Prologue293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAoqx8s9aM
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPO9jTo5nIF
Hating what was happening to them and before them.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo31Bm5MTW
The light was so bright, so hot.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gPfR63jIQ
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zQmbmL3RM
Slowly realization hit her, screams?293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXNAYH8Okq
no, just one. One scream, Hers 293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ldEz7bous
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2nGzUM9fD
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRDE0cSr6Z
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL7AqTem9C
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAvJESCoRV
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFZsAnllTx
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTSnm12TCS
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZFpo5lmeM
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikSi7wFACJ
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkH6kOAzwi
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70aRUJ3SVm
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC04tZeWZXi
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJlM4kzf3E
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53cXm0G1ka
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlG8lRiItpa
And she needed it more and more every day.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVJiTJmZl4
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?293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yFNULSOOF
Hell no!293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyr1LV5yOB
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGWrtPTU5h
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyD5mszJQ1C
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLA95bPaSR
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMQgcYOXZ4
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqGb3BtozF
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93eU066V2d
So why would she bother trying to explain?293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69C2Lbzy0h
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsCV5Rgyxn
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd28eOpxQBW
Everything!293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTmMXrfXlY
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgh0jZ23HmX
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rArCDKccY
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFtLUgwtDe
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDtIa9Wctz
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwl7MMpNqBK
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglAcu9trz0
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNWV155JQE
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziHH0KOxHH
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAA78DpIeR
He was a douche-bag after all.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5pFHVs4dJG
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gW79JVnc9
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqbiyOjFEh
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRnLCbJCZF
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7lQ0rrU7G
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfaYcosS13
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BhDVsFZyL
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5INvmE9FQi
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.293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bY2EesyqF
