Sarah's Song

Sarah walked briskly, away from the coffee shop and deep into the cold; half scared of the dark and all it beholds and yet half confident that it wasn't her a gang of teenage boys were calling. She stopped at the bus stop, sticking out her right arm, and making gestures at an oncoming cab. She realized in shock that her hands trembled.
She stole a glance at the sky. No, not even an inkling of a star smiled at her. Her gaze fell back to the road. Sarah gasped! There wasn't any vehicle on the road. The cab must have passed her whilst she stood admiring the sky. Now, the cab was nowhere in sight, but the boys were.
Scared, for a reason she couldn't even think of, she didn't know when she began to run. Why am I running?, She thought...No, there would be enough time for thinking. Later
She then heard heavy footsteps following hers. Or maybe it was her heartbeat. And so, she placed a palm on her chest gently. No, it wasn't from there! It was from the ones now echoing her name.
She hadn't seen it in front of her. There, a bench laid, right in the middle of the kerb. Sarah fell over and grazed her knee, but she wouldn't feel the hurt now. Later, she said beneath the fear... Probably after they've ....
"Hey there!", one of the guys greeted, both words followed by heavy puffs. "You're one hell of a speedster, you know", he added with an infectious smile.
Sarah stood from the floor, confused and embarrassed. She started to feel the hurt. She twiched her eyes and her reasoning. Aren't they.....
'Here, have this", another boy said, handing her what seemed to be a tag. But it wasn't a tag of any sort - it was her school ID card! The same one she had misplaced earlier that day.
"Found out in front of the bookstore up ahead. Figured you must have dropped it when you were rushing to school this morning"
"Oh", was all she could mutter. One of the boys, the first to speak, smiled. "You could have made our task easier by running to us rather than away from us". This time, Sarah laughed, exposing her fear and lovely set of white teeth. She laughed again, but not at his comment, but the thoughts that had roved wildly in her mind just a few seconds ago.
"I know you're Sarah already. I'm Dave, you know, I sit behind
you in Phys Ed." It was then that Sarah opened her mouth as much as she opened her mind. So, that night, she went back home with a new friend, a funny memory, and of course, a grazed knee!

Have you ever walked down the street and a boy you've never met walks up and greets you? Or maybe, you're in a bus and a girl you don't have the slightest idea who she is, just smiles or winks at you. In both scenarios, especially if you and the person involved are of the same sex, the usual response would be to smile, then ignore or walk away; but that's for most cases, not all.
Now, the question is: "who are strangers?"
The term, 'stranger', has been highlighted in the mind of every child the instant he learns to crawl. And as such a child grows, he becomes paranoid and equally tends to overreact to even the minutest of situations! This is often the fault of overprotective parents. Yes, a good parent should be protective, cautious, and watchful over the delving of her child, but not everytime. There should be space for a little privacy.
Being overly protective might seem fruitful in its early stages but it wouldn't take long for you to see its adverse effects. How that single mindset can breed a generation of paranoid teenagers! Now, every guy winking at you puts on your safety alarms.
Sit back and relax, whilst we take a slow tour down Memory Lane. The friends you have right now, who were they before you met them? That's right! Strangers! Each and every one of them. There surely was a point where you didn't know anything or everything about them as you do now. Being a bit responsive than normal to people you don't know wouldn't hurt, so long as it feels right.
Are you still wondering who strangers are?
They're the friends that you just met!