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.
the pain.
pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come back
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
112 Ava: Waking Up
peaceful here, in this hazy place.
come back. This is
should be.
this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t
die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death-
Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You
***
They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry,
Ava.
voice is warm honey in my
but my throat is
into my palm. The slight
15:00
3/10
Ava Waking
slowly, painfully. She’s there,
colors her
heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words
into my arm. I want to protest but exhaustion drags me under again.
name, but I’m already
***
steady beep of a heart
against my skin. An IV pinches the back of my hand.
but I force them open. The ceiling swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled up beside me,
relief
me questions, one talking over
16:30
W10
Ava Waking Up
I rasp, my throat
disuse.
whines softly. We were
worried.
you okay?” Lucas asks, way too close
feeling?” Lisa pipes up, from my
punch to the gut. I struggle to sit up,
bracing her body against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my
entire process that
upright, I take stock. My limbs feel
the bags looks like milk, and that one’s
pooled around my waist. My
as I waver, dizzy. You’ve been
15:30
5410
Ava Waking
through a lot.
century. I cast my mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on the couch.
to
flows between us, a feeling
know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying
To be whole. But now, with all the strangeness surrounding my heritage, the idea fills me with trepidation. I flick a glance toward
not. She’s way too big
soothes, sensing my unease. This is natural for
15:31
6/10
Waking
has been natural.
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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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