20. Backpacking With His Brother
I was 13 years old living in Norway. Growing up I loved climbing trees, so me and my friends would climb the tallest ones we could find. (our town in Norway was quite small and quite high in elevation so the best trees were down towards the river) We decided to get together one Friday and head down to the river to do some climbing. We always took a backpack with lunch and snacks and water with us so we could hang out in our tree until dark. It was my friends younger brother (11) who was carrying the backpack full of snacks, and I was carrying the backpack full of drinks. My friends younger brother was not as used to climbing trees as we were, but like any little brother he wasn’t about to let that stand in his way and prevent him from hanging out with his big brother and his best friend, as it was a rare occurrence we’d let him hang out with us. We were almost to the part of the tree where there was a spot for us to all be able to sit, I got there first and I hung my backpack up on a tree branch. I then told my friend’s little brother to pass me his backpack so I could hang it on the branch and make it easier for him to get to where I was. While he was passing me his backpack, his foot slipped off the branch and he didn’t have the upper arm strength to carry his own weight yet. He fell the whole way down the tree, landed in the river onto jagged rocks and was killed instantly. My friend and I were out of that tree faster than I even thought it was possible, and what we saw that day changed us forever.
All he wanted to do was hang out with his big brother and do what the “big kids” were doing. I feel like if I never told him to pass me his backpack, we’d all be in a tree right now drinking a beer thinking back on all our ventures. But instead, my best childhood friend can no longer be in the same room as me, I have not heard from him or his family in over 10 years and every single day of my life they pop into my mind and I remember what I did. Everyone tells me it wasn’t my fault and it could have happened to anyone, but that doesn’t erase the guilt I feel about asking for that stupid backpack. If anyone has a chance to read this and if you are going to get anything from my story, it’s that… anything can happen, anywhere at anytime. And tell those you love, that you love them because you never know when someone will ask for their backpack.
