"Happy Birthday! I'm so glad I got to see you today!" I had a small bundle in my hands, a gift I'd been waiting a month to give them. " Me too," they said," it's been a while since we hung out." " it doesn't seem like it though, does it?" I asked, a sly grin growing across my face. "No not really" they replied, looking at my hands with a sort of puzzled look on their face. "Speaking of how time flies, I got you something particularly special." They looked up, pretty excited to see what it was. I opened the bundle and showed them the surprise inside. They didn't seem to understand it. I felt my heart drop a little, seeing their face show just the slightest disappointment. " A shell?" They said, sounding both positive and dull. " Yeah," I responded, I kept the cheer in my voice so I didn't cry, " want to know why it means something special?" I implored them. The look on their faces was of both interest and suspicion, which made me all the more nervous to tell them. " Go ahead." Alright, here goes, I thought. " Well, I feel like this shell represents time. The shell has so many layers and grows with that which lives inside it, you know. And time can be seen two ways, like this shell. You can see it as winding inwards, from a wide and colorful expanse into a small and almost black point, in which there is a null. Or you can see it as its meant to be seen, started at the little center point and expanding, growing more colorful and amazing all the time. And just like this shell, time can hold life within it. And time grew with the life that once occupied the shell. Now the shells empty, and time is dead. But stick your finger in the shell, and it now holds a heartbeat. The time now holds life again, and it's meaning is restored. Now, how is that important to you? Of all the people I've ever known, even after we parted ways, you are the only one I've felt could bring time back to life, even when it's been dead for so long. " In that moment, I'd given them everything, and the tears flowed down my face. Suddenly I jolted from my pillow, it was 3:00 am a month after I'd found it, and sitting on my table was an empty shell. I picked it up, and slipped it into my pocket, I'd need it later.
