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 pain.
pain, Ava. Just
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
Ava: Waking
here, in
come back. This is not where
should be.
of darkness. I feel pain,
die, Ava. You’re
Alive.
Alive means death-
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never died. Wake. Up!
***
open. They feel like sandpaper scraping against my
Ava.
voice is warm honey in my mind,
my throat is parched, voice a
nose presses into my
15:00
3/10
Waking Up
head resting on my hand. I turn my head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver
colors
heavy and thick. “What happened?” The words
arm. I want to protest but
my name, but I’m
***
The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent
my skin. An IV
open. The ceiling swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled up beside
Her relief
are here. They’re asking me questions, one talking over the other. It’s painful to my
16:30
W10
Waking Up
I
disuse.
Selene whines softly. We were
worried.
Lucas asks, way too close
you feeling?” Lisa pipes up, from my
punch to the gut. I struggle to sit up, my muscles weak
her body against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead me
entire process that leaves me
I take stock. My limbs feel
few bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and
hospital gown, blankets pooled around my waist. My hair is lank and greasy against
Selene cautions as I waver, dizzy. You’ve been
15:30
5410
Ava Waking Up
through a lot.
how I ended up here. Training with
happened to
between us, a feeling of comfort, and the urge to press my cheek into his hand, nuzzling close.
sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge.
so 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
way too big for that.
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
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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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