Prologue338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuJGoyIqAN
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIqVW7obbm
Hating what was happening to them and before them.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJ0Jii3Qh0
The light was so bright, so hot.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbH1kTU2Qg7
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsMaTWEXbW
Slowly realization hit her, screams?338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioEP4eevBH
no, just one. One scream, Hers 338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEaowUIVOT
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04UgdBybLJ
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSoAU3LSdG
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGbyki7YLR
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGALwibpObW
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTCwNQ4fKL
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPI48QHomT4
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOu96otFBl
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkIDUapkxk
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdG67iTrTN
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0mXEslKFp
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQjwwkFi08
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWme481JzIq
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wiVHD6CBT
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93M3cFBrwd
And she needed it more and more every day.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7fkkzr4Zq
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?338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lRCHjjsuf
Hell no!338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK3pbi4hSe
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08c5pqz8vW
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIek2ibhSA
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAn0INOLDF
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNy73A9nK2
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvurqYPNhx1
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7m8qxJeUE
So why would she bother trying to explain?338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DSUMsxPge
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvBbva1jY7
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYXaDmcXTh
Everything!338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RJtVE2jjC
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekxlAP5g1U
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5obohnxwJA
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4xHvIMO0b
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzU16TPZt9
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXg0hS1FArL
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXridwy8zO
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYozlyFEz0
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfapO8Zni1S
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEg9aWU6OR
He was a douche-bag after all.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1hL07bqKe
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiarVZWed3
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ60mrP61E9
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGzCCDgdfv
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOL4GLEZqf
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaKGHuusXk
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdbttgGFyw
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpno7kkGCOi
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.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KfaWV6ecV
