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
will be no pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come back
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
112 Ava:
in
come back. This
should be.
in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t kill me. It isn’t
won’t die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death-
Wake up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never died. Wake.
***
open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct. White.
Ava.
Her voice is warm honey in
Grounding. I try to speak but my throat is parched, voice a ragged whisper.
presses into my palm. The slight weight
15:00
3/10
Waking
hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver fur shining, blue eyes bright
Relief colors
heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words scrape out.
I want to protest but exhaustion drags me under again.
calling my name, but I’m already gone.
***
returns gradually. The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical
sheets rough against my skin. An IV pinches the back of my hand.
force them open. The ceiling swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital.
relief washes over me.
Lisa are here. They’re asking me questions, one talking over the other. It’s
16:30
W10
Waking Up
long was I out?” I rasp, my throat raw from
disuse.
softly.
worried.
okay?” Lucas asks, way too
you feeling?” Lisa pipes
The news hits me like a punch to the
Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead me up until I’m sitting.
entire process that leaves
upright, I take stock. My limbs feel
IV pole with a few bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one’s connected
gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair is
Selene cautions as I
15:30
5410
Waking Up
through a lot.
the century. I cast my mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training
happened to
for my face, his fingers hesitant and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the
know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do you feel
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
She’s way too big for
my unease. This is natural for
15:31
6/10
Ava Waking
tastes like 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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