Prologue307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyz0dSn8K1r
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54usQKpFbV
Hating what was happening to them and before them.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEgPtbNG6Z
The light was so bright, so hot.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQmLqTdhqu
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsaoqINTZO
Slowly realization hit her, screams?307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2E0mCISzfy
no, just one. One scream, Hers 307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57pT4JJ2CT
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMOERPvSN6
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm76fyALCgL
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2dX7yNtf7
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Wzrt42sPi
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk96wB6LrxX
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaTygIlo3j
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgwKNUBJ1R
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLjoNTJ34G
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegvxjYKeOu
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaItsWO8NSK
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlKCpaLcTd
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUc94s9ZA2
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuyYQcpXfh
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxu6xn5jQ7
And she needed it more and more every day.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZeTDPnUgc
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?307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH44joNwRxT
Hell no!307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZMxtH6wpM
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqirwcKDlen
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5j4Vo2AsP
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyR3Q5SJh1H
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1Q8IQGbxn
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjeWx069tq
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzwIQkrThX
So why would she bother trying to explain?307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVWsaro4B8
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnO82Ix7WLh
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwxXB6Cik1
Everything!307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwheIC2aZ9h
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjRTnB6WrC
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYPzcThSGw
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAojfWXlbZc
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQpKrLBadD
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBILit1Okc
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51xw9IoNGf
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMoZJwQfDP
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQW6OWtZU3
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5W5FHNTFO
He was a douche-bag after all.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq28VeEnUER
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYe1PoanL7
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4bW76NRHs
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorPfSeR2td
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3nD3xNo8c
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXB89zAkYo
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIGNJGwfBO
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiye3Vpp6C2
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.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3TJz6oPX3
