Prologue289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncaxrVWk2R
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTP8xdUBCon
Hating what was happening to them and before them.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZZwFHdFtR
The light was so bright, so hot.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWZjjP7qJ3
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iI11ndMYf
Slowly realization hit her, screams?289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vRVZQxX4l
no, just one. One scream, Hers 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lQi4649iK
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75gzczVRfJ
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6PZUv6ZcO
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGzJodVYRK
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8JgmFzUyy
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyJ7OBVOW5
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBhbjwMW4f
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAd2karCCm
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhAmUe8MyO
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQR9fCaRbIp
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjncZnjYJzy
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzT84XA8Vg
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt2WBaUyH2
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHmZfnkgdE
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrI6beMGUE
And she needed it more and more every day.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhGlZRcqD8
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?289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaDw0uoncA
Hell no!289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tAhbb42hi
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUxsuYyg3i
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS74SSeuHpy
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6osrS3H5t
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiF58zrSbRJ
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJoQd34dO5t
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6Bmr7TUua
So why would she bother trying to explain?289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtl6IJt0Ob
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ix3E9vIgc
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMnONXnLAD
Everything!289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwcPBPGdAY
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHvyW7No2L
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMal8c8OHgW
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSoqqxpCBP
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9sS7PxwAw
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGItHktBl7M
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT72SHecytD
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6vyY1Dkd7
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvKOiMEyF7
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQxTMrkM2D
He was a douche-bag after all.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv3SZdi7Uh
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPlpoFI4Yf
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtp2dOl6TP4
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV4xkwY8jD
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡef9vGopsBm
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP21Mi7soG7
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdfSlFaNAz
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uPbPlItKJ
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.289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PcjxcFwK2
