Prologue182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrnx8lnlPW
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVeWMr5tJd
Hating what was happening to them and before them.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1fLcmeTnV
The light was so bright, so hot.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LNTwVCSa6
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUwS1ER05I
Slowly realization hit her, screams?182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTrQTUjjFm
no, just one. One scream, Hers 182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmFjLMfCGr
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF90x4LK84Y
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5cYUZyAFN
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtYPrfCit9
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqkzOVJSD4
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyekJ1f6Vym
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HO1n0jX2g
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JaJ71qS4e
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouCvQKuAIp
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0z4O1RRnv
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxspwqhPhVW
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpncBihkvls
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk39Kl9MMbC
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1goiBaT0F
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHF1ETC5sb
And she needed it more and more every day.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfirsYDd89
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?182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5segxyOQJ
Hell no!182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRTW331PGt
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJcMtXhgmU
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuhhd4cmSX
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaSKCx8PTJ
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtizh5dzCa
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1InCFgJYiv
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGTEaUv3IS
So why would she bother trying to explain?182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxc6hLbcTir
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVAfEaCCDz
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CQEyB1nA2
Everything!182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9XqE4b8H9
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0D6kiqDUlm
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XSIggTZcZ
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkMXHNvzwt
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbMFHpGCAw
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTd0iZu5GpH
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpI6mioGSrz
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNZOm66eHw
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1twkOSsZh
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkEHcUunoI
He was a douche-bag after all.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEeLvXXchv
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMkQNb74Bw
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkQvvsSMhA
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRlNkh9M77
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjiU9Sk8fop
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGFS1L6JAN
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu22GnwGUIz
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhVaLmTtft
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.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdaT5QeeAX
