Prologue193Please respect copyright.PENANAv1qwdUztYa
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.193Please respect copyright.PENANAJQeuSGMbNR
Hating what was happening to them and before them.193Please respect copyright.PENANAjwU2KFY5PZ
The light was so bright, so hot.193Please respect copyright.PENANALuJRLKXNVT
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.193Please respect copyright.PENANA5zLAIpaQgQ
Slowly realization hit her, screams?193Please respect copyright.PENANA1A6jjUGR4a
no, just one. One scream, Hers 193Please respect copyright.PENANAabi3FYUu9s
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.193Please respect copyright.PENANAF3A7NmFOfU
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.193Please respect copyright.PENANA0i73CY2Brp
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.193Please respect copyright.PENANAmuLjRQwnyb
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.193Please respect copyright.PENANAFYU4Ye1DwZ
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.193Please respect copyright.PENANAwZhqs35UmU
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.193Please respect copyright.PENANAnC8Hp5tfoB
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!193Please respect copyright.PENANAWv5ZDWpNcO
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.193Please respect copyright.PENANA9y6OrkBQL4
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.193Please respect copyright.PENANAXIKnjHzJKw
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.193Please respect copyright.PENANAje0yaz6D4I
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.193Please respect copyright.PENANAYiW8vjfgwW
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.193Please respect copyright.PENANApXYTdPTd1c
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAgbWP0HNGwQ
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.193Please respect copyright.PENANAsKBcQOemML
And she needed it more and more every day.193Please respect copyright.PENANAaeI53fJCZH
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?193Please respect copyright.PENANAbG3iMgNxLi
Hell no!193Please respect copyright.PENANAYKKrWZevkr
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.193Please respect copyright.PENANAKgNJCsoUee
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.193Please respect copyright.PENANAWhTZPE5i3N
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAaCcfibhvyn
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.193Please respect copyright.PENANAryLnUlC6Is
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAHlcxkVLe72
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANABWYw6oKhZO
So why would she bother trying to explain?193Please respect copyright.PENANA02ZCC01Cbo
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.193Please respect copyright.PENANAE8FLTEq1sI
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAdLFUyI9rzr
Everything!193Please respect copyright.PENANANoK91ZMldG
193Please respect copyright.PENANADaGHMpQY8J
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.193Please respect copyright.PENANANqGCYxseKw
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANA4nKuJRwCZX
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAoexe4hN7b4
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.193Please respect copyright.PENANAIUYhO3JM67
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.193Please respect copyright.PENANApIrtEDalpA
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAR7MKmePlBC
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAmQTl1zqNdK
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.193Please respect copyright.PENANAy9yZqRMxnu
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAueDNWwWcXk
He was a douche-bag after all.193Please respect copyright.PENANAXyvpbd4TD5
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAH7IjAqw9Qm
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.193Please respect copyright.PENANAair4uyf5fp
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.193Please respect copyright.PENANAqxPfztATla
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.193Please respect copyright.PENANAInQWMcdVYO
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.193Please respect copyright.PENANAxUh0Ko9nNP
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.193Please respect copyright.PENANAHjsZpTlp0L
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANAFFJx76ioUt
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.193Please respect copyright.PENANACE6WYwRCmL