Friends at Last

“Friends at Last” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Ananya Raj, THe Horizon School, India.

Friends at Last

In the large city of Chicago USA, there lived a girl named Arya Stark in River Dale Lane. Now her name sounds familiar, her parents used it because Arya sounds super powerful and sporty. She turned out to be like that too. She got A+ in every sport she played. She also got gymnastic classes after school. Despite all these, Arya was very sad. She had no friends in her neighbourhood. She had a friendly, protective, nice and strong character, but still she missed having friends. There were only grown-ups and old people in her neighborhood. Every day she wished someone of her age to move in. Yet knew someday her wish would come true.

Today was the last day at school and Arya hated this day? Usually she goes travelling with her parents and forgets about her worries and loneliness. But this month Arya’s father had tons of work. So, the trip was postponed to next month. Arya was thinking how she will ever pass one whole month without any friends or enjoyment. Her mother, Jane Stalk suggested going for shopping and buy new dresses, but Arya hated it. She had never enjoyed it. She loved shopping for sports items. But the first day of her vacation turned out to be the best day ever! Mrs. Harriet who was a wise old history teacher was moving to California to live with her daughter. Mr. Richard was moving to Texas for his movie and to live with his brother. Arya felt sad and would miss her old neighbours who were really caring and friendly towards her, but she also found them to be boring. She was now super excited to meet her new neighbours who were to move in shortly. She went on her bicycle for a round around River Dale Lane. She passed ponds and parks and decided to take her friends, or rather the newcomers, all around the lane.

Meanwhile there was a farewell party that Mrs. Jane had hosted. Everybody was in tears. Arya didn’t bother to be a part of the party. She was excited to meet her new neighbours. Around 6:30 her neighbours moved in. There were two girls of her age. They moved in to either side of Arya’s house. Arya and her parents decided to invite their new neighbours for dinner. Arya also joined them to clean up the house and arrange dinner. Both neighbours arrived, and Arya introduced herself to the girls.

One of the girls was Italian but spoke proper English. Her name was Lucy Jack. She loved books, gadgets and was good in swimming too. The other girl’s name was Martina Shae. She was obsessed with shopping. But Arya liked her clumsiness. They were of the same age as Arya’s. They all enjoyed a good time tasting all sorts of candies! Swiss candy, American, Indian… Lucy’s father worked for a candy factory while Martina’s father worked for a slime factory. She gave everyone a pack of Barrell O Slime. Arya’s father had a company for sports. The three girls decided to call themselves The Threenagers. For the rest of the night they played cards, built a fort, acted as though they were making videos and uploading it. They made slime and played with it. Finally, it was time for dinner. Everybody ate as they were famished for years. The girls decided to have a sleepover. It was a hard decision, but it was a yes from the parents. That night when everybody was asleep, the sneaked into the kitchen and did a midnight feast. They slept only at morning 2 O’clock. From that day onwards, they became very good friends. Arya was very happy that she had found friends at last.