Prologue240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUssRi7O37
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLKZ1J6OCi
Hating what was happening to them and before them.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWmBFHqAzX
The light was so bright, so hot.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CP2JtA0ov
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBKBUeCoXa
Slowly realization hit her, screams?240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KLYxsXviu
no, just one. One scream, Hers 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5QGdllpCd
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAOL8Tj8qj
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnHl24QSXu
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7IzXJVi43
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHSiR4Y3Nw
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpp80lUV0Ro
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GQCNr10am
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKibnsx3Ck
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSY63U3kTRs
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ti4WwduRQ
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpz9LC1eL4I
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifNTkglQdl
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpVw5wwx9Y
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeGiZfMrtB
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNP5eiEKjNr
And she needed it more and more every day.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxprvULoFt
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?240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOcBlgJR0M
Hell no!240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEM7iEusYA
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95QLZiICig
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSODZtBTwFc
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSINFRInHM
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGbuPg5FqS
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpnLtgkPX0
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXym9EVV1m1
So why would she bother trying to explain?240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlXSY0PDKA
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MpZ3uieDg
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96mVJZV0ug
Everything!240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8YBCzL5nq
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After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhKygiY6wK
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9g4tyjsXlL
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUI4n25RCIQ
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBq1SqJ6Yg
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTi6g8E5Ze
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4hrdnzBtL
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEd4v5HpRJb
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweqGcqXBUA
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrr03jM7fum
He was a douche-bag after all.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6SXQDnxBr
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgb1VyqZabJ
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4k7bfaYbj
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVZ8qmu6kb
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePACvS5X8V
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMNdz7CuSS
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rApeWDdsh
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3a4c5uR56r
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.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9vk2Whjbp
