'Come on!' I yell at Dan, who's lagging behind me as we race up the hill, dodging hanging branches and rabbit holes in the earth's surface.

'Coming!' I hear Dan yell from behind me, I can hear him panting and I smile.

I reach the top of the hill and stare into the horizon, my eyes taking in every little detail. I walk over to a flat boulder and sit down cross-legged on it, still looking out into the distance. I feel a pang of sadness shoot through me. I don't know how many more times I'll be looking at this view. Today could be the last. But then again, it might not be. I guess I'll never know.

Dan comes over and sits next to me, our shoulders brushing. The wind makes the tree's leaves rustle behind us, filling the silence.

'I love it here' I murmur and out of the corner of my eye, I see Dan nod.

'Me too' he agrees. 'It's like a completely different world here, you know? Like nothing could go wrong'.

'Yeah. I know what you mean' I reply. 'Things always go wrong though, it's a part of life'.

'True' he says. 'It's weird how we've changed, but this view hasn't much'.

'Mmm' I reply. 'Things just change so suddenly. I mean, you could have the most amazing day, then BAM, you hear news that will change your life forever'.

'Life's just so unpredictable' Dan says.

We sit in silence for a while, though the silence is comfortable. We don't need to say anything really.

'If you were going to die, and you could choose your death. How would you go?' Dan says suddenly.

My chest tightens. 'I'd probably want to die in my sleep. Painless and quick. You don't have to suffer. I think suffering is the worst way to die. You?'

'Yeah, probably in my sleep' he agrees. 'I'd hate to die young. You have so much ahead of you but you know you won't be able to live it'.

'Not everyone gets a choice when they die' I murmur. 'If you're going to die young, then you just have to live life to the fullest. You can't change the fact that you're going to die. You just have to accept it'.

'I guess so'.

I put my hand in my jean pocket and pull out a folded piece of paper.

'What's that?' Dan asks.

I unfold it. 'Well, since it's summer, I've made a list of everything I want to do this summer. Make it the best one I've ever had, you know?'

'That's a good idea. Maybe I should make one'.

'Or you can help me with mine' I offer. 'Some things would be nice to do with you, y'know?'

Dan grins, dimples showing. 'Really?'

'Yeah, course. You've been my best friend Dan, for what? Around 16 years?'

'God, has it been that long? How have I managed to put up with all your whining for that amount of time?' he laughs and I hit his arm playfully.

'I don't know. How have I managed to put up you failing miserably each time we play an X Box game for 16 years?'

'Harsh' Dan grins.

'But true'.

'Maybe'.

'So you'll help me with my summer list of things I want to achieve?'

'Of course I will Madds' he says, ruffling my brown hair.

I look back into the horizon and see that the sun is beginning to set. Oranges, reds, pinks and yellows filling the sky; the green of the trees making a striking contrast.

'I wish we could stay here forever' I say, looking into Dan's deep brown eyes.

'Yeah, me too. But I think it's sadly time to get back to reality' he replies.

'I do too' I say, jumping off the boulder and landing on the ground. Dan gets up and joins me on our downhill walk back to civilisation.

'Piggy back?' he asks me, smiling.

'Sure' I laugh and jump onto his back. Even though we're both twenty-one, he still gives me a piggy back like he used to back when we were eight.

'Ready?' he says to me and I lock my arms around his neck and place my cheek against his dark brown hair. 'Let's go'.

He takes off running down the hill, occasionally swerving whenever he gets too close to a tree so I nearly end up capsizing. The wind makes my eyes water and my hair is whirling around me face, but nevertheless, I'm laughing.

We reach the bottom of the hill and Dan slows to a walk. He's laughing too. I slide off his back and move forward so we're standing side by side.

'Thanks' I laugh, nudging him.

He looks down at me and grins. 'Glad you had fun'.

'It's like we never grew up' I reply.

'Well, I guess in some ways, people never do'.

In a way, Dan's right. Although we grow up as people, we move on and leave things behind. We always take some things with us because we can't bear to leave them. Because they mean so much to us. Because the remind us of better days.