Parker lay in the long grass on the grassy hill just outside of town, staring up at the new fading blue sky. The sun dipped just below the horrizon shooting rays of orange and yellow across the horizon. A slight breeze whisped past him and Sarah. Summer was officially gone, and the cool breeze of fall seemed to welcome them home. He smiled. There might have been homework to think about, but all he could think about was the perfect moment of laying on the hill, right then, right there, nothing in this world could take that from him.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Sarah whispered, her words being caught by the wind and drifting in to Parker’s ear.

“Afraid?”

“Afraid of being in love with a dying girl?” Parker smiled. He was in fact in love with a dying girl, and yes he was afraid, not because he was in love, but because he wasn’t sure how best to show it. He turned over on his side and looked at Sarah. She remained staring up at the sky, birds flew overhead, setting off south for the summer sun. The birds had their escape, but Sarah did not. He wondered what kind of answere she was looking for from him, as though he needed to say just the right thing. He wanted to say something like _you seem pretty alive to me_, but the words didn’t feel quite right.

“I suppose I am.” He replied laying back down on his back, the air sat still for a moment. His heart pounded nearly out of his chest. He was in fact afraid, he was afraid of what was next for them, for where things could go, and what he was to do. This moment was so perfect because none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered right then was that they were there, laying on the hill, together. This was the same hill they would roll down as kids, run around on playing tag, and laugh on telling silly stories from school. The hill, the dirt, was filled with more memories than could be contained in either of their heads. “I am not afraid of the second part though. I am afraid of the first.”

“What do you mean, Parker?” Sarah sat up and stared off at the setting sun just beyond the city they called home. The first few stars began to peak just through the twilight.

“I mean, I am afraid of being in love. Dying or not, love is scary. Love is that kind of emotion that is difficult to control. Anger, frustration, joy, sadness, all revolve around myself, they all occur because of me. Love, however, deals with another person, and I cannot control how that other person might handle that emtion for me.” Parker sat up too, but instead stared at Sarah. Her long brown hair which was now falling out in clumps gently flowed in the wind. Her eyes darted across the horizon, and Parker wanted more than anything to know what was running through her head. She was the dying girl, and he was the living boy, but if he could have changed those places he would have.

“I am just a tragedy waiting to happen.” Tears began to stream down her face. She knew that whoever she came in contact with, whatever relationship she built would just lead to pain, and sadness. “I am just a dark pit, waiting to swallow any happiness that comes my way.”

“Sarah,” Parker trailed off, “you are a ball of light. Everyone who knows you would say that, and wherever there is the light, the flowers will find it.” Parker moved closer to Sarah so their shoulders were touching, she flinched, as though even the touch would lead to his own demise. “Sorry, would you like me to move away?” Parker asked.

“No, no.” She wept, “Stay with me.”

“Always.” He replied. He knew he couldn’t stop the forces of nature taking Sarah from this world, but he knew he could at least be with her through it. Death at sixteen was seemed like such a foreign concept to the two just three years ago, and yet they were so well aquainted with it now that it seemed like an old friend. Parker had watched his mom, his grandparents, and now Sarah, meet death, as morbid as it was. Sometimes he questioned God why He would be the one to take everything from him. Parker was angry and hurt that everything around him slowly faded in to the void, and yet in that moment, they sat, in silence watching the seconds tick by together.