Prologue246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHVeyigJHV
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlALED799YR
Hating what was happening to them and before them.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFqy5UYQNl
The light was so bright, so hot.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJIqXv1T2L
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLj5eb3TW9
Slowly realization hit her, screams?246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2enmPAjiRh
no, just one. One scream, Hers 246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFORFWZg4QK
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WKatapcGe
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVY7qfVjOo
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0s22TEYKU
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVV4KqVfZC
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5KaMtikBJ
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsC0K81Iig7
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLNk98fr6x
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwyNICymy1D
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tAYfTF7Sc
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAZfGXcEgy
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTtm6GB688
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOai8qp5j4
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveBb7nuXGI
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zDjaN1aYf
And she needed it more and more every day.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRrjm6AWEz
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?246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJaArGuaA9
Hell no!246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡctsLm0KDc1
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJ1wAroMuH
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgewcbdY10
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmt7klRJ11
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4W6pzy9VdK
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mDWvwM0l9
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCC1jn7WHfY
So why would she bother trying to explain?246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpa4IE9VTV
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVgvYDqITE
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4oCOA9KIs
Everything!246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7yQlfo8w1
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzuOL9uMpzc
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgX18X31Ji
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrcmM6O6PY
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUouIXzR0C8
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxcX9vzmOP
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzb6UAtiI6E
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrH391UEkS
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3kBItLtns
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHQemMzkdb
He was a douche-bag after all.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOF31SgMwHf
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcOZqDMoxg
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRU08WAqj7s
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgCFR0B0Gw
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vO43lCdfk
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEw9DbNjI0
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRnXWoL6OH
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cMd3tkGDs
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.246Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YXtBhbWu4
