Hold On

Chapter 4

I hadn’t moved in two hours. I just sat here, watching Sarah’s breathing. I was afraid that if I looked away she would slip away. That didn’t help me either, it just made me want to cry again. The others hadn’t cried at all, I was the only one. We were all sitting around her room. Liam was leaning against the wall by me, Niall and Zayn were sitting in the window sit as Louis sat in a seat on the left side of Sarah’s bed. I was sitting on Sarah’s left side, just staring at her.

None of us had spoken for at least an hour, we didn’t know what to say to each other. So, we decided to just keep each other company. It was what we all needed right now, was to know that we were all here.

I could feel my chest tighten at that thought. Being there for each other was one of the best ways to describe how I met Sarah. We were only in primary school when it happened, but we remained friends ever since.

I was walking through the playground at school, trying to find someone to play with. Everyone seemed to be doing something, except for a little girl on the swings. She had long brown hair and was drawing stuff in the dirt with her foot.

“Hi,” I said as I walked up and sat in the swing beside her.

“Hi,” she greeted me back. She looked up at me for a moment, before going back to her doodle. I looked over, seeing that she was only drawing lines in the sand. I chose to ignore it as I began to swing myself.

“Come on,” I said with a smile, “I bet I can swing higher than you.”

She nodded her head, “Yeah.”

I slowed down and came to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t push myself.” She seemed upset and I could see why. I felt bad for her, so I got a plan. I stood from my swing and walked over to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I went behind her.

“I’m going to push you silly.” I smiled as I began to push her. I could hear giggle as I pushed her higher and higher.

“This is so much fun.” She called out.

I continued to push her until the teacher called that we needed to head back inside. I stopped pushing her and waited for her swing to stop.

“Thank you so much.” She smiled as she ran over and hugged me. “My name’s Sarah.”

“I’m Harry.” I smiled back.

I could feel the tears threatening to fall again as I finished the memory. We had met under that most random of circumstances, but we had become the closest of friends. Even that day, we walked back inside holding hands. I remember that she asked if I would push her again the next day, and I promised her that I would always push her on the swings. It made her so happy.

I looked up at her now, wishing that we were back there. That we were both little kids and she was begging me to push her on that swing again. At least then, I knew she would be okay.