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.
1. up.
What’s that?
… Ava, you…
Who’s that?
can you hear me?
I struggle to reach the voice that calls me,
but
15:30
1:10
112 Ava: Waking Up
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.
remember the pain.
will be no pain, Ava. Just wake
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
Ava:
peaceful here, in this hazy
you have to come back. This
should be.
But I’m here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t
die, Ava. You’re alive.
Alive.
Alive means death-
up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never
***
feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything
Ava.
voice is warm honey in my mind,
Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged
my palm. The slight
15:00
3/10
Ava Waking Up
turn my head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver fur shining, blue
colors
dryly, my tongue heavy and thick.
Rest now. She nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest but exhaustion
but I’m already gone.
***
beep of a heart monitor.
IV
focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled
back. Her relief washes
are here. They’re asking me questions, one talking
16:30
W10
Ava Waking Up
out?” I rasp, my throat raw
disuse.
whines softly. We were
worried.
Lucas asks, way too
Lisa pipes up, from my
hits me like a punch to the gut. I
against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead me up until I’m sitting.
entire process that leaves me exhausted.
upright, I take stock.
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 to yet another IV line in the
a hospital gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair is lank and
as I waver,
15:30
5410
Waking
through a lot.
ended up here. Training with
to me?”
flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge
for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do you
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,
way too
Selene soothes, sensing my unease.
15:31
6/10
Waking
my life has been natural. Is Vanessa right? Are you going to be a
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CZjn9uT9A/Dms1jJlL0V/qHwLxWbJ9f/71bqFQG8t3iQSS7wdxx+GUYtxJmWpsJBdXYWo89R0Rcu2bdoJfRiLpne7ao6NMCfsL7LRnHnDBsKxkKIT+sxo40PdDx98jP/yk2iAeWbPTqgAO0Hvg77izOvm93dgOjWnewDPjaPZQqeEO/S653fCYGEpW54Hi9uiTi1JvwRs91pQyl1mvJy5PFKkXdId5+lFmN3E7bGosr/S0Gsl9lE2EbtaJypOhu7agj44bLMC/vwwDDGJGViedWbQL5lIcRM5IQjeeNZfaJvWZdnllPed/x1FhMPyv4VJp1zsf982UJE13reV1cSpYKcxl4IloscrtWEdGhVF1yoEfm0wn04/xQEkbYqJSE5/MWj6LUo2ESYzzWC/tA7EMhdLkJfumwf7lo16dj6IQb+BsF66dFzEkKAFVk/oIhb8DXP00RHc6EV0f6J/TmRrXQjFa+FSQkM5cehGFbf8w==
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