Prologue194Please respect copyright.PENANA7FCWZ68PDg
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.194Please respect copyright.PENANA0Fm3h6i2HQ
Hating what was happening to them and before them.194Please respect copyright.PENANAlAwoTZdPZO
The light was so bright, so hot.194Please respect copyright.PENANASKBmU38CXv
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.194Please respect copyright.PENANAP28xnptYod
Slowly realization hit her, screams?194Please respect copyright.PENANAsyLGSDtGn6
no, just one. One scream, Hers 194Please respect copyright.PENANAIYu7irUpxf
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.194Please respect copyright.PENANAmgs8TW0ojE
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.194Please respect copyright.PENANAFMq1tqPfaq
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.194Please respect copyright.PENANAz7ZGpB5ITH
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.194Please respect copyright.PENANA1oWu77NtZ7
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.194Please respect copyright.PENANAiJ7d5UaBRg
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.194Please respect copyright.PENANAg76AcxEHvn
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!194Please respect copyright.PENANA2Ojo2tlsyy
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.194Please respect copyright.PENANAY2lG4hnrn2
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.194Please respect copyright.PENANA7Y5yNE7WKy
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.194Please respect copyright.PENANARutlORtJpN
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.194Please respect copyright.PENANAqJmRmt1Dt2
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.194Please respect copyright.PENANAgrcOX77mQF
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAsuoJeP1mAF
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.194Please respect copyright.PENANARH0QY3AOtL
And she needed it more and more every day.194Please respect copyright.PENANAsJTeB9TZNv
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?194Please respect copyright.PENANA2wfBDfMikj
Hell no!194Please respect copyright.PENANAUIQzP5hU5G
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.194Please respect copyright.PENANAk5Rx1v1JSB
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.194Please respect copyright.PENANAnwWbr6Fx0E
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAKr0s6IUP8z
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.194Please respect copyright.PENANAKgPqXtF50R
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAa9ToR32QLD
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAgRSqe9sruL
So why would she bother trying to explain?194Please respect copyright.PENANAu5sy00T5Xs
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.194Please respect copyright.PENANAqjBpGNdnsV
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAXsiBVUCBIw
Everything!194Please respect copyright.PENANAgdLpj6NjS5
194Please respect copyright.PENANAnuT2qKeTH0
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.194Please respect copyright.PENANAK5ASqIlIhR
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAFfLLiAVUxU
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAhGPDZZJtau
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.194Please respect copyright.PENANA2MncaTmK2c
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.194Please respect copyright.PENANAOkMxZOY9Ce
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANARNGV9DG1K4
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANA21DkBIQFXR
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.194Please respect copyright.PENANASatUW9Rrri
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAoRpJWcMtjc
He was a douche-bag after all.194Please respect copyright.PENANAXKSgD6GxnT
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAMGNI1Dyol8
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.194Please respect copyright.PENANAj6HL0hjuml
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.194Please respect copyright.PENANA4szAS7GJ2F
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.194Please respect copyright.PENANAJFGD17wRy6
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.194Please respect copyright.PENANAkFMByCVDCu
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.194Please respect copyright.PENANAAFsvoql1Ed
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAzjS4Zs1nBy
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.194Please respect copyright.PENANAMd44uLOjns