Prologue333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xHPQPJUGC
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPboQXu0jr
Hating what was happening to them and before them.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkMGxeUjfl
The light was so bright, so hot.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdu9FMREXD
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUtAMKr0nv
Slowly realization hit her, screams?333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8myM65P5n
no, just one. One scream, Hers 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCzMQZicSw
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1t7A0pL6Ev
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfMNpP3edS
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCR6shJte5L
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWolFMkq4DF
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGwkgOcbtu
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69asdvsLTL
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzCFvCHP4i
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfg3cwFBfVx
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWXwycvg8y
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMckJXfOLG
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgYBUx4s8i
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrJbZzSrsb
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcDxBSKzji
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTR97PqEEMN
And she needed it more and more every day.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHMB3Q1jsz
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?333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMBNzSI3bG
Hell no!333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vikXVFKSo
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQaucY9fwx
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhR3ZPHNft
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHMf0JA8Ci
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDM5L4k5eN
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxvJq09vLu
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6wHQuzXQ7
So why would she bother trying to explain?333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4W4QmAoIy
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPmoXGGflI
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPWJdeUW9o
Everything!333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAth1bjZYE
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeBjckftsY
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoxyYZLLex
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ231o5PoSWg
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡseVhlsQynI
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48OY92JouM
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLBqr9tcXU
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxTkvsEwJR
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRU00b20XBh
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VMjdCuTm8
He was a douche-bag after all.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI95aEa7FOV
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO75RtFu8rD
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQOzGsp8lq
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJN1kRrY6l
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19HzwZkvaR
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmLcoosJcU
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxv9GeNtf6s
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoUwGcC12b
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.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52ysEweZx7
