Prologue303Please respect copyright.PENANACLIBhSwuU4
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.303Please respect copyright.PENANAqHxQDla9JR
Hating what was happening to them and before them.303Please respect copyright.PENANAntwsYOyVwp
The light was so bright, so hot.303Please respect copyright.PENANAp2HvV4lthW
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.303Please respect copyright.PENANAvCtohWACoZ
Slowly realization hit her, screams?303Please respect copyright.PENANAQJWB829T2x
no, just one. One scream, Hers 303Please respect copyright.PENANA98hXjjfr5k
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.303Please respect copyright.PENANAPIMtlV9Y40
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.303Please respect copyright.PENANAXohqLaKbTf
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.303Please respect copyright.PENANAJFUgDfuXlY
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.303Please respect copyright.PENANAmJta7q0N5a
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.303Please respect copyright.PENANAFWIcA9af68
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.303Please respect copyright.PENANASoFvqKtUgb
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!303Please respect copyright.PENANAf3aogfS41e
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.303Please respect copyright.PENANA42x5oLGipe
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.303Please respect copyright.PENANADqauEqhRdI
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.303Please respect copyright.PENANAJlNTtnySqg
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.303Please respect copyright.PENANA65cA4vB0M4
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.303Please respect copyright.PENANA3Z4ONjDrHk
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAZcm8Pt7mCP
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.303Please respect copyright.PENANAiydGVhsbG3
And she needed it more and more every day.303Please respect copyright.PENANA6oOxJM6s7L
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?303Please respect copyright.PENANAcMJDuiRB16
Hell no!303Please respect copyright.PENANAb4JRr3Uxj7
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.303Please respect copyright.PENANAuxgL76gaWk
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.303Please respect copyright.PENANASqMJHNHAf9
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANACSGteCJyZ4
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.303Please respect copyright.PENANAByI9faMU27
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANA3ee96kN0bf
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANA7BT0IPmC0Z
So why would she bother trying to explain?303Please respect copyright.PENANAc5RiD1G9SZ
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.303Please respect copyright.PENANAja13PCnDTO
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAp4cVfDgijL
Everything!303Please respect copyright.PENANAFn1a9y05Qk
303Please respect copyright.PENANAL53fHGhv6G
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.303Please respect copyright.PENANACTkmmoNQwg
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANALqOuJM0XkV
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAquTiOSIVur
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.303Please respect copyright.PENANAZ6YF6J4Pob
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.303Please respect copyright.PENANAObojggd9gP
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAGwK7VG238D
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAWPJDj6cIK3
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.303Please respect copyright.PENANAmyA5XyP0pq
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAU5NOQaLIqq
He was a douche-bag after all.303Please respect copyright.PENANAXtdqck2wzH
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANAaAynRAbWS7
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.303Please respect copyright.PENANABv4eD9HglD
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.303Please respect copyright.PENANAaYNPf5Tivs
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.303Please respect copyright.PENANA1imdVwhxxO
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.303Please respect copyright.PENANACAmx14VbaG
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.303Please respect copyright.PENANAOV8sgNhrti
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANA4rA0u0g1zY
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.303Please respect copyright.PENANARiUBk3FAwO