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, Ava. Just wake up. Come back
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
112 Ava:
here, in
you have to come back.
should be.
I’m here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t kill me. It isn’t enough to kill
die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death-
Stop feeling sorry
***
feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct.
Ava.
voice is warm honey in
to speak but my throat is parched,
my
15:00
3/10
Waking
my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver fur shining, blue eyes bright with intelligence
awake. Relief colors her
heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words scrape
now. She nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest
but I’m
***
The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent
IV pinches the
into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled
back. Her relief washes over
are here. They’re asking me questions, one talking over the other. It’s painful to my
16:30
W10
Ava Waking Up
long was I out?” I
disuse.
whines softly. We
worried.
asks, way too close
you feeling?” Lisa pipes up, from my other side.
hits me like a punch to the gut. I struggle to sit up,
Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead me up
process that leaves me exhausted.
upright, I take stock. My limbs feel
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 to yet another IV line in the elbow of my other
around my waist. My hair is lank
Selene cautions as I waver, dizzy. You’ve been
15:30
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Ava Waking Up
through a lot.
trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on the couch. Then… nothing. A yawning black
to me?”
and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us,
don’t know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do
long, I 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 she’s a lap
too big
be afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is natural for
15:31
6/10
Ava Waking Up
ashes on my tongue. Nothing about my life has been natural. Is Vanessa right? Are you going to be a part of
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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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