Prologue477Please respect copyright.PENANAXLjLSqElSU
Heat burned her eyes, making them tear in defense, in despair.477Please respect copyright.PENANA2R8VhUEoEn
Hating what was happening to them and before them.477Please respect copyright.PENANA4XRPxKMtPk
The light was so bright, so hot.477Please respect copyright.PENANASH2QZWyUz5
Screams reached her ears, so high in volume and ferocity it almost made her eardrums bleed.477Please respect copyright.PENANAdChfkZ0XKa
Slowly realization hit her, screams?477Please respect copyright.PENANAuCFoUvsii5
no, just one. One scream, Hers 477Please respect copyright.PENANAkwserlcODK
In despair, she jolted upright on her bed.477Please respect copyright.PENANAxMxGokWzhz
Her breathing was still shallow and irregular as cold sweat poured down her sun-kissed skin.477Please respect copyright.PENANAzdXXetNnu0
Oh, how she hated going down memory lane. The guilt that rode along with it.477Please respect copyright.PENANAGAvv5s6vI6
Making her stomach twist in all different sorts of knots she didn't know how to untie.477Please respect copyright.PENANAhcadvxil5U
She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself, before slowly standing up.477Please respect copyright.PENANA5ky34Xm5HY
Daring a quick glance at the clock an exhausted sigh escaped her lips.477Please respect copyright.PENANAz3Au0jGrtl
It was 3 o'clock, freaking 3 o'clock in the morning!477Please respect copyright.PENANAm7TgasQ7FC
She sighed again. Well, at least she slept for a whole four hours this time.477Please respect copyright.PENANAvAzLU3Ak2i
In the ten years, since the insomnia started, she became an expert in power naps.477Please respect copyright.PENANAQTCjqCsaTB
She had to, to survive. As soon as her legs could carry her she made her way to the living room.477Please respect copyright.PENANASNeW6beQ8z
As usual, she stayed in a hotel room, the hotel changing weakly sometimes daily when it was necessary.477Please respect copyright.PENANAVRjKk9zfDN
Traveling from country to country to chase the best and hardest competitions to improve her skills on track.477Please respect copyright.PENANAkoi8PFOLig
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAWAx10xBEMt
It was the only place where she was able to find peace of mind, for a little while at least.477Please respect copyright.PENANA4ojjRvlm4Y
And she needed it more and more every day.477Please respect copyright.PENANATWlis1c8Ur
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?477Please respect copyright.PENANACeasHqPXTl
Hell no!477Please respect copyright.PENANAiPz5P8pD4r
Shielding her heart meant she would nothing, nothing! have any meaning to her.477Please respect copyright.PENANApH94bNMW4V
That way it wouldn't hurt as much as you lost it. And after ten years of practice, she mastered the skill.477Please respect copyright.PENANAZmeGBY8kzO
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAJ65nyOIL35
Unresponsive, unsympathetic to anything around her.477Please respect copyright.PENANA7mKuCrrXhx
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAqEDORboLT2
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAE8EjO6993J
So why would she bother trying to explain?477Please respect copyright.PENANA5C8pdzO22u
They didn't care, not really. And they couldn't help her, or ease the pain she was now accustomed to.477Please respect copyright.PENANA9SUfjBd780
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAUNC4Ug6Rqq
Everything!477Please respect copyright.PENANA1xZOcmJCuL
477Please respect copyright.PENANAmPUKZw1r8K
After taking a shower her discomfort from the nightmare finally resided to the back of her mind.477Please respect copyright.PENANAGviL2VVQMG
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANA8s329l3G5b
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAl47tbnbTZ8
Yeah, she was a mental case and many psychiatrists had tried to peek inside her brain, the turmoil of emotions raging inside of her.477Please respect copyright.PENANAKFG5TA1gix
Of course, as the scared little kid she used to be, she resisted every single one of them. Making her time there only worse.477Please respect copyright.PENANApspaIbvk0S
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAk1Esz1L3dB
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANA9umK1twjVH
He gave her the outlet she needed to survive, to cope.477Please respect copyright.PENANAHvvsOdPVJj
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAGDgsBgEEa9
He was a douche-bag after all.477Please respect copyright.PENANAdU9SapcMKw
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANAxKYqaasQXZ
Without thinking twice she left, after kicking him in the groin that is, and never encountered him again.477Please respect copyright.PENANAC5yfafTlY0
Lucas, who was her coach these days, was a totally different person. Calm, loyal to a fault and a devoted family man.477Please respect copyright.PENANApQt2EopxUv
She liked that he didn't hover, as long as she ate three meals a day and performed as expected, that is.477Please respect copyright.PENANA7tLohiKbBL
Recently though he did seem to notice the change within her.477Please respect copyright.PENANAhy07co0Cm4
That he didn't hover obviously didn't mean he would let her suffer in silence.477Please respect copyright.PENANAPm5c05ERw4
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANA4MsHyUEtmy
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.477Please respect copyright.PENANA1vE4eiATw8


