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.
will be no pain, Ava. Just wake
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
Ava: Waking
in this hazy
to come back. This is not where you
should be.
in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain, but it doesn’t kill me.
won’t die, Ava.
Alive.
Alive means death-
up. Stop feeling sorry
***
feel like sandpaper scraping against my lids. Everything is blurry, shapes indistinct. White.
Ava.
Her voice is warm honey in my
to speak but my throat is parched, voice a
my palm. The
15:00
3/10
Waking
head slowly, painfully. She’s there, silver fur
colors her tone.
thick. “What happened?” The
into my arm. I want to protest but exhaustion drags me
my name, but I’m
***
The steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent
An IV pinches
but I force them open. The ceiling swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled up beside me, a comforting
relief
one talking over the other. It’s painful to
16:30
W10
Waking
I rasp, my throat raw from
disuse.
softly.
worried.
way too close
are you feeling?” Lisa pipes up, from
a punch to the gut. I
helps, bracing her body against mine, and both Lisa and Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead me
an entire process that leaves
take stock. My limbs
bags hanging off it. One of the bags looks like milk, and that one’s
blankets pooled around my waist. My hair
I waver, dizzy. You’ve been
15:30
5410
Waking Up
through a lot.
back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on the couch. Then… nothing.
to me?”
and gentle against my skin. Warmth flows between us, a feeling of comfort, and the
your wolf is trying to emerge. Do you feel any different?”
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
not. She’s way too big for
be afraid, Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is natural
15:31
6/10
Waking
The word tastes like ashes on my tongue. Nothing about my life has been natural.
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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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