Prologue211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqc8Cu79Zqb
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyVrDhNJgN
Hating what was happening to them and before them.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSiwPKLXir
The light was so bright, so hot.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWvETDR6e6
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjZOz0Z21K
Slowly realization hit her, screams?211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmUtOunfMi
no, just one. One scream, Hers 211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0TVcc7pckZ
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLdDVOqFYD
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZfYkHnb1K
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGMPhjQPMs
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRCAxgcG8X
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTs3KmY7zXB
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AQqL1t7VK
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6hCGrg48F
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWO6jr6w7k
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGQ7iOd14V
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZR5W20Id4g
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVDRjqVCqR
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHYDbNBU5F
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWJs1eMMiq
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFwF2MkTRg
And she needed it more and more every day.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMpE4E2JJJ
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?211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGerhsfne3T
Hell no!211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQ9UCEvFAI
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6exE6x0tAY
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2UeS5FZOr
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6Cr4ynhRx
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqp1P4gvLig
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0Hww5SrL9
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0nfg7Y8J5
So why would she bother trying to explain?211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPG5AVmYP8y
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYGj60DO1V
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnSwgZOV96
Everything!211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGDYg1lj3m
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1J0oMqDBZ1
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbS7xDm2ab
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgByZIzqtYn
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbi2MIAJ8f
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iEE9hOGDl
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NacqRvNYd
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9JSOigXjy
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQtgv6YP9S
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgSrRXUAqB
He was a douche-bag after all.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Gg6rpvvzB
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7z9BM9Qr4z
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRZKxDyovW
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlQdAhmU30
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSVEdKe3bb
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjwAoiVOtr
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGho3FfUG5w
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqN8bMT7Ga
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.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDClUYnb59a
