Prologue106Please respect copyright.PENANA8XaQre8G1y
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.106Please respect copyright.PENANAUX20Uh4R8L
Hating what was happening to them and before them.106Please respect copyright.PENANAct2QHLUOyu
The light was so bright, so hot.106Please respect copyright.PENANAl0VPZrG2N5
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.106Please respect copyright.PENANA9sAsYrHBq8
Slowly realization hit her, screams?106Please respect copyright.PENANAsce0w8BTvP
no, just one. One scream, Hers 106Please respect copyright.PENANAHKC24NPgk6
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.106Please respect copyright.PENANAxiKxrqbmln
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.106Please respect copyright.PENANA1ADHfnLvPI
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.106Please respect copyright.PENANAcc6q2Leoai
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.106Please respect copyright.PENANAY7BIv9F7xs
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.106Please respect copyright.PENANAP7NiEWCken
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.106Please respect copyright.PENANA9kSJbVXIYI
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!106Please respect copyright.PENANAoNtSz0PowS
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.106Please respect copyright.PENANAnQQjN4veFS
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.106Please respect copyright.PENANAGbJnKp36Kq
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.106Please respect copyright.PENANANr04isyA6Y
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.106Please respect copyright.PENANAulbr2r49qI
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.106Please respect copyright.PENANAfHfrj4y2jU
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANA8r4hJ5USFM
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.106Please respect copyright.PENANAMpjW9WjfSN
And she needed it more and more every day.106Please respect copyright.PENANAEAJaWs9mCN
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?106Please respect copyright.PENANAyuOrRPgvja
Hell no!106Please respect copyright.PENANA4gPcjMWfdh
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.106Please respect copyright.PENANAyhR1Kjg5NJ
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.106Please respect copyright.PENANAkaeK10V2P4
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAnDn8jb2kZI
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.106Please respect copyright.PENANAzJmT6rips0
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAOMtveAGORV
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAjUmIpJhaMw
So why would she bother trying to explain?106Please respect copyright.PENANA7OxRQreJ4z
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.106Please respect copyright.PENANAQrNt3NnhQq
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAE7ozHC6UpZ
Everything!106Please respect copyright.PENANA4rQZ8d4tWA
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.106Please respect copyright.PENANAINl0uQSiHX
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAWJW4pO6Ia6
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAYwTASQmjOT
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.106Please respect copyright.PENANAk4DT9JL5U6
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.106Please respect copyright.PENANAQvBYJyKhHM
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAzLjYMmg4D7
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANA15TKAm4xOl
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.106Please respect copyright.PENANAT220gZlGoa
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAqWztU2sUV6
He was a douche-bag after all.106Please respect copyright.PENANAjnwz3JmcKV
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANATtmUKSKLIt
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.106Please respect copyright.PENANAjCFjMGkNwD
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.106Please respect copyright.PENANAfWchAjqT4m
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.106Please respect copyright.PENANAvqWSiyc6tk
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.106Please respect copyright.PENANA1PkWOTXsAE
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.106Please respect copyright.PENANAGJcv1XCKPG
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANA7yOx0GL39E
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.106Please respect copyright.PENANAuO20EIMaFH