Prologue178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6q61S6nnH
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPDSsLXxBR
Hating what was happening to them and before them.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQzXLU0jjq
The light was so bright, so hot.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwN0eKTyukf
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL3OTSXXNS6
Slowly realization hit her, screams?178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSLh7W4wqa
no, just one. One scream, Hers 178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcBzPFIarn
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzBilNmx30
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUGGZO3Ylq
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6hWTPsSBZ
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdGoPcV4Xf
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4BQGj79ks
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjIIzT2onS
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHE6HT2ZlS
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloyYczfbJ8
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWdN28sfui
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0Zj292djZ
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yZSRM56WJ
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDE2A3bpDj
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRnMlhpIbn
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedfDbnrxwc
And she needed it more and more every day.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdNvqzcXCd
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?178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElqpPvppha
Hell no!178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVU3ZMPRwBO
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPWBJIR3Cp
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDu0muKMSb
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFuw0jTWZK
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjphBwzC1n
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHmeeACxAY
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FHEstaliP
So why would she bother trying to explain?178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMhzRqWfjU
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uNH56NtW5
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY8T4THd0k
Everything!178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82w108KrOx
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1d9YJTiz2E
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFIIMvqrY1
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoooNuDIjRA
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzSZGvLvLN
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DrXGz2pQj
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0Bgr3eE0A
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvhQScoVIP
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlejwnzetJ
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2hybD6zfa
He was a douche-bag after all.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxcxZQXVrD
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGFfb0tZeE
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDVPmwV0Fy
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8caSKqpM6
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWL8zEjoxka
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBudi99na3k
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYxLFugAlL
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZ7H9qxtKr
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.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXi4GBhqUs
