Prologue292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Vrkh4R9Jy
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlTh7O1LLq
Hating what was happening to them and before them.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNFTOGlaUB
The light was so bright, so hot.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1Ey1JyXTW
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uDMFytOy6
Slowly realization hit her, screams?292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EA8SdPHxi
no, just one. One scream, Hers 292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbfLYJokvv
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzZX2TQwUv
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnKKZvfFJI
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKzvIqWzTu
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtHKF9BTHO
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOo8em20gzC
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUx5i7mupv
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsva66D3No
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOzcgviBVV
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3P4vScBpn
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4NeJatAIW
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSEnc9ZaQ7
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7V1yOWujb
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcMC4agspl
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNb5AYSGfm
And she needed it more and more every day.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpxza37EKd
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?292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0mpPwFROK
Hell no!292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxSBsnnaDMA
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQHiFzLRi1
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUcK8iZU7Q
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7wbsWhKwu
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWG0Gc0YxA7
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HEsL3afqN
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvqxy4YW4f
So why would she bother trying to explain?292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjvzWoiMNH
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjCnEBl3Pw
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2PAj7ZXPJ
Everything!292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7jUdSMfyw
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1slZdCylqC
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXICGJs2is
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9uUcYLi9l
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJMvH0ShIr
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjemhI2i8jB
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHyzhyqJ78
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXh2ufOxqyf
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hhcvpjxAy
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZESlj5JSrr
He was a douche-bag after all.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCXuOKkc0G
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1wVlq0hgK
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJI5XIrzV6s
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyYjtrkioA
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHqD7X1Kfl
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXy8tsz0v8
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYKuKxcaql
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYUEYrnYs8
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.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUEp3z8z5J
