Chapter 112 Ava: Waking Up
Darkness.
Light.
So cold.
It burns.
My lungs ache.
Something's holding me down.
There are whispers. Prayers, I think.
Chaos reigns in this hazy world. Something beeps incessantly.
I'm sweating. My hands are too warm.
… up.
What's that?
… Ava, you…
Who's that?
… can you hear me?
I struggle to reach the voice that calls me, but something sucks me away again.
Frustration simmers, but I'm too tired to fight it.
Ava, you have to wake up.
There it is again.
I know you can hear me, because I can finally hear you.
Hear me? Hear me what? Am I talking?
Yes.
No, I don't think I'm talking. I'm too tired. My body is crushed beneath the earth. Fire ate every last bit of me. I drowned. The air was sucked away.
You're alive. You're asleep in the hospital. You're just fine. You just need to wake up.
No, no.
No, no, no.
Waking is pain.
I remember the pain.
no pain, Ava. Just wake up.
No way.
peaceful here, in this
have to come back. This is not where you should
here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but
won't die,
Alive.
Alive means death—
up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never died. Wake.
* * *
open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is
Ava.
warm honey in my mind, comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is
of her head resting on my hand. I turn
awake. Relief colors
swallow dryly, my tongue heavy and thick. "What happened?"
She nuzzles into my arm. I want to
name, but I'm already
* * *
The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An
I force them open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled up beside me, a
back. Her relief
are here. They're asking me questions, one talking over the other. It's painful to my
out?" I rasp, my throat raw from
whines softly. We
asks, way too
you feeling?" Lisa pipes up, from
helps, bracing her body against mine, and both Lisa and
an entire process that leaves me
a few bags hanging off it. One of
gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My
cautions as I waver, dizzy. You've
cast my mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up
yawning black hole in
"What happened to me?"
face, his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my cheek into
know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to
the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf, disguised as a husky for a
She's way too big
my unease. This is natural for
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