The story is gonna start picking up from here. I'm really excited about you guys reading the upcoming chapters. I also love posting two chapters ago so keep those reviews coming and I'll try and keep doing that.

Ohsoclever1: You know I always have to throw those twists in there. Lol. I think Ashley didn't tell Spencer because the time she spent with Spencer she wanted it to be special. #shrug. I don't really know though, even though I wrote the story. lol. You'll find out why Spencer stopped showing up to the garden soon enough. :) Lol I didn't think about it like that. Like Ashley is an adult and Spencer is a child. Hmmm, I hope it doesn't come off like that throughout the rest of the story haha.

Amy: Aw, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and now you're enjoying this one. It makes me giddy lol.

pati1996: Yay you love it! lol. You definitely will.

Guest: They are very beautiful aren't they? I'm glad you're liking this story.

Tam24: Here's the new update for you! :)

A: I never thought about her as having layers but now that you mention it. I guess she does. :)

southtrash: Lol you're funny. Save SPENCER AHHHH! lol

sarahlynn00: Oh no, don't crrrry I'm sorry. Thank you so much it means a lot. Thank you for commenting diligently.

MsBlaze: Ugh I love you! And yes, I'm about to go through my obsessive twilight phase again! You know I get that way before a new movie is about to come out so prepare for me to be engrossed in reading all the books and watching all the movies over the next month. :) I hope you still love me when I'm done. This story is a UNICORN lol

Godlove: Aw yay! I'm happy to teach you.


Time.

Life's most fragile yet sought after commodity.

No one knows just how much time they are allotted on earth. How many hours, days, months or years they'll get to spend with their loved ones.

No one knows any of this for sure.

The only thing we do know, in the cold and cruel world is that, when you love someone...like really love them, no amount of time is ever enough.

"What time do you have?" Spencer asks me for like the tenth time.

"Half past two. Why do you keep asking me the time?" I ask her in a suspicious tone. Ever since I got here, two hours ago, Spencer has been asking me the time every twenty minutes.

"And you're sure today is the fourth right?" She asks with a smile.

"Yes, Spencer." I nod my head. "Are you gonna tell me what this is about?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"Well I'm not gonna just sit here while you count down the minutes until I have to leave." I tell her standing up from the bench.

"What time is it now?" She asks and I sigh as I look down at my watch. Two-thirty-one." I tell her in a sort of annoyed tone.

She smiles and stands up from the bench. "Happy birthday, Glen." She says to no one in particular. I look around to see if I see any other ghostly figures walking around but no... it's just us. It usually is on a Monday afternoon.

"Who's Glen?" I question and she opens her eyes and her smile gets impossibly brighter.

"He's my older brother." She tells me, walking over to a row a Fir flowers. "He was born at 2:31p.m twenty-three years ago today." She has her back to me but I can hear the joy in her voice as she remembers him.

"Spencer." I call her name and she turns around to face me.

"Hmm?"

"How come you never talk about your family to me?" I ask and she purses her lips together. "I mean, I'm only asking because we've hung out for over a month now and all we talk about are flowers. I really don't know anything about you." I point out.

"You're right." She nods and turns back around.

"Do you have to work today?" She asks and I shake my head, realizing she has her back turned so she can't see me.

"No." I speak up.

"Well, do you have time to listen to a boring story about Spencer Carlin's life?" She asks, turning around with a Fir flower in her hand.

"Yes." I nod and smile. "I love boring stories." I add and we both share a grin.

"What does this one mean?" She asks, walking over to me and handing me the flower.

"Time." I tell her and she smiles wider, if possible.

"How befitting."

"Ashley there's nothing you can do." Madison tells me as I pace around her apartment. After finding out the news about Spencer, I called her and told her that we needed to talk. I need to come up with a game plan to stop them from doing this.

"Madison, that's not helping." I tell her and she sighs.

"I know. But you need to hear it. They're her parent's, Ash."

"I know." I say and shut my eyes tightly. Stopping my movements and picturing Spencer's face in my head. I don't see her in the Garden anymore. I can't lose her here too.

"It's been six years." Madison tells me unnecessarily.

"I know." I say again.

"She hasn't shown any signs of improvement."

"I know!" I say again. This time raising my voice. "I'm sorry." I turn to my friend and say. I know she's trying to help. Telling me things that I need to hear. But I don't want to hear the rational side of this. I want to be irrational right now.

"Ashley, maybe it's time-"

"I have to get her out of there!" I say, starting to pace again.

"What?" Madison asks, confused.

"I have to get her out of there." I say again, realizing that cleared up none of her confusion.

"What...who?" She asks, standing up and stopping me from pacing.

"Spencer." I say, looking straight into her eyes.

"Ashley..." She starts, shaking her head with wide eyes. "...don't-"

"I have to." I cut her off. "They're gonna kill her." I say and try to hold back my tears. I know my face is conveying all my confusion, anger and pain right now.

"I know this is hard but you can't do this Ashley. You'll go to jail. They can sue you, Ash." She tries to reason with me, but I'm not listening. I'm not letting them do this and that's that.

"I love her, Mads." I tell her and she nods and pulls me into a hug.

"Ashley, you're my friend and I love you." She says and squeezes me tighter. "But you didn't even know her...not really." She says and I can't help the tears that escape my eyes. They're like hot searing fire running down my cheeks, but I don't have the strength to lift a hand to wipe them away. Madison pulls back and wipes them for me. I internally thank her. "Maybe it's time for you to let her go." She says and that takes my knees right out from under me. I openly sob on my friends shoulder as she guides me down to sit on the floor.

There's never enough time...

"I got my first pet when I was six." She says, continuing her life story.

"Spencer, when I said that I wanted to know more about you...this isn't really what I had in mind." It's been three hours and she's telling me her life, year by year. Every. Single. Detail.

"Well, you didn't really specify. So...now you have to just sit back and listen." She tells me with a smile and I roll my eyes at her.

"It was a turtle." She says, continuing with her story of Spencer Carlins life at age six.

"What'd you call it?" I pretend to be interested. Okay...yes, I'm bored. I was looking for more juicy stories when asked her to tell me about her family and her life before you know...this.

"Turtle." She says simply.

"How imaginative." I say with a smirk.

"I was six." She counters with a smile.

"And that's an excuse because..." I trail off and she slaps my arm.

"You're a jerk." She says in a playful tone.

"I know." I shrug.

"Okay, so where was I?..." She says, and contorts her face like she's trying to remember something. "Oh yeah!" She says and looks at me. "So turtle died like a week later because no one taught me how to feed him and I kept over feeding him and I didn't know." She says the last bit in a soft voice.

"Aw, I'm sorry." I reply in a genuine voice.

"After that, we got a puppy." She says and her face lights up again. "But then he died too." She says going back to her solemn tone.

"Spencer this isn't really-"

"You're gonna listen to every single detail of my life Ashley Davies." She says, pointing a finger at me.

"Fine." I drawl out.

"It's not like you don't have the time." She says with a smile.

"All I got is time." I smile back as she continues with the story. Telling me how she lost her first tooth in a fight in first grade.

I think we forget how valuable Time really is...