Prologue252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjvFR29G52
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVcpgLjCVq
Hating what was happening to them and before them.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgL7nsRbLOd
The light was so bright, so hot.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVV7IyjWPsU
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqezA1rXVo
Slowly realization hit her, screams?252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uPXUkxoWG
no, just one. One scream, Hers 252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeFZvIvXMa
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfkF6o1orf
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpt2T0guM1u
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJyb32w2O3
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxx6OLB2bM
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpR45UsETOv
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48pjlB0flf
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67UtlfuRNF
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxhA35wcN2
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWABLxhxbo
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxmZ9NyvQi
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbcCS1ar3n
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujejzqWrIl
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcS52A6Shk
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHggQDrjZI
And she needed it more and more every day.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk99R69v9OX
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?252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvM2jRHaGZn
Hell no!252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zEdSdbCSt
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9350A4patR
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnl5TjccFC7
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7ggJMBb2r
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrNqgdoJMG
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5gIjDDJdE
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkxC89Nhwb
So why would she bother trying to explain?252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlN70OdOJM
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMwX5eV5N6
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeSVCbi2wv
Everything!252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPMcHRElJp
252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpx8qjAE1Q
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDUO5MGutK
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgskvGakXU
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUj7YmzBjPe
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOhsuQhMMO
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTr9yxjbrLQ
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkcMcWfoqV
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TAcsUQ9ow
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqigjrlYRUz
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcn9o8sKDM
He was a douche-bag after all.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43gcqs8zpK
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAGBi3GaMi
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWRj2NqFvu
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOraRQ6k2Lm
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoQQ31neCr
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFgx2Cvr8t
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLePf93i3dg
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1o0RhCHjU
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.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKbwPQ5Q1M
