Prologue255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbBchwWUUV
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmny1oSx4mB
Hating what was happening to them and before them.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtW9b3MrKCn
The light was so bright, so hot.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxK3grlBHR
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiCQBHAubW
Slowly realization hit her, screams?255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUQkKXG92I
no, just one. One scream, Hers 255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzL15AAbORh
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8zTYakEfv
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVvqe8ZJUP
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2vDDXMgIl
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFug67bvB1l
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwCX48sgy4
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEufjPDvs8b
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WY8zCb1YD
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmQvhqlTZB
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVVd2BcFTR
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKeMYLtHwDZ
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5jGuICBtJ
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgymonmvC0K
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGRgIb5xKT
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaiZFBcFWs
And she needed it more and more every day.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTf0j4i2jeq
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?255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxzLmpSh3f
Hell no!255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOJmAkua9u
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU57LgzSiO4
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8kWWUywy8
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHbEsBbaCl
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEV0qhguFO
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRIRzf9oKZ
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNoD7dXhN3
So why would she bother trying to explain?255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpDFY5wJ0E
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNkLxVBy8T
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUvxLQWgTh
Everything!255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDMBePCVVp
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmz8VoLZGLC
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCk0vh41sbR
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnk7E6SbBA
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTAxkB2pWt
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbYR01w8h7
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhDY0TqPhX
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBDMpVYyf8
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtioHgNcSuZ
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIX3msXOw9
He was a douche-bag after all.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOr8DH07sEy
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHqvcqGvBW
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WTLg5lCDj
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiI6BXrDoC
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡat3923Ve4y
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPpXc3bfXl
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwii6ReiQF
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7iGUEVrAI
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.255Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBQKWbK7D9
