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
Ava. Just wake
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
112 Ava:
in
to come back. This is
should be.
But I’m here, in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t kill
die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death-
Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never died. Wake. Up!
***
eyes crack open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes
Ava.
warm
to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged whisper. “Selene?”
nose presses into my palm. The slight
15:00
3/10
Waking Up
on my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver fur shining, blue
awake. Relief colors her
dryly, my tongue heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words scrape out.
now. She nuzzles into my arm. I want to protest but exhaustion drags me under
but I’m already gone.
***
of a heart monitor. The chemical scent of
my skin. An IV
focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled
Her relief washes over
questions, one talking over the other. It’s painful to
16:30
W10
Waking Up
was I out?” I
disuse.
whines softly. We
worried.
Lucas asks, way too close to me.
feeling?” Lisa pipes up, from my
news hits me like a punch to the
and both Lisa and Lucas rest
entire process that
I take stock. My limbs feel stiff,
bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one’s connected to yet
in a hospital gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair is lank and greasy against my
as I waver, dizzy. You’ve been
15:30
5410
Ava Waking Up
through a lot.
my mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with
to me?”
and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my cheek into his hand,
know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to
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
She’s way too big
afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This
15:31
6/10
Waking
has been natural. Is Vanessa right? Are you going to be a part of me now?
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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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