Chapter 29: Dead Stop

Sam’s brain shut down as pain shot through her body.

No. No, no, no. Not again! NO! Those were the only thoughts she managed to squeeze through the throbbing in her shoulder, she didn’t even have the strength to sit up.

“Sam!” Carly ran over to her, along with some of the others. Mary was white with fear as she saw her roommate’s crumpled figure in the grass.

“Move!” Cain said, crouching down next to Sam. He reached over to help her up and she swung her sword, catching him in the face.

“Get away! Don’t touch me!” She shouted, dropping her weapon and caressing her shoulder. This ache, it was awful, as bad as she remembered…

To everyone’s shock, she burst into tears.

“C-Carly, call campus safety,” Mike said.

“Is Sam okay?!” Mary wailed. “What happened!?”

A few people had seen her fall, but they didn’t know much more than that. Campus safety arrived a few minutes later to take a look at Sam, and escorted her to the wellness center. Mary and Carly went with them.

…

One of the benefits of a private university was the fact they had a fully staffed medical department, even at 8:00 on a Friday night. Even better, there was no one else there, so Sam got treatment immediately.

Sam was practically catatonic as the doctor examined her. She sat on the examining bed with her shirt off as he tested her body’s responses, too busy running through worst-case scenarios in her head to pay him any mind. She already knew what the problem was.

It’s all my fault. I should have known. I pushed myself too hard again. …No, that’s not it. I already knew that it was a risk, and I ignored it. I knew my body couldn’t handle something like Boffer Club.

“Well, you’ve got a slight sprain on your ankle, but nothing that staying off it for a few days won’t fix. It’s not even that swollen. Good thing you put ice on it so quickly,” the doctor said as he finished wrapping up her foot.

Sam had a vague memory of Cain giving her an ice pack for her foot and another one for her shoulder while waiting for the safety officers. She supposed she should thank him for that at some point.

“Now, as for your shoulder-“

“It’s a torn rotator cuff, isn’t it?” She cut him off. “You don’t need to say it. I can feel it myself. I pushed myself too hard thinking I’d recovered, and this is what happens.”

The doctor was taken aback. He stared at her for a few moments.

“…No, your rotator cuff is fine.”

She snapped her eyes up to his face. “What?! No, that’s wrong. What kind of doctor are you?!”

“I don’t know what to tell you Samantha-“

“It’s Sam.”

“…Okay, well, I don’t know what to tell you, Sam, but the muscles in your shoulder look perfectly fine to me. The only thing you’ve got there is a mighty big bruise starting to form from your fall, see?”

He held up two mirrors so Sam could look at the dark marking start to spread on the back of her shoulder. She winced.

“No, no, that’s wrong! It’s a tear, I can feel it!”

After a moment, the doctor gave a resigned shrug and nodded. “Well, if you’re concerned, we can schedule to have an x-ray done.”

“Yes. Do it. It feels like a really big tear.”

“And in the meantime, let’s do a few tests, just to double-check, alright?”

“Fine, whatever,” she sighed. She remembered the painful tests vividly.

“Please raise your right arm over your head, like this,” the doctor said, lifting his arm all the way over his head. Sam mimicked it, surprised that she could.

“Okay, that’s a good sign, you can still move your arm properly. Now, did that hurt?”

“Yes, of course it hurts, my whole shoulder hurts!”

“Well, yes, I’m sure, you did just fall on it after all. But did you feel the pain get more intense at any point?”

Now that he mentioned it, no, she hadn’t. She shook her head.

“Well that’s good. Now, I’ll go through a few more tests, and you can tell me how they feel, alright?”

Sam went through a few more tests with the doctor. And her shoulder still hurt, but to her relief, the pain never got any worse.

At the end of it, she went in for an x-ray. The doctor tried to convince her that she didn’t need an x-ray, the tests were proof that her muscles weren’t damaged. But she insisted anyway. She could feel it, her shoulder was wrecked again.

After that, the doctor told her that he’d send her the results “tomorrow” because her condition “wasn’t an emergency”. He seemed to be more concerned about her ankle than her shoulder, which was ridiculous. The school had her medical records on file, they knew as well as she did how bad her situation was.

Carly and Mary were waiting for her outside when she was finally freed.

