Prologue108Please respect copyright.PENANAx8pqMz7hWs
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.108Please respect copyright.PENANAXxmqB1l21J
Hating what was happening to them and before them.108Please respect copyright.PENANAMa9RzPRtB7
The light was so bright, so hot.108Please respect copyright.PENANA3dxOVuK5Ws
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.108Please respect copyright.PENANAbPHdn6zt92
Slowly realization hit her, screams?108Please respect copyright.PENANA68kmgFyqNJ
no, just one. One scream, Hers 108Please respect copyright.PENANAyXaC9ZXOO4
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.108Please respect copyright.PENANAq0Scj2Q1JM
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.108Please respect copyright.PENANA9Y5MV1EVSu
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.108Please respect copyright.PENANAJIglRgmkYY
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.108Please respect copyright.PENANAXiV4gFx39Z
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.108Please respect copyright.PENANAiYxRwQCw6H
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.108Please respect copyright.PENANAcAlNm8ysvG
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!108Please respect copyright.PENANASNxk0CdwwX
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.108Please respect copyright.PENANAYyJcNHX8ON
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.108Please respect copyright.PENANAWlmeCXhjjj
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.108Please respect copyright.PENANAjjg5itBKRJ
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.108Please respect copyright.PENANAqlEorUZM93
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.108Please respect copyright.PENANAMkGziuLgz7
The only thing in her life she actually, sort of, cared about. Running, endurance, pushing herself beyond her limits made her brains stop going places she didn't want it to go. Stopping the memories, the guilt.108Please respect copyright.PENANAHYPr1eEpN4
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.108Please respect copyright.PENANACfLqGRS8zi
And she needed it more and more every day.108Please respect copyright.PENANAzis4wht8YR
Having lost everything in her past, at the age of twelve, the track was also the only place she dared to let have any meaning to her. The rest of her life, her surroundings?108Please respect copyright.PENANAKZP4cOBjLv
Hell no!108Please respect copyright.PENANAeTUiVZKEjY
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.108Please respect copyright.PENANACc7pT0rE0g
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.108Please respect copyright.PENANAQkZQxawmtF
Her heart was surrounded by a thick, impenetrable wall some would say, and she heard it more than once behind her back, as she walked through the halls of the college, that she seemed like a robot.108Please respect copyright.PENANAFiOh5XrjoT
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.108Please respect copyright.PENANAfhzh5SkEVl
If she spoke more than twenty fully formed sentences in a day, not counting interviews and media, it was a lot and people found her silence, her preference for solitude simply. Well, unsettling.108Please respect copyright.PENANA2N95xa5MDx
They didn't understand, would never be able to understand how it felt to have nothing. Nobody to care about you, to listen to you, to comfort you.108Please respect copyright.PENANAYWeE4IE5Wn
So why would she bother trying to explain?108Please respect copyright.PENANAJLjRufHi8G
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.108Please respect copyright.PENANANIYk1X1HW2
They could however use her words for a couple of minutes of fame. Causing a sensation if the media ever found out the truth about what happened that night. That she lied. That she remembered everything.108Please respect copyright.PENANA5JqVdaH1m5
Everything!108Please respect copyright.PENANAW9lZha4JAU
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.108Please respect copyright.PENANAOQcMFzIDsj
She was still on edge, was familiar with the feeling by now, and knew the only way to get rid of it was to run. Deplete her energy. There was a time she didn't know when to stop.108Please respect copyright.PENANAeZfUrlufsU
More keen on punishing herself, for her involvement in past events, than making sure she would actually survive the run. More than once it had resulted in blackouts, cardiac arrest, and eventually involuntary hospitalization.108Please respect copyright.PENANAh8fRFo1ZdO
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.108Please respect copyright.PENANAMnxs81u1T3
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.108Please respect copyright.PENANAGoFn6lYk8e
It all changed when Jonah, a junior high school coach and a total douche-bag, took it upon himself to teach her how to safely push her limits. How to become better and faster without causing major damage to herself.108Please respect copyright.PENANAMuL7NIuGb8
She despised the guy and was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. However, she couldn't deny what he had done for her. Pulling her out of a downward spiral, a dark place she never wished to go back to.108Please respect copyright.PENANAITOIv7qXkP
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.108Please respect copyright.PENANAKioPpcFunp
For that, she was thankful to him, and still was, but it didn't take long for their fragile cooperation to come to an abrupt end.108Please respect copyright.PENANAN1RAtUjJRg
He was a douche-bag after all.108Please respect copyright.PENANA9Jwr70RtCA
He'd mistaken her silence for consent and started showing up at the most inappropriate times, the worst and the final blow to their teamwork, was showing up while she was showering.108Please respect copyright.PENANAu0h0pSeoXC
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.108Please respect copyright.PENANA218amn6R2J
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.108Please respect copyright.PENANAVBYrzMEsy3
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.108Please respect copyright.PENANAq2Ozp7QK5W
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.108Please respect copyright.PENANATMBiWNpzKt
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.108Please respect copyright.PENANA6u3GqXG1jo
After yesterday's competition, he waited outside her dressing room. Guiding her to his office as soon as she tried to leave. They didn't speak, as was usual for them when it was just the two of them outside a working environment.108Please respect copyright.PENANArJYezJWMI4
But his expression had said enough, tension radiated from his normally stoic face and his small lips were pressed into a thin line, all signs that she was not going to like what was going to happen when he opened that door.108Please respect copyright.PENANAy9XuYnvcMz