Prologue282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRvQ1ehP3o
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFM2SLmVnqB
Hating what was happening to them and before them.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jMzc61ZwY
The light was so bright, so hot.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFNo4gWUDY
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyoekxB8fx
Slowly realization hit her, screams?282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqd7SKbLg6n
no, just one. One scream, Hers 282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxhRB46URu
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG63eRXC0g2
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15zwA6kiqN
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshZlsETfeH
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll2hL4hnEY
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBql6Hnn7Ef
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡha3oinQYZE
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDFP5QHG9V
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVxFjy6C73
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7VDojtFQS
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6h7hQK5k1L
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR15mD7r3u5
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlX39Kqsjma
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyMdGBedh4
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCZxHtfRdR
And she needed it more and more every day.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxgln8Vv1V
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?282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4JywmfIvM
Hell no!282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnhQXRVY4Y
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1GyHyvJZ3
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rBOF4OMZf
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLZKyAapn0
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0cBIazuxW
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjpPTRbIA0
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrVDvrqs0E
So why would she bother trying to explain?282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZtq9BJL0K
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKqcqOoIYL
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT43kKWdrVN
Everything!282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivzRcxCLeq
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkx1AfcfAS
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJipE8mg7vI
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBD2OWO8oxe
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCWkUFlVHF
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UXXV8PR38
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBeueGRGVe
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cgdvRYmis
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71DSLe61JU
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8HGfeCO0z
He was a douche-bag after all.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7jlHYpXc7
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLK2Aj0Q4Bb
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgWre1u0Lc
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgfAv1AlbI
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMTDLsGDVP
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUutfUossK0
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmXTnWRWPC
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCh2GSsJsZ
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.282Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eGHDTPqac
