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
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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
