Dan was four.

He sat alone on the swings at the park near his house, kicking the pebbles beneath his feet and watching as they flew away from him as he did so. The sky was grey, but the forecast declared there would be no rain, plus it was warm out, so he was in a simple red
t-shirt.

There were a few other kids there, most in small groups scattered around the playground, probably trying to avoid bumping into one another. There was only one other kid on the swings though. On the very opposite side from Dan sat a boy probably his age, with black hair and a bright blue hoodie to match his ocean-like eyes. Dan looked at him for a moment, considering going over and talking to him, but decided against it. And so, he went back to kicking pebbles.

A few minutes later though, he heard the creak of weight leaving the other swing and the crunching of someone walking across the tiny rocks on the ground. Before he knew it, the boy was standing in front of him. He glanced at the stationary swing Dan was sitting on before looking back to him.

"Wanna push?" he offered. Not really knowing what to say, Dan just nodded, and the boy went behind him and started pushing the swing back and forth.

"My name's Phil, by the way," the boy said as Dan flew up and down. He'd never really gotten the hang of swinging, so this was one of the first times he had properly done it. It was quite fun, and he now really wished he had tried harder to figure it out on his own. Maybe later.

"I'm Dan," he said through joyful laughter as the swing started to go higher and higher.

"Phil!" they heard a man's voice say from the other end of the playground. The boy turned around to see who was calling him, then sighed and turned back to Dan.

"That's my dad. I've gotta go, sorry. Bye." And with that, he ran off to the man.

'Bye'; Dan didn't like that word very much. It sounded too official, like you wouldn't be seeing whoever said it again. It sounded sad.

And even though Phil was now far out of earshot, he still whispered a quiet, "see you later."