“I don’t know…when he told me. I just…it was like being hit by a truck or a feight train, the intial shock, that’s only there for a second, right before the pain. I didn’t think…I just knew. I wanted out”  Spencer really looked at Ashley for the first time that night. the curtains in her room were drawn and someone else had turned off the obnoxious florescent lights, save for the one that hung over ashley’s head, illuminating two tear stricken faces. outside their box, the earth continued to spin on its glowing axis, only inside the confines of ashley’s hospital room did time stop, if only for a moment, granting them one last chance to glue some of the pieces together. the only problem was they hadn’t found the broken shards; they didn’t know where to look or where to start. “ash…” “no, Spence, look. you shouldn’t have to deal with this-you shouldn’t have to deal with me and all my shit.” “I love you” the words tumbled out and Ashley half expected spencer to bend over and pick them up, take it back and save her from having to respond, but she didn’t. no, she wasn’t looking at Ashley, but she was holding her hand. as a matter of fact, spencer wasnt looking at much of anything. if you had to pinpoint an object in the room which was the beneficiary of her optical attention, it would’ve been the dusty brown curtain across the way. no, spencer wasn’t really there at all. she had never experienced loss before, her mother didn’t allow it. for the entirety of spencer’s life, until a few hours ago, she had dwelled in a little bubble, capable of expanding to fit those she loved and cared for. it went with her every where and it shielded her from everything. at some point, between the tumultuous waves seizing Ashley and the long ride in the ambulance hypnotized by its screeching blare, spencer’s bubble had burst. someone, somewhere, had taken a stick and popped it and now, for the first time, she was seeing life for what it was: fleeting. unforgiving. epic. “Ashley, look at me” she placed her hand on the brunettes cheek, forcing her to comply. “I know you lost someone today. I know you did and I know it hurts and for that I’m so sorry. But I almost lost you…and that feeling…the same one that’s killing you right now…please…please, don’t let me lose you. I love you” the light above them may have flickered and in that moment someone had finally passed on after years of fighting heart disease or liver cancer. however, in another ward, walking distance from where they were, a baby was born.