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 up. Come back to
No way.
in this hazy
come back. This is not where
I feel
won't die,
Alive.
Alive means death—
that's enough. Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You
* * *
scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct.
Ava.
comforting. Grounding. I try to speak
weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She's there, silver
Relief colors her
heavy and thick. "What happened?" The words scrape
I want to protest but exhaustion
name, but I'm
* * *
a heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against
eyelids are heavy but I force them open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights.
relief
asking me questions, one talking over the other. It's painful to my
long was I out?" I rasp, my
whines softly. We were
Lucas asks, way too
you feeling?" Lisa pipes
gut. I struggle to sit up, my muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing her body against mine, and both
entire process that leaves
stock. My limbs feel stiff, atrophied. A needle pinches my 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.
waver, dizzy. You've been through
cast my mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa.
hole
"What happened to me?"
my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and
wolf is trying to emerge.
moon. To be whole. But now, with all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance
She's way too
be afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is natural for
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