“…Sam!” Mary wailed, running to hug her, but Carly pulled her back.

“Girl, she’s injured, don’t tackle her.” Carly glanced down at the crutch Sam was using. “…That bad, huh?”

“I just have to stay off it a few days,” she muttered.

“Hey, at least your shoulder’s fine!” Carly chirped, trying to lighten the mood. “The way it sounded, I was afraid you’d be coming out in a sling or something!”

“I asked for one. He said I didn’t need it. Fucking hack,” she spat. “He should get his license revoked.”

“Your… your shoulder’s that bad?” Mary whimpered.

“Of fucking course it is! It hurts like crazy! And it especially fucking hurts when I do this!” Sam reached over her shoulder and pressed against the bruise, a familiar stab of pain shooting through her arm.

Carly winced. “Uh… maybe don’t do that, then?”

Sam just glared at her.

“…Hey, so, uh… sorry that you got hurt,” Carly apologized, chasing after her as she limped back to the dorms. “Mike and the others packed up already, but we’ve still got your sword. If you want I can bring it over tomorrow-“

“I don’t care.” Sam cut her off there, leaving Carly speechless for once.

“S-Sorry,” Mary apologized. “I’ll try and talk to her… she’s just in a bad mood…”

Mary trotted after her roommate and Carly just watched them go, feeling miserable herself. So much for a fun Halloween celebration.

…

To Sam’s relief, her shoulder stopped hurting the next morning. It still hurt when she touched the bruise of course, and her ankle was still a little sore, but other than that she felt fine.

You couldn’t tell it by looking at her, though. She had a grim expression on her face, and spent the entire day curled up in bed, not even leaving the room for food.

By dinner, Mary was starting to get worried.

“H-Hey, Sam, Daniel and I were going to stop over at the cafeteria to get dinner, do you want me to bring you back some-“

“Leave me alone!” Sam threw off her blanket and gave Mary a glare so fierce the other girl nearly fell over.

“I-I’m sorry,” she whimpered out. “I just… sorry!”

Sam was pretty intimidating even on a good day, but right now she was just terrifying. Mary was grateful she had her date with her boyfriend to take her out of the room for a few hours, because at this point she didn’t feel safe around the other girl.

Mary still felt miserable. When she'd gotten injured that first night playing boffer, Sam had done everything for her. And now that the time had come to repay the favor, it was like her roommate wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

Over the next few days, things only got worse. Sam was still barely eating, and when she DID get food, she didn’t go out. Everything was ordered in, even after her ankle healed and she didn’t need her crutches anymore. She wasn’t working out anymore, not even going on her morning jogs, which made Mary wonder if she was still hurting. She didn’t have the courage to ask, though.

In fact, the only thing Sam really did at this point was go to class and study. She ran through her textbooks like a woman possessed, and when she was done with that it was right back to curling up in bed. Mary thought she heard her crying a few times, but again, she was too afraid to ask in case Sam snapped at her like last time.

It was the hygiene that really started to be a problem. She hadn’t changed her clothes or showered all week, and her blonde hair was a mess of tangles. Her skin had lost its luster and she had bags under her eyes; by the time Friday came around again it was like Mary was looking at a different person; there was no sign of the beautiful girl she’d been so envious of when they first met.

Now then. It was time to summon up her courage. This was going to be hard to ask, but she really needed to. She clutched her spear tightly and hoped it would give her strength.

“Um… Sam… it’s Friday night, you know?”

“Yeah, so what?” Her roommate’s glare dropped the temperature of the room a couple dozen degrees.

“S-So… Boffer Club?” Mary offered pathetically.

“No thanks,” Sam growled. “I’m not going.”

“…O-Oh,” Mary choked out, her throat going dry. “Y-Yeah, I guess… I guess it’s a little too soon after you just got injured, so… next week? Maybe?” She asked hopefully.

Sam got out of bed, staring down at Mary with barely-contained fury. But beneath that, Mary could see the pain in her eyes.

“I’m not going,” she hissed out. “I’m done with that stupid fucking club. I’m not going back again, so just leave me alone already!”

Mary gulped and let out a choked whimper. She quickly fled the room, her tears causing her vision to blur.