Prologue209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNfg5StlRI
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHAoCoGcsz
Hating what was happening to them and before them.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYQn7TL0bU
The light was so bright, so hot.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyiZS4y9B8
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWH3wJkAqOl
Slowly realization hit her, screams?209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEox0yPiZKW
no, just one. One scream, Hers 209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6n3ienwjae
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeH9JUV8Uzd
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJfdJE6tMf
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfviqae2dBG
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20M8NIkjo9
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZKWIP1dBr
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnruxyL6Wht
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0yevrwqdL
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJCTvg2n1s
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmZYqcey7I
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhZHUFqEkW
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoyJ0T47VF
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVzDthRONC
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BLNDukFcG
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1od1SYetdK
And she needed it more and more every day.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcCweUHgK5
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?209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOsBuYhtMV
Hell no!209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdVO02O4AI
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDWcTg8KvR
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43xRiuIsBc
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8cZtojcsq
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneltazakQM
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpueGcfhSj
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HxOXCDKV1
So why would she bother trying to explain?209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM08B2ssbap
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4254P7ZRBc
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX0N2RmDea
Everything!209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMNmJuy5lV
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1OMA1uUMz
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1C7Ae3H9v
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9f2T8GrDbR
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUGVbgD4Kn
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLCY5i1uli
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXV2LO5lav
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDgQ1EIO8j
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpEEWlj0Gi
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOEzkrZORV
He was a douche-bag after all.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZGyIe6qgR
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhj7BUkRTr1
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSTrfofKSn
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0gPLZn1je
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYmSQgKSpw
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXxLLepGFP
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIqjTItJF6
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXecVDLWHI6
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.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAyTAqwgSG
