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
be no pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come back to
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
112 Ava: Waking
in this hazy place.
you have to come back. This is not
should be.
for me? But I’m here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t kill me. It
die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death-
feeling sorry for yourself. You never died. Wake.
***
my
Ava.
Her voice is warm honey in
try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged
my palm. The slight weight of
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Ava Waking Up
head slowly, painfully. She’s
colors her
heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words
I want to protest but exhaustion
but I’m already gone.
***
gradually. The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical
rough against my skin. An IV pinches
swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene
relief washes over
Lisa are here. They’re asking me questions, one talking over the other. It’s painful to
16:30
W10
Waking
was I out?” I rasp, my throat raw
disuse.
whines softly. We were so
worried.
you okay?” Lucas asks, way too
feeling?” Lisa pipes up, from
the gut. I struggle to
and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my back to
an entire process that
upright, I take stock. My limbs feel stiff,
it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one’s connected to yet another IV line in the elbow of my other
in a hospital gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair
Selene cautions as I waver, dizzy. You’ve
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Waking
through a lot.
back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa.
to
gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my cheek into his hand,
is trying to emerge. Do you feel any different?”
yearned to shift, to 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 licks my face, settling into my lap as though
not. She’s way too big
be afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is natural for
15:31
6/10
Waking Up
like ashes on my tongue. Nothing about my life has been natural. Is Vanessa right? Are you going to be
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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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