A/N: I haven't been writing fanfics since forever I guess, but I was away for a week and decided to try again. Basically it's just because I have a lot of Spoby feeling with which I can't deal anymore, so. Anyway, enjoy! And sorry in advance for any grammar/vocabulary mistakes, English's not my first language and I'm still learning ;)

Sometimes silence is soothing. It brings relief to your worn out soul like a cool, medicinal compress; takes away the pain and gives hope for something new, unknown, yet still worth waiting for; a better tomorrow.

But sometimes, it's just the opposite.

Spencer was lying motionlessly on her big, wooden bed. With her smudgy makeup, messy, brown hair tucked in a ballerina bun and a pair of old, yoga pants, she certainly looked far from flawless, but she didn't really care. Gently, she rubbed her swollen eyelids with her thumb and bit her lower lip. She tried to focus on something else, to escape the sorrow which crept on her and squeezed her tiny, wasted heart in a tight grip, but there was no use. Her mind, just like an alpine pond frozen in the winter, was already numb, and the ice was too thick to break through.

She grabbed her earphones and played the music as loudly as possible. It wasn't enough for the pain to go away, but still worth a try. After all, that's all she had left, right? She felt like her body was made out of china; once you break it, it can never be fixed. No matter how much glue you use, you can never perfectly stick the pieces back together.

Suddenly, she recalled the old text that they'd received this summer, 'Mona played with dolls, I play with body parts'. Oh, what an irony! He indeed played with her heart like no one before.

Utterly exhausted, she finally let her eyes close and her limbs become lifeless as she swam through the darkness to the imaginary world of her dreams.

'Spence! Spencer! What the hell are you doing?', she heard a trembling voice, that probably belonged to Aria, scream from behind the bushes. Dazed and confused, she stood still, letting her dark chocolate eyes scan the surroundings. She could barely see anything; her head was hurting and her vision was getting blurrier and blurrier each second. Yet despite all of this she could clearly tell to whom belonged the house she found herself in front of; the Cavanaughs. Was she really that stupid and desperate to go there after everything that happened?

'Spence, are you crazy? You're totally gonna get grilled! Alive!' - Hanna yelled in terror, her pitch-high weeps interrupted by one stern scream: 'Suddenly feeling sorry for the Toby perv? Well, I definitely won't pity you!'

Spencer felt her spine stiffen, all the nerves in her body paralyzed by the feeling of fear and disbelief. She knew the owner of the voice all too well, but this couldn't be; that person belonged to the past. Yet there she was, more alive than she'd ever been, in all her infamous glory of golden wheat locks and magnetic, challenging eyes.

Alison.

At the sound of that one name echoing in her head, everything started to make sense and is struck her like a lightning. She looked at the chubby Hanna, spotted a single pink hair on Aria's head, and finally looked down at herself - her white shirt hidden under a green, oversized sweater and tucked into a plain, denim skirt; knee-high socks on her long legs and brown hair styled in a ponytail. The last time she dressed this way was about two years ago. Although her heart already knew the answer, her mind still couldn't process it.

'Let's go. There's no use of us here. She's already chosen a side. Should've done it more wisely', ordered Ali and turned around, preparing to leave. The girls tried to stop her but after a few unanswered but Alis, they eventually obeyed and, giving Spencer an apologetic look, followed the fifth into the forest.

She was left alone now, in the very middle of the Jenna thing, more lost than she'd ever been. Everything felt so unreal but at the same time extraordinarily vivid. All the colors, the smallest details, even the smell of the bracing, summer air, were portrayed perfectly. If it was a dream, then her mind surely created a masterpiece. But what if it's not?

Not thinking much, Spencer rushed towards the barn, where she found a clueless Jenna. The girl was standing with her back turned on her, looking for something that had been previously stored in the room. She didn't notice Spencer at first, probably too lost in her own thoughts, or maybe she simply didn't care.

' Jenna? Jenna, get out! - yelled Spencer as loudly as if her whole life depended on it. The brunette turned around abruptly, with a questioning look on her face. 'What?'

'There's a bomb here... God Jenna, just run!', cried Spencer, her voice cracking and so damn devastated that she couldn't help but obey. As they were escaping the barn, Jenna looked behind her shoulder just to find Spencer standing in front of their door, her legs weak, trembling; her eyes glued to someone who'd just left the house - her blue-eyed brother, Toby Cavanaugh. 'Toby, run! There's a bomb in the barn!', she warned him, gesturing for him to join her.

He looked at his step-sister and then at the person next to him. Spencer Hastings was standing there, shaking, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks, looking at him the way no one had ever done before; her red-rimmed, big brown eyes full of fear, terror, sorrow, and something entirely different from these, something he couldn't name. 'T-toby...', she whispered, no, whimpered, loud enough for him to hear. This was all too weird, considering they'd never really spoken before.

After something that felt like forever but in reality was just a few seconds, Toby ran down the stairs and rushed to Spencer, putting his arms around her waist in order to steady and pull her with him, since she didn't want to move at all. Surprisingly, she backed away from his touch, as if he could crash her bones with his tiniest finger. She shook her head a little, closed her eyes and murmured: 'Everything's fine, I'm fine. I don't need help, just go, I'll follow you', to which he, slightly confused, replied with an, 'okay'.

Just as he was about to join Jenna, he noticed her lips forming in a perfectly rounded circle as they let out a single scream drowned out by the blast of an exploding bomb. He saw flames reflect in her bottle green eyes; he turned around, his vision blurry of the dizziness he was in; his widely opened eyes jumping from the blue sky, to the grey smoke, to the burning fire, and then to the unconscious Spencer Hastings lying on the ground.