A/N: This story started off looking like it would have many chapters. I wrote the prologue...then time passed and the rest of the story did not get written. It probably never will be written in chapter form. I am going to be very busy, as I have been since I published the prologue to fictionpress. There is simply no time to write anything more than a one shot. Plus, I believe I can fit my whole story line into a one shot and have it work out. Just read and please give feedback.

I heard a saying once that went kinda like, it's dreadful (my word) when someone you know becomes someone you knew. And it's very true. I guess you don't realize how true it is until it happens to you. When a person you knew so well, maybe closer than a sibling, becomes someone that you know nothing about.

That happened to me. And it was the worst thing that could have happened. My name is Stacey Burke and this is the story of how I lost my best friend to time.

Danny Owen and I were the best friends ever. We were always together. We grew up together, so what do you expect? We met when I had just turned 4. He was already 4, and liked to brag about being older. I didn't let it get to me. I was a very mature 4-year old, my mother always said.

Danny's mother would drop him off at our house on her way to work and then pick him up on her way home. His mother and mine had been very close friends in high school and still were back when Danny and I were small. We would always beg Mrs Owen to stay for tea just so that we could have more time to play together.

I think it was when we were just starting kindergarten. We were at the playground, laying on our backs and looking at the clouds. I asked Danny if we would always be friends. He told me that we would be friends forever. Oh, how I wish that were so.

Little kids always say that they are best friends. But, what is holding that bond together? The love of the same colour crayon? Or the same favourite Disney channel movie? Pretty soon those kids will grow up and their tastes will change. And so will their friends.

Not so with Danny and me. We actually were very different on the level of things we liked. I loved weird food combinations, mashed potato sandwiches or cheese puffs dipped in salsa. He didn't. He prefered fishie stuff and exotic foods, like deer and rabbit. (Poor fluffy guys is what I thought.) Our food differences weren't the only thing. I prefered classical music, Beethoven and Chopin. I played the violin. He rocked out to uncomprehensible lyrics and jammed on his electric guitar. And then when we reached the point when style mattered, I was the prim and proper one, sleek dark auburn hair in tidy buns or braids. His hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in a month, black and hanging over one eye most of the time. I wore tidy and matching clothes. He wore baggy and black.

Perhaps his style was brought on by what happened the summer before we entered 8th grade. It had probably been a long time coming. Mrs Owen had been sick, on and off, for years. She was too weak. Even the immense love that her husband and son had for her couldn't keep her well. She died that summer, and I think a part of Dan died too. They were so close. From the day we met, I always knew that we couldn't play on Wednesday afternoons, because that was Danny's day with his Mom. They would go out and do whatever. He never talked about what they did, only said that they had the most awesome time. Those days happened every single week, not even wavering when she was in the hospital, until she died.

When she died, he didn't speak for a week. Then he disappeared for a week. When he came out of his hiding place in the basement, he just forged on. I don't know what I was expecting, a breakdown maybe, but he was so good. He was smiling and laughing and saying that she would be happy he was happy. I learned so much from him during that time. But, I think he is still in mourning. His clothes and hair being an example of that.

When we reached high school, I was scared. I had heard horror stories of best friends becoming worst enemies upon the crossing of the high school threshold. Looking back, it makes me realize how little I knew Dan, thinking that he would desert me for "cooler" friends. He just took my hand and we waltzed (not litterally) down the hall to our future.

Girls swarmed to Danny. It was rare for him not to find a purfume-logged love note in his locker every morning. He would just laugh it all off. They were all fake, he said, and he wanted someone real, "like you, Stace".

While growing up, our parents never commented on what a great couple we would make. There were no awkward moments later on about if we liked each other. Sure, I asked myself on several occasions whether I had feelings for Danny. And after great thought, and a good laugh, I had to say that there were no feelings excpet that I loved him like I would a brother. He was my brother. I firmly believe that sharing blood or genes doesn't make you a family. Love does. Danny and I were very open about the way we felt for each other. We both knew that there were no romantic feelings whatsoever. And because of that, we weren't gong to try to date each other to see if we were sure. We knew that all we would ever be was the bestest of friends and non-blood siblings.

Having no lovey feelings for Dan didn't mean that I didn't get jealous when he dated a girl. Sure I was jealous. The more time spent with the girl meant less time spent with me. I actually got really mad at Dan the morning after one of his dates. I was screaming about how he needed to spend more time with me and less time with bimbos. (The girl was actually really nice and quite smart.) He just let me scream. Then, when I was cooled down and feeling very embarassed, he apologized for making me feel like that. I was so ashamed. He had done nothing wrong. We then had a big discussion on our feelings and we agreed not to get caught up in dating and whatever else, and always make time for each other. But we also agreed that we needed to be apart too. If being so close like we were was going to spur on jealous outrages, then seperation was key. And our plan was great. We had our together times, and we had our apart times. And everything was perfect.

And then it happened. During the summer before our senior year of high school, the unthinkable happened. Danny's dad got a long awaited promotion. And the promotion meant moving. And moving meant that I would be seperated from my best friend.

When Danny heard the news that his dad had accepted the promotion, and that they had to move in less than 3 weeks, he rushed over to my house to get me. There was only one place to go: our special place that we had used for years. It was just a shaded grove in the city park, but it was where we would spend our time. It's where we spent hours after Dan's mom died. It's where we celebrated our going to high school. It's where we had our big discussion about our time spent together. It's where, 3 weeks before we would be seperated, Danny told me that we would be "forever". I only wish it had worked out that way.

Moving day was the worst day of my life. Having to watch Danny follow the moving truck down the road and out of my life was so hard. Sure, I was being a bit dramatic. Out of my life was exagerating. We would write and call and visit whenever we could. The visiting would be a bit difficult, as he was a 15 hour drive away. But, with modern technology we would manage.

The first month we talked everyday. Then school started again and the calls went down to 3 times a week. Danny was occupied with sports and I was immersed in my music. And, since we were both seniors we had to deal with a larger work load and preperations for university. What really broke me up was that this year, our senior year, would have been our last year together anyway. I wanted to go off to a small university in Ohio, and he had his heart set on a larger university in California. There would be no easy way to see each other. Again, looking back, I realize that maybe it was good that our seperation happened during senior year and not when we had been planning it to happen. But, I really don't know if it would have been any easier.

In October, Dan met a girl who he really liked. All he could talk about was Ellie and everything about her. Maybe it's a good thing that I met Kevin around the same time. It took my mind off of not having my best friend around, and it also helped me forget about hearing about Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.

I'm ashamed to say that I let our friendship go. I tried to write to him as often as I could find time, but it was mostly about trivial stuff. I was changing and so was he. I'll be the first to agree that keeping up a long distance relationship takes hard work. And I don't think we were prepared for it.

I still consider Danny to be my best friend. We grew up together. We laughed and cried together. We are best friends. But I just don't know my best friend anymore.