Prologue278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSAP62conr
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBQKz6dyJH
Hating what was happening to them and before them.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvMGcap8BU
The light was so bright, so hot.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyB7hEdcu4
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gAIUY84mE
Slowly realization hit her, screams?278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2yECy5Xaf
no, just one. One scream, Hers 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTEuyWiuQZ
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlkzG0E7as
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxfuJME9En
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Wl3J1D7qq
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZESJjyANP
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1U2bCCDyo
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsX0ogoVwlG
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMalxPFLSa
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2VS1L9HQb
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yYDQAPHfn
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrYfUYHaCB
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpTFnCPEpI
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQq6QyG9Qit
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0NiPtZaMk
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8D33MidYN
And she needed it more and more every day.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDKu8HSlLP
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?278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBNUvAschL
Hell no!278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTqsO2SrMW
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AaYeZqeiw
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThHLh1AyI2
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzht8EYFVXq
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0hvwZNQd2
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYf334ydU3
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRCUb2PGPM
So why would she bother trying to explain?278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RCIzKcZpx
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32F5sMmDCo
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhlsUI0K2y
Everything!278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVAFtfh28X
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn13Tk7TjrN
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡValjesGxAW
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3yTU4aolk
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iHM1C7Nsr
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVipx7NYQrS
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF023GVHrb
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKAInGACaO
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCegaZczv7s
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaiJyNt9OG
He was a douche-bag after all.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgvcA6WMeb
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1P4J2280zr
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBQOp6b8aS
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhSrBdLShp
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTeF1qKzFs
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡal2yXMbiEH
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmp3Dzn99B
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmszLZFpVi
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.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumSkA5G4JO
