Prologue339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5LveVm9WZ
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5HDb6ezfQ
Hating what was happening to them and before them.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡna1hE27So4
The light was so bright, so hot.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IxU6a2aB3
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3opemkN2n
Slowly realization hit her, screams?339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbV4tJWUhm
no, just one. One scream, Hers 339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYdFfRY7GV
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx7Ez61NTU
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsxd4j28MJ
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeq5gDCoMsy
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBh0JkCGLR
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8shdaSJTFf
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwrA8epsry
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aD1E6gnv6
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTJCM34U3m
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0samJ9cnR
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4VhOyilET
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv65WDbTdFD
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvSTDLy66e
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OrRObYx2i
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWbRD687H6
And she needed it more and more every day.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtSfHCJSym
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?339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDue1kUsXCg
Hell no!339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdaSbGMQ9K
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvf4Lwjygi
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKwikNJjmq
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZv5Y46Axf1
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsedZL62AZQ
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnglJoJgif
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaqeX55bhe
So why would she bother trying to explain?339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72ivLUxdcP
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡccquR0PvwP
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifY7PZSgGv
Everything!339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6164ixOA15
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkgWGthbiL
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXRobR3IKt
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLffhr8Hqt
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM8vH9rW3A
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqnIAnHFeL
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjzYe3fnkA
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgA6Po05hK
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRT73cCy5Jd
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhWZrXNvn8
He was a douche-bag after all.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZVy5wOa1Z
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNftXnGfQT7
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77eyj6E8c4
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMeS5xjdv8
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPboFUCKyl4
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MWknt8vob
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZmGv5MyTR
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDAr7cFXF9
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.339Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXmo9dViVL
