Prologue237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwG9F0fBEj
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UIkVtmA47
Hating what was happening to them and before them.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNqx2E9yIC
The light was so bright, so hot.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1riqaHzy8
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbW7VpbVzhD
Slowly realization hit her, screams?237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSph8gECwaI
no, just one. One scream, Hers 237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGO76UvtlQ
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlZMIVI2xU
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmRvD9zb8q
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39Utnd6zbc
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMa8atKhTI
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKy5kEa6NQ
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKX5PjqaLJ
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSWQTUbrGf
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HozAk4UI7
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bbMSmOxRE
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6HefzrFFL
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVMZ4Tl3Ss
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfrmEUv4qn
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQBJWnpyo1
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wRpck5WmR
And she needed it more and more every day.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdWDP6HfZE
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?237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw26T76Wxmn
Hell no!237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBoXseFMEp
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wPWtFlFc4
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qWupz28vq
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXY0C01j6dT
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtygxN23Zvt
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5Jf4QWBV0
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3nD1OXtkW
So why would she bother trying to explain?237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHeLHLmHFs
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1zMfC32sB
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzUyaf9ybE
Everything!237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPS0PHpR1xF
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUrWqWe0K0
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNYN8bWXU9
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhD6GQ0YgAN
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRINXqbKlXH
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa89xy2pl0V
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtADWYWY3xj
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLG0VyeV1ts
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBQIrlVHju
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazkpEvh4hu
He was a douche-bag after all.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglHCOWom88
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yG9pBq0Pw
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77UpKFhsi3
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZysc2RizU
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3rHcCoubo
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3wtrJDsIu
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7gvF38nE7
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHDmRIX055
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.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YbcGh6I96
