Prologue301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHBc5FQ0LC
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Hcebdj07c
Hating what was happening to them and before them.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgxMui6HSH
The light was so bright, so hot.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8iZCukoLI
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwakyLQAsf
Slowly realization hit her, screams?301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AhJsDfT4s
no, just one. One scream, Hers 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDyrTXIxtk
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCC9j9nNwi1
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePoTG2YaIa
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8iIpge5DBe
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4U1uPPF2a
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzNjJxrU44
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKhZMJExpJ
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfA84GaNYr9
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopTM0f9khM
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVRCsOWbV0
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSm1NWvqRu
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvRvkMgcDy
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4xe09N1l4
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oDJ1eUzSb
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHC7vGlMf3e
And she needed it more and more every day.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9d2RhhaaL
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?301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfspLzXhuuC
Hell no!301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfG6q5p7pj
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhraYw6T2XY
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHt8dn8KvTi
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrX0KUNlBG
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XDQwnTiVw
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm2tH7Nbyc
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrr51qZjcH
So why would she bother trying to explain?301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilHzDV04sP
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmR8Ik8ufd
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHbqaN7UFi
Everything!301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlfOLJUs5M
301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5MwaRRlj9
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTUZpo1RWn
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeybULIWBRU
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2osK8x4NU7
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfAu4vTc8q
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NrGJ5a58i
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhBFioyuBZ
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbOX5OdnyN
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimUcl7dej8
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr69nvTE29R
He was a douche-bag after all.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddjFTUk7Tu
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Z5KM7TCTG
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmHTxwQRlx
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYWDxicG8s
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDhy4ubST5
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJY6P436bos
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVTVELNqyv
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmA39FNWiY
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.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0lVSXGkKC
