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
no pain, Ava. Just wake up. Come
1. me.
No way.
15:30
2:10
112 Ava:
here, in this hazy place.
come back. This is not where
should be.
in this serenity of darkness. I feel pain,
won’t die, Ava. You’re alive.
Alive.
Alive means death-
up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You never
***
my lids.
Ava.
is warm honey in my mind,
but my throat is parched, voice a ragged
into my palm. The slight weight of
15:00
3/10
Waking
She’s there, silver fur shining, blue
colors her
heavy and thick.
arm. I want to protest but exhaustion drags
name, but I’m already
***
steady beep of a heart monitor. The chemical scent of disinfectant.
rough against my skin. An IV pinches the back of
are heavy but I force them open. The ceiling swims into focus–white tiles, fluorescent lights. A hospital. Selene is curled
back. Her relief washes over
questions, one
16:30
W10
Waking Up
long was I out?” I
disuse.
whines softly. We
worried.
way too close to
feeling?” Lisa pipes up,
punch to the gut. I struggle to sit
and Lucas rest their hands on my back to lead me up until I’m
an entire process that leaves me
stock. My limbs
of the bags
my waist. My hair is lank and greasy against my
Selene cautions as I waver, dizzy. You’ve been
15:30
5410
Ava Waking Up
through a lot.
cast my mind back, trying to piece together how I ended up here. Training with Jericho and Lisa. Collapsing on the couch. Then… nothing. A yawning black hole in
to me?”
us,
don’t know for sure. Vanessa thinks your wolf is trying to emerge. Do you
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 as a husky for a reason she has yet to explain,
too big for that.
Selene soothes, sensing my unease. This is
15:31
6/10
Waking Up
tastes like ashes on my tongue. Nothing about my life has been natural. Is Vanessa
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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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