Prologue302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLWSdFBOJO
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ386dIfc3z7
Hating what was happening to them and before them.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEKzoME254
The light was so bright, so hot.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWHTX0I5fF
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZNNJkmw99
Slowly realization hit her, screams?302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qx0CtozE6
no, just one. One scream, Hers 302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhq5JJDduJ
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmx8ljeXtJL
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfJ1m1gaxk
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLuwp4HwH9
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxDrbrfUop
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYMhu44uvh
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWc4dbla3i
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMz6tNselul
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe98hUkiYoT
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8cQw4TWku
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTt1K3LPGQ9
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsVyVIHwtE
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IHhZtdrGY
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgqEpm7a8J
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkGPjYZekg
And she needed it more and more every day.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVxPTJAd8m
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?302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0lJVyGnx4
Hell no!302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyz9WVaPWS
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPL1llIyUz
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeQIqxxZ8U
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlqwMZQ8Bo
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpDEs3Beeo
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzStH77upFM
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8U39dukcNU
So why would she bother trying to explain?302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUPqDU73FU
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyg4DNT7wB
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKEjJVtjLK
Everything!302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfK1bXERz2
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmocwJsCboo
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnc1oWUJ1K6
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHD2CXEbNj
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpKcC0AI2J
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTIQZBJXYA
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBiJjERk3M
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbe0cshXnTf
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwx2oo8YOWT
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqXPg2iOIi
He was a douche-bag after all.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdI9cs4Ofzc
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIT3Oh4OHpz
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqmGdHKsl4
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXN66S10k7
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7T5I08w1Pt
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqawfazmn0
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sjDqklx0a
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzBNgSPRbx
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.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEHXlLfBLv
