Prologue183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTogcgPTrtq
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuADPaBNjOk
Hating what was happening to them and before them.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vRh3nFSkZ
The light was so bright, so hot.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEGSv42AI6
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDb6hIGb4x5
Slowly realization hit her, screams?183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtZGW9R5u2
no, just one. One scream, Hers 183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwyutu7jqiJ
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeG7dW4sZU
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUx3nCuzUXP
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWkdVn8Skt
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnwHmHfJSR
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRYH4k6n1p
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEona0nMVj
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TtfBSp2Zz
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvBXil8FMd
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuk2oFQSMsY
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPxgG7KJKm
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWAh7i3yw8
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyn6CHtpV8H
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMJyNNukw1
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOFRAdEpls
And she needed it more and more every day.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7QgRrOlGv
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?183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2uLb8wbou
Hell no!183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5xBAX7Z4F
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfveALB2B3t
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdrFUh2ORE
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ240cLKInZt
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNqlDYNn5Y
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMJ9pQ0p0f
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkB2zd7iahY
So why would she bother trying to explain?183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQcdChAeaR
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMPKTj54G6
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECK8UHHmZZ
Everything!183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlp6IH5Ig8V
183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCj1g7An7i
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpfJUTxXq5
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBcSnTB9sH
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe188SNaiOA
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjDBcOlHGJ
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDa7UxNxBAu
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GH5P8ebim
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdehyeIGkX
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xOGLTScK5
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZr0WPrQyfG
He was a douche-bag after all.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXjk9784wt
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTz3J6D5dU
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHrD0WHgnl
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEiwj5lFLx
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0StWsvkc99
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LERkzZR7c
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufcN677Qtf
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ221XhgdEcp
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.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwR3yITZpt
