Prologue218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMfLixxHBO
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55ZnaCaOYg
Hating what was happening to them and before them.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nYPuIGivi
The light was so bright, so hot.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZnxNonm5L
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLWoUPQkYi
Slowly realization hit her, screams?218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWo5wzWLFE
no, just one. One scream, Hers 218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYQM8sj8wi
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQC4M3Tx2tt
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsXRIphbFQ
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pHj2Lnzsy
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsH17xKR6aM
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlp4OtRkXl
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidfaJOYvQB
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE23kWIpCPz
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0tN4Ur0s5
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32ZNpaaqQO
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQGtSeTIbF
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbbsM5VEBQ
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtVsFJRBXv
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8mpPkzzm2
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcDKMdwsVO
And she needed it more and more every day.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9rzhFyWq9
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?218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcioVxhsBO1
Hell no!218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktHyWxyeB9
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYv3IKKloQ
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZPyuJlJNO
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnvcDwTUs8
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbRARNhBub
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoL59K7WScr
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPW9QRIPK8
So why would she bother trying to explain?218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwegqdPoKqs
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpiAS8T4GA
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMUyCnw9ng
Everything!218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNoFcQQfb9
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BY2hQ45fF
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbaV3n22U3E
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDjhEs9s6S
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB95geXfO36
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC68fhENiiO
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zZPZ0MiGl
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzbikxdGrR
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbac61S5GKC
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1pbEkP3gZ
He was a douche-bag after all.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyXHdOMuAM
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYhVvQeUOw
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtW0isvpDDL
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpjZnGkCNq
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp96xtkfSi9
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtE5mOjo7j
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdlYMsYnU2
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwAXtSmVM2
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.218Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRruV1o51g
