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.
will be no pain, Ava. Just wake
No way.
here, in this
This
me? But I'm here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but
die,
Alive.
Alive means death—
Stop feeling sorry
* * *
like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry,
Ava.
honey in my mind, comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched,
wet nose presses 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
awake. Relief
my tongue heavy and thick. "What happened?"
Rest now. She nuzzles into my arm. I want
my name, but I'm
* * *
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,
relief washes over
are here. They're asking me questions, one talking over the other. It's painful to my
I rasp, my
weeks, Selene whines softly. We were
asks, way too close to
are you feeling?" Lisa pipes up, from my
news hits me like a punch to the gut. I struggle to sit up, my muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing her body against
an entire process that
upright, I take stock. My limbs feel stiff, atrophied. A needle pinches my hand, connected to an IV pole with a few bags hanging off it.
around my waist. My hair is
cautions as I waver, dizzy. You've been
mind back, trying to piece together how I
yawning black hole in my
"What happened to me?"
reaches for my face, his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a
know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do
with trepidation. I flick a glance toward my wolf, disguised as a husky for
way too
my
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