Prologue292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkj5UDxSSS
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68Pw8iLqGZ
Hating what was happening to them and before them.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3U9GXodtPj
The light was so bright, so hot.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHvgpQK9u7
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdLRJ16181
Slowly realization hit her, screams?292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DYOsSb2vw
no, just one. One scream, Hers 292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMBu0WuENZ
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnc8y7irjyn
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Fek7eEvi1
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpm1QEiAQPQ
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmXehge4hi
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfNvjMvYXq
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9Ms1pv1e4
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyohos1S46I
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CSyo1A30M
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxZCUzEnj9
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozJACUXzLR
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwQk7WMC2z
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwFNdrb2lB
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IUsCMWNEh
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAzdds4BS1
And she needed it more and more every day.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhl4cv4SEs
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfE3EX1pCm
Hell no!292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPpVeeMWw8
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9g1evFWoaZ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MfBxfe9Wn
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRbl9EFSld
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgmv1yKWBI
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKjqe46u2t
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7EYe8d1TX
So why would she bother trying to explain?292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRimjhQ4OBh
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIDqeooPXD
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCW2Y1L8qcY
Everything!292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsZUVF867K
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFqGX1AB1Z
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYU6iONcYO
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYefkcJF0aW
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4JLMCUhpR
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4PDSymWdq
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYttL3lupej
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UNrtXWZyR
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMGoMLs8AS
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuqpfQ9JhO
He was a douche-bag after all.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNY0gYHrV7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtj38n9zbL4
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZM3N9ZzpZ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4UGzNT1H3
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOatfAwAVGH
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4GRFA9HPc
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh468KRR8W6
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaFQBzOHfX
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYu5DuUKxrb
