Prologue154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1A3h5xPPNu
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVWIKxbcP4
Hating what was happening to them and before them.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XP5CMpkYE
The light was so bright, so hot.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDfpwQ7ONm
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSARzSNnUE
Slowly realization hit her, screams?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDN4HutrOC
no, just one. One scream, Hers 154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWDscWsZPx
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZOUeNNh72
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1If4KRCbVA
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zcMlYafzP
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPeRaqlyjf
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ckXbqsRzw
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogUYeZ2DWR
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioCHmzy3G5
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMMQ8tAFf2
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCFnSV6bdE
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ709zFGFL2m
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmb8IJ2N30A
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvtJTiUKlR
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dubwVcRny
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHlX0IJ29I
And she needed it more and more every day.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30j4Gy1TDP
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?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8O4ZRppRt
Hell no!154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm80IbKgEIR
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0TOTzcNKH
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpjcWlLP2h
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLrx8aCZnh
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GCP2yObtZ
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeDVmEbukA
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SL5Rky7Sp
So why would she bother trying to explain?154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RSYSBCzie
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUT70fsusLK
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhwoPDLL6C
Everything!154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNTj2J4tiU
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBRG2ZAOxH
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjB906fa6D
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULohDM3Eq3
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0228HVguY
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kO3fMh7uR
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPuLzO5ZBC
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTGROGb7gK
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWla8LnsrMj
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXYoJeYda4
He was a douche-bag after all.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRLAxkCIrX
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MKAH2eeoO
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwAhfuqKGY
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdZkPY5iKo
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUS1HC8Yiig
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJVwt4RfZ2
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpcjCFva6o
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OMjAmCHzt
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.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tfbzvzJfW
