Prologue156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7Bpp0ysrW
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ih1mUnBJ1
Hating what was happening to them and before them.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBCguPVtgE
The light was so bright, so hot.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PTKCFYBO4
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9z9MjTuGem
Slowly realization hit her, screams?156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VbXf9RKBb
no, just one. One scream, Hers 156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkaRtxxuFG
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GhO5n0zrH
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0A6sZODf6q
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjC4qsyhuU6
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SPq37r2ZC
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bhl2uh3Fa
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYp87Ruyvw
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPgVrvPh8W
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbxNdmlXG8
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgC0R0C1IOK
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NMMcpdz0Y
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡue8a7WfeH2
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjHBPSJW6e
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie9hhnE0H7
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG0Gx22mRl
And she needed it more and more every day.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqinFYSTVrR
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?156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoGGyu1q11
Hell no!156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdGv9n4SbI
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vFW8xc5DY
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEuZDcgUcW
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgj804puBh
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyF51vBkQQw
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquP1DL7fX9
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7JFSAwZwN
So why would she bother trying to explain?156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeicE5QupB6
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTL0MsiLwrL
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYs1rzy7gE
Everything!156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVl8oBt8Rbd
156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qSVOWUgvl
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaSjCd92nE
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyx3pQEFVf
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFyrqNssyt
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilrBg3Ued5
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQA7yeQehd
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELvkemA582
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBszWJK4oHZ
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNMBWcvz9u
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAhYMx0WiJ
He was a douche-bag after all.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡri8mxfQx5a
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBftRbhscE
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTSQQxTdKL
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07JkknLhlv
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcnq131Di7
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBdSdASdPc
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvgHxhSuhI
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8m9c0ytH6W
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.156Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rrKbjr6LT
