Prologue
Chapter 1 (Ava)
Chapter 2 (Will)
Chapter 3 (Ava)
Chapter 4 (Will)
Chapter 5 (Ava)
Chapter 6 (Will)
Chapter 7 (Ava)
Authors Note
Prologue
*DO NOT SKIP, THIS INCLUDES IMPORTANT INFO*
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A numbing blackness consumed me. It has been like this for so long that I don't remember a life without it. This blackness, in my mind, incinerated anything in the way, anything that distracted me from the grueling dungeon of blackness. The paralyzing void of nothingness was my world. It was all I knew, until today.

One second I was falling head over heels in the darkness, and then the next, my eyes shot open. They were not greeted to a blinding light but instead they opened to something that had been with me for as long as I could remember. The darkness wasn't crippling like before. Instead, it was rather captivating with a slight antiseptic odor.

My chest slightly rose and fell as I took small weary breaths, a tight knot restricting my air intake. Aware of the cold ground, its icy fingertips piercing my flesh, I shifted. Growing tired of the lying in the darkness, I stood up. My legs ached, skinny from disuse. Stumbling about, something hard jabbed into the arch of my foot causing me to tumble to the floor.

I glanced up, wondering where I was. Looking for something that could give me a clue, I spotted a small red, blinking light. Its color stood out from the dark around me. Hurried feet raced down a hallway, becoming louder and louder until stopped right behind me. A defending beep along with a small click echoed through my head.

Whipping around, adrenaline zipped through me, my heart hammered through my chest. A door opened, revealing a bright white light that consumed my vision. Just before I shielded my eyes, the stark color was tainted with three ominous outlines. Their intimidating shadows approached until they loomed overhead.
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My finger twitched as the fog cleared my brain leaving a throbbing headache in its place. A voice murmured quietly. "She will wake up soon. Should we tell her?"

Another spoke up. "We can't. The most important thing right now is to make this transition a success and to do that she only will be told what she needs to know." He grabbed a radio on his belt, and walked out of the room, abandoning me in the white room with only the sound of his a garbled voice.

Exhaustion seized every bone in my body, yanking me back into the shadows.
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They gave me a room, and that was about it. They said that I was away for a long time and had little meat on my bones. They said all of these words to me, but nothing made sense. They said to me that I was a clean slate, all my memories of my life before, gone. They explained all of this to me, but I just stood there, eyes glazed over.

Here I was, vision fixated at an object made of glass. Trailing my finger on its cold surface, the object seemed to reflect the white walls around me. Curiously stepping into its view, I peeked at the image. Deathly pale skin assaulted my vision, and the hospital gown blended in. Chestnut brown hair covered about half of the back, but it was thin enough to notice bones protruding from under the skin.

I moved my gaze up to examine the face. Touching a perfectly plump pair of lips with the index finger, noting how cracked they felt, concluding that I was truly looking at myself. Sunken cheeks, and eye lacking luster was not surprising considering the state of my body. The door creaked open, and I snapped out of my trance, flustered. A man appeared behind me, his bland, lifeless reflection in the mirror along with a lab coat.

A timid feminine voice shook. "Who are you?"

The man advanced towards me, grabbing both of my elbows yanking me out of the room. "There is no point in telling you when the final operation will wipe it away anyway."

His grip tightened every time I stumbled, my feet beginning to numb from the linoleum. Looking around, this place seemed like a hospital with everything white, and even the swinging doors. The doctor of some sorts, lead me through a doorway, but I stopped. People. A man and a woman were sitting in chairs holding hands. The woman clasped some kind of cross mouthing words while her other half's gaze was focused on a half sheet of paper that belonged in the small stack of papers inside a manila folder.

Suddenly, I was shoved, my fragile body collapsing to the warm floor in front of the doctor who pulled me away from the mirror. The couple jumped out of their seats at the sound of my skin making contact with the floor, and rushed over to the doors. They burst through the them and rushed over concerned.

The dispirited man shooed them both away. "She isn't ready and you are just prolonging the process. We have a very tight schedule today due to a slight complication. It doesn't concern you, so I suggest you move before you are in grave danger--- "

The woman pointed a finger at him. "You, how dare you forbid me to see her?" She stalked towards the man above me. Her husband reached towards her. "Marleene, you should see this."

Marleene took ahold of her husband's half sheet of paper, while the guy in the lab coat tapped his foot impatient. Her eyes darted, reading its contents, but then she stopped, eyes wide in disbelief. The lady met my gaze and gasped, her voice barely audible. "Oh my gosh, they are real."

"Yeah, they are. And I shall be going now because your little interruption made this process a lot more complicated, so I thank you."

The couple started backwards understanding his underlying threat. Before they could get away, more doctors flooded the hallway surrounding them. The man dropped the files, putting up his arms in surrender, but Marleene tried to shove them away, thrusting her elbows out in all directions. There was a successful grunt as her elbow sank into one of the people's stomach. As he fell to the floor, two more were in his place both snatching one of her wrists. The woman struggled, forcing every muscle in her body to work overtime.

A feverish hand clutched mine forcing me away from the scene. Feminine screams were carried through the pure walls. Straining my head back, the married pair disappeared along with all of the other doctors only leaving a lone folder on the ground. Curiosity got the best of me, and a thought popped into my mind. I just needed a distraction.

A bald man arrived breathing heavily. Perfect timing. "A bald man arrived breathing heavily. Perfect timing. "They have entered the building, and like we expected it's not pretty."

The man holding me sighed.
"Well, isn't this just peachy." He stopped talking completely immersed in his thoughts.

Now! Using what strength I had left, I threw myself away from the person and ran to the object.This folder seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, but contained only a few papers.

The man sprinted towards me getting ready to take me away from these papers and I was confused as to why. Maybe whatever was on them was life changing. Maybe whatever was on them was top secret. Maybe both. But I did know two things, these papers caused panic and they were for someone named Ava. How did I know that? Well, it was because the name was etched on the manila folder printed on the papers' stark white surfaces.
© Emmaline Ross ,
книга «Variant».
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