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.
Ava. Just wake up.
No way.
peaceful here, in this hazy
have to come back. This is not where you should
place for me? But I'm here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn't kill me.
won't die,
Alive.
Alive means death—
that's enough. Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never
* * *
against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes
Ava.
comforting. Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged whisper.
presses into my palm. The slight weight of her head resting on my hand. I turn my head
awake. Relief
swallow dryly, my tongue heavy and thick. "What
arm. I want to
my name, but I'm
* * *
of a heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant. Starched sheets rough against my skin. An
open. The ceiling swims into focus—white tiles, fluorescent lights. A
relief washes over
questions, one talking over the
I rasp, my throat
whines softly. We
asks, way too close
you feeling?" Lisa pipes up, from my other
muscles weak and uncooperative. Selene helps, bracing her body against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my
process that leaves me
atrophied. A needle pinches my hand, connected to an IV pole with a few bags hanging off it. One of the bags
my waist. My hair is lank and greasy against my
I waver, dizzy. You've been through
mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on
yawning black hole in my
"What happened to me?"
against my skin. Warmth flows between us,
Vanessa thinks your wolf
run beneath the moon. To be whole. 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 she has yet to explain, and her ears flick as she
not. She's way too big for
soothes, sensing my unease.
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