Prologue247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGfhZGlC9X
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHDclu6j0o
Hating what was happening to them and before them.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYEeWh3xrQ
The light was so bright, so hot.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecH6L4jOqH
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9ngyfWVTp
Slowly realization hit her, screams?247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Hx6cIeUSx
no, just one. One scream, Hers 247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtF5QGDCCio
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXPL9Fs7vK
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpKYjRcL8k
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6L6pVaYdNm
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFIzbTsIjt
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaIEeaQAts
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuVJxV8k7M
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrJxTO47dl
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqF7g1KetX
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrNxb5Silr
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPpQyS5To9
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02YVyK8oYs
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DailhTcHx
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4N7X9L9Wz
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8M2O44f6de
And she needed it more and more every day.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrI6YyHA8BI
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?247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAsughGsYA
Hell no!247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxHPvRK3JX
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAw4bDaPT5
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqp15NuWfeT
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSf1Pzx5ISd
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7N6X1juKur
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPZNQuOAh8
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FqoRwpj4i
So why would she bother trying to explain?247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8aeX3pMnt
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYCK2PysL6
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwv84HBEFkg
Everything!247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuomwe4IiO
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8uYPUIG6v
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAloFmzzrF3
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsD5klJHKW
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0G6LMkaxi1
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchIJe0S4CS
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxsWOseYXc
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmWuZstnZS
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIaHbW4MRc
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4SRJI5c0G
He was a douche-bag after all.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7csKPPljB
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07gIZEdlAU
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHj6wSiV5rl
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbhULg3JRr
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrwQJIyFpn
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZP35NVndQ
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMEWNTV2lm
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVuHW3n4XX
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.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyymRS92ll
