Prologue104Please respect copyright.PENANAFCsUeT79fS
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.104Please respect copyright.PENANA7TEmSNhCDq
Hating what was happening to them and before them.104Please respect copyright.PENANA0EEWNxtnZC
The light was so bright, so hot.104Please respect copyright.PENANAxGKjPwVBJ0
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.104Please respect copyright.PENANA4YQcNG836g
Slowly realization hit her, screams?104Please respect copyright.PENANAg0V0IhXtaF
no, just one. One scream, Hers 104Please respect copyright.PENANAEogaPicCby
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.104Please respect copyright.PENANAZKngJYGz97
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.104Please respect copyright.PENANAyNzuVRgAO4
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.104Please respect copyright.PENANADRkJ8cfyTh
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.104Please respect copyright.PENANACVYafAqfpy
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.104Please respect copyright.PENANAa33c96tm9W
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.104Please respect copyright.PENANAB1JfyVXHea
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!104Please respect copyright.PENANA8hq6nUSc2u
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.104Please respect copyright.PENANAzYTsULDXua
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.104Please respect copyright.PENANAwOaeXAdsEg
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.104Please respect copyright.PENANACut0FLsJhq
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.104Please respect copyright.PENANAlyfmXu7Ltz
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.104Please respect copyright.PENANA6pFfWwitVd
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANA3n5vZJDec0
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.104Please respect copyright.PENANASTZ5RLfLlI
And she needed it more and more every day.104Please respect copyright.PENANAHth6eq0Ry4
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?104Please respect copyright.PENANAUKbTNNfRzV
Hell no!104Please respect copyright.PENANAqGxskmM7fN
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.104Please respect copyright.PENANAK5CygrWugU
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.104Please respect copyright.PENANAHA8aAehvGF
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANANbLijEGn8i
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.104Please respect copyright.PENANATTlO1XFQEb
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANApqcr1vJZYT
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAQy5gv1H5mS
So why would she bother trying to explain?104Please respect copyright.PENANA7q9fWQlVhO
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.104Please respect copyright.PENANAia8m7vjqgZ
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAjEMwsTclhi
Everything!104Please respect copyright.PENANAjYDnCpRSBf
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.104Please respect copyright.PENANAiGsS7554T5
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAv9Fy8ZiQhs
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANALzfEGIsCmp
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.104Please respect copyright.PENANAkfVwN2ZIOk
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.104Please respect copyright.PENANAjXVqagd1kR
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAxwhJFtziUa
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANA9BOdCQl5DQ
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.104Please respect copyright.PENANApR5qTwhECB
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAJKPy32qRg1
He was a douche-bag after all.104Please respect copyright.PENANArxQH2MTfPd
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAnmXjL5LehO
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.104Please respect copyright.PENANAplWqkwZ19q
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.104Please respect copyright.PENANAGtEQjFEO9P
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.104Please respect copyright.PENANAp1PpeWbJnz
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.104Please respect copyright.PENANAoRcGi83DCo
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.104Please respect copyright.PENANAAPoUJva4gW
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAubqf4kO3UB
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.104Please respect copyright.PENANAHHuJAtscbu