Prologue298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpkCWH9OCI
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0n3EDl10b
Hating what was happening to them and before them.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOt1yhvFoIm
The light was so bright, so hot.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJKdhfwD8z
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDHvoydSYS
Slowly realization hit her, screams?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9uy8JPoqs
no, just one. One scream, Hers 298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzOcBQIDJe
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2r21E53H31
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyKxnDyDxh
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi31X11aGxW
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQk03VSTqld
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVECgsnKLYT
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSnd3zg8yW
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kklMkLJ55
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZmJjuSix5
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSLSa2Vwo1
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoY8FQFMBzm
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFv2PWhUz5U
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSeRkfWWVO
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsRqxD3W8N
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAL54NR5s0
And she needed it more and more every day.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtZR62p4Vc
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?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5RpzA23FR
Hell no!298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0dhHNE8BY
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3euDoor1eP
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyKn4AzN6x
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1riPpvMUct
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCeqkKx8Q8
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Wp0rY99Jm
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7dGVOi4xe
So why would she bother trying to explain?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz64PPR5Sr6
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZzPi63wtg
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQiWNBoMuz
Everything!298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyh29eq42j
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNn1kdr9hsP
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqymguqMwyw
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgTthRq1cj
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgSFMSenrr
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3P00ijEZn
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNh5Ewu4WH
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyNKomx31g
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEeRQ4oZom
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTNtthKDMo
He was a douche-bag after all.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DWooRYo0t
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThZqWIyXmo
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡir6t31D1rg
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfqx4woN8WF
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAl0IqjdFnY
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7UPo74YK9
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwB3CGQRxpT
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHYDRA2mNk
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyt5Y9Rl9Vc
