Prologue223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJcQEiPee6
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHfv7XLsK6
Hating what was happening to them and before them.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEq8LtC2Wv
The light was so bright, so hot.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ld6fyFMt3
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iLF3O5qXa
Slowly realization hit her, screams?223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yJdrj1RRU
no, just one. One scream, Hers 223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkyXjldWw1
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMe2UfEaSj
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86eWS90CML
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kzO9zgG7a
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbg2TA67uY
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8Uani3PP0
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1BOMHra2B
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3qDNohyDY
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIZ6SUjaCP
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4gUZRt29V
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4CfjmLaz0
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzBF2LpBb7
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa37I02ZQcq
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYl8pREhJx
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6M9lPc1UZy
And she needed it more and more every day.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjK0pLOSJCv
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?223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡof2TP9Qvmu
Hell no!223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbn7JDGIhSR
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvv2SR5ubw
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVh8CX491R
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIYxK7f2lY
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNX8RBwNIN
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUMCHjSCD2
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Kav9aFo2b
So why would she bother trying to explain?223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7idp6uGekm
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUE7uCy8ciO
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wN0f88uPz
Everything!223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pNEA052qG
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPy1mgdr9TD
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbyNudeWdh
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRBpiM88AB
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwvHGgbiSkv
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRBAzj74pn
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHy9anVD1xi
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWdtntkOPv
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjr8a98fFZn
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ur5TZZ5pQ
He was a douche-bag after all.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWb2S6bj9G4
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOoP7HVSsz
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKi1gd67VuF
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQWCUwUcM7
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlEDVM6k9s
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hM2kA1LDg
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RWTpv80Tu
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SH2mM9MFi
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.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDBXPq6HL7
