Free While You're Awake by Amber Stokes Page A

night.”
    “I—”
    “I mean, I hoped you were
doing something fun for your birthday. Were you?”
    Her foot shook as she
tried to think how to answer that question. “It was pretty typical, until later
in the day…”
    “Oh?” The word rose in
tone as her mom held it out. “Did you go out with some friends?” She sounded so
hopeful that Ava cringed.
    Now that Ava was 26 years
old, her mom shouldn’t be quite so worried about her only daughter’s social
life.
    “No, nothing like that.”
She swallowed, hating how loud the action sounded in the hollow house. “It’s
just…” How much should she say? The phone grew hot next to her ear.
    “Hello? Are you still
there?”
    “Yeah. I just had a bug
pr—”
    “Oh!” The word came fast,
breaking up Ava’s explanation. “I’m sorry, but Veronica’s at the door. We’re
going to a book signing at the library, and we still have to grab dinner.”
    Ava heard the faint click
of a door being unlocked and her mom’s exuberant greeting of her long-time
friend. Then, “I still want to hear about your birthday. Can I call you later?”
    “Sure.”
    A pause. “You got my
card, right?”
    “Yep.” Complete with a
gift card to the garden store. But as much as Ava loved flowers, she didn’t
think she’d be planting any anytime soon. Not if it might bring more bees.
“Thanks. The card’s very pretty. And I appreciate the gift.”
    “Good.” One word, but her
mom’s smile sounded clearly through it. “Talk later!”
    “Okay. Bye.”
    Ava cradled the warm
phone in her hand, staring at the screen until it blackened and she was faced
with her own frightened reflection. With a start, she dropped the device to her
lap and lifted her gaze to the battlefield.
    Standing on unsteady
legs, she headed to the laundry room in the back of the house and wheeled out
the vacuum. With a whir of air and a greedy gulp, the vacuum swallowed up the
bees.
    Without a moment of
waste, she unclipped the storage container, released the bees into a plastic
bag, and took the bag outside to the large trash can. Her eyes brimmed with
tears as she settled the lid over the remnants of her nightmare. She wasn’t
sure which emotion brought about the reaction: shame, sorrow, or the fear that
this wasn’t the end.
    ∞∞∞
    The bees returned as most
trials do—one by one, one right after the other. And it was perhaps worse that
way, for Ava never knew when she would awake to a bee crawling on the window or
return home to one resting on the ceiling. The sight of its fuzzy narrow body,
like an arrow pointing straight for her mind, never failed to send her heart
into crazy spins.
    But she learned to live
with the endless torture, as she had learned to live with the boy in her
third-grade class who had found great pleasure in stealing her books and
holding them for ransom. And the homesickness that haunted her at boarding
school throughout her preteen and early teen years. And the loneliness that
still hadn’t abated despite her fulfilling work.
    She had always found it
grimly fascinating how people could adapt to anything when it became an
unavoidable part of their reality. And these bees…they had chosen her, left
behind some sort of trail for their friends to follow.
    She had taken to swatting
them, unable to function until she knew one wasn’t hovering over her head.
Despite taking out the danger, though, she couldn’t find peace. Not when more
bees would come.
    After disposing of the
latest unwanted guest on a particularly sunny spring day, she packed up her
laptop, grabbed her purse, and ran to the car. She might not have much money to
spare, but today was a coffee day if ever there were one. Designer coffee—the
kind that would soothe her with sugary comfort and a sense of belonging with
other artist types that frequented coffee shops.
    Ava didn’t turn on the
radio or push in a CD as she made the twenty-minute drive into the heart of
town. She kept the windows rolled up tight and