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.
be no pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come back
No way.
peaceful here, in this hazy
have to come back. This is not
I'm here, in this serenity of darkness. I
won't die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death—
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never died.
* * *
feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes
Ava.
voice is warm honey in my mind, comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is
into my palm. The slight weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She's there, silver fur shining, blue eyes bright with intelligence and
Relief colors
and thick. "What
nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest but exhaustion drags
name, but
* * *
heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An IV
them open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled up beside me,
back. Her relief
questions, one talking over the other.
was I out?" I rasp, my throat
whines softly. We were
asks,
are you feeling?" Lisa pipes up,
the gut. I struggle to sit up, my muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing her
an entire process
hand, connected to an IV pole with a few bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one's connected
around my waist. My hair is lank and
cautions as I waver, dizzy.
together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and
black hole
"What happened to me?"
his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort,
don't know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is
But now, with all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf, disguised as a husky for a reason
way
soothes, sensing my unease.
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