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
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
Ava: Waking
here, in this hazy place.
you have to come back.
should be.
this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t kill me. It isn’t enough to kill
die, Ava. You’re
Alive.
Alive means death-
that’s enough. Wake up. Stop feeling sorry
***
eyes crack open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry,
Ava.
is warm honey in my mind,
speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged
my
15:00
3/10
Ava Waking
turn my head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver
colors her
tongue heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words scrape out.
now. She nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest
calling my name, but I’m
***
The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant.
rough against my skin. An IV pinches the back
The ceiling swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A
Her relief washes over me.
questions, one talking over
16:30
W10
Waking
I rasp, my throat
disuse.
softly. We
worried.
okay?” Lucas asks, way too close to
Lisa pipes up, from my
me like a punch to the gut. I struggle to
mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on
an entire process that leaves
take stock. My
with a few bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one’s connected to yet another IV line
my waist. My hair is lank and
Selene cautions as I waver, dizzy. You’ve
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.
to
my face, his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my cheek into his
sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to
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
too
sensing my unease.
15:31
6/10
Ava Waking
word tastes like ashes on my tongue. Nothing about my life has been natural. Is Vanessa right?
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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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