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
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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
