Gwen Strong

By O.K. Nelson

Gwen has a secret - one that keeps her safe but also kept her at arm's length from others.
She was running - a 50-mile road and trail race - something she had done year after year, but this year was different. This year there were men on the trail. Men with guns, who seemed to know exactly who she was and what she was capable of.
A gunshot, likely meant for her rang out in the distance - join these men or run... what to do?
Gwen has to fight the mystery of her past that is crashing in around her and make decisions that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: O.K. Nelson
• Release date: Nov 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215723647

Book preview

Prologue

Her running started in middle school, when she tried out for the Cross Country team. It was a suggestion by her foster mother, as things kept spiraling out of control, getting worse and worse.

Gwen was scared for and of herself, and was almost willing to try anything to be normal – anything to fit in with the other girls in college.

She knew in a way, even at a young age, that there would eventually be consequences for her actions if she didn't get herself under control.

So running was thrown out as an option, and Gwen was reluctant to at first but finally willing to try. She didn't want to fail, and she didn't want any more negative attention. She was tall and gaunt and not athletic — she thought.

The first day out to running practice was grey and cool. The school grounds and kids seemed different on the Saturday they arrived, like the whole place had changed in a way when school wasn't in. The indistinct group of fellow classmates all found their place at the beginning of the course. Gwen was alone, separated almost imperceptibly from the other kids to anyone looking. But to Gwen, she could feel deep in her body the distance they had given her and the lack of anyone she could talk to.

Then it started, the cap blasting a crisp noise as the light-misting rain started and the hammer landed on the small cap gun pistol the coach held up. A wall of movement around Gwen ensued, and she pushed mindlessly on, finding herself alone in almost no time.

The almost two-mile practice course went by quicker than she had anticipated. She was breathing hard as she looked around, alone, and wondered if she made a mistake somehow. But the smiling faces of her foster mom, Meg, and her new coach made her realize she did well. The new blisters on her feet were almost welcome as she noticed an even-more-desired benefit than the smiles. The deep echoing quiet of her mind made her look around like the world was a new place, one that was friendly and calm.

The distant voice of Meg, her foster mom asked her how it went. Gwen just fell into the cathedral of space in her mind—the quiet, the peace—then it all came flooding back, crashing in as other kids started to cross the line and pile up. Along with their voices and chatter, she could finally hear the voice that was once so distant again ask how it went.

Ahh! You're yelling. Fine. It went fine.

Meg shot back a bit startled at Gwen's yelling. Meg has only breathed the question a few times, familiar with Gwen's predicament.

Sorry, sweetie. I am glad it went well. And silence fell as they walked to the rusted station wagon at the far end of the parking lot.

Gwen, we need you. The next practice is Monday after school. See you then? The coach yelled over all the noise.

Gwen just waved, not looking and not making any definitive gesture. But she knew she would be there. She had just stumbled upon something that made her feel the best she had felt for as long as she could remember.

Chapter 1

No one around.

It's been peaceful.

Quiet.

T

he brown sliver of the trail finally came into view. Gwen Strong, tall and thin, wearing a warm, tight, and reflective uniform for the 50 mile race. She had been running all night and still kept pace with her breathing as she made the smooth transition from the asphalt highway to the thin trail she knew so well.

Daylight was just now cutting through the night's darkness, and she could almost taste the fresh evaporating dew as the sun started waking up everything around her. The grass and trees, dark green, were now smelling rich—a stark difference from the cold, crisp, and sterile smell of the depth of night.

It had been a long run already, and it was only half done. This course was not for the faint of heart, but she didn't join these ultramarathons for an easy walk in the park. She was here to push, to win, to forget. The forest canopy grew thicker and denser as she left the relative comfort of the thin sliver of runnable coastal highway beyond the white fog line.

She was now running onto the wildness trail that would lead deep into the coastal forest and eventually to the Pacific Ocean beach. Gwen's stomach bit at her, empty and wanting. She pushed the thoughts of the warm, well-prepared breakfast waiting for her some hours away at the restaurant out of her calm mind as she tried to keep up her pace. She had yet to win a race and wanted that to change.

The rising daylight was now piercing through in places, bright and inviting stabs of light making an erratic pattern on the forest floor where it could. The light seemed to be held back by the thickening conifers overhead the deeper she went into the woods. The path was dry but thin, well-maintained from the looks of it, but it still had enough tree roots pushing through the soil and odd limbs elbowing in on the narrow sides to keep Gwen on her toes, dodging these obstacles like it was second nature. She relished this kind of running, a small mental chess game maneuvering around these obstacles on the path, along with the internal challenge of pushing through wall after wall of fatigue.

The pace of her feet called back to her a reassuring drum-like rhythm she had known to love. The sound of her running again calmed her mind, pushing down, once again, the monstrous thoughts that bit and scratched so close at the surface of her consciousness.

One more day, she told herself, I can get through one more day.

Chapter 2

T

he first person Gwen hurt was long ago, well before she really had any memories. At least that's what all the professionals had told her. That the hurting must have been accidents. Something deep inside, she knew differently though, even back then.

Gwen's long blond hair naturally fell over and in front of her face. Even at a young age, she would fight any haircuts, and she was allowed to look as she pleased. It had been a blessing too. In a way, it hid what no one really wanted to see. Gwen could sense the look on her face, when her hair was pulled back, scared people.

Are you okay? If she had a dime for every time she was asked that, Are you okay? She felt fine, always felt like how she felt like,