarah's height to talk to her. "You have fun on the swings Sarah?" She asks.

Sarah nods, her braid moving up and down with her head. "I made a friend!"

And that she did. She made a friend that'll be for there through thick and thin. But she just doesn't know that just yet.

A/N
Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while. I've been busy with a bunch of competitions so my schedules been pretty tight, but don't worry, I will try to update much more often. Here's the story of how our favorite duo became friends! Hope you liked it and don't forget, if you have ideas for memories and flashbacks for Sarah, like anything y'all wanna know about her backstory, don't be afraid to comment it. Stay Curious~Lunar