Novel & Cerita Broken Blood Vessels On Shoulders After Working Out

Snap something that won’t grow back right. Blood soaked his white vest until it was pink, then red, then black at the edges. I could see little shards of bottle in his shoulder, glass glinting under the rink lights like teeth. He was walking funny, favoring one leg, but his movement on the rink was similar to that of a ferocious beast; wild, unhinged, and very furious. No technique. Just rage with skates.

He reached for a glass of water on the nightstand and helped me sit up. I tried to move my arms, and a sharp, stinging pain shot through my shoulders. It wasn't the bone-deep cold of the shadow, but it felt like my muscles had been pulled too tight. As I reached for the glass, I saw them. The silver marks. In the bright daylight and they looked like they were part of my skin, like a natural pattern. The lines started at the base of my throat and wound down my arms, ending in delicate, swirling points at my wrists.

I stepped up to the glass, leaned my palms against the porcelain sink, and turned my head to look over my shoulder. Deep, red claw marks ran down both sides of my back. Four jagged lines on the left, four on the right, starting high on my shoulder blades and cutting straight down to my ribs where her nails had dug in like she'd been biting back a sound. The scratches were swollen, bright red, and still oozing tiny drops of clear fluid against my tanned skin. A sharp burn shot down my spine when I flexed my shoulders, but instead of making me flinch, my stomach pulled tight.

His expression changed. “Is that true?” “It's not that bad,” I said. The words had barely left my mouth when Ryder moved. He grabbed the front of my jersey and pulled hard. The fabric ripped down the middle. I tried to pull away, but Roland held me steady while Ryder pulled the shoulder pad loose, exposing the joint underneath. Someone nearby sucked in a breath. “Oh my God,” someone whispered. The bruise was worse than I had allowed myself to see in days. Dark purple had spread into black, and the swelling was so bad that my shoulder no longer looked right.

"I’m going for a walk. Just... I need air." He turned and walked out of the barn. During his walk, he came across a small stream and knelt by it. He splashed water on his face, trying to wash away the heat in his skin. He ripped the bandage off his shoulder and looked at the wound. The hole was still open, the size of a quarter. The flesh around it wasn't red or pink like a normal wound. It was gray. That was not the only thing that was unusual about it. There was a web-like vein spreading from the wound all the way to his neck.

I twisted just as the blow came. Pain exploded across my shoulder, sharp and blinding, forcing a gasp from my lungs as my feet skidded across the packed earth. Dust kicked up around me, and the sudden movement drew startled reactions from the few students who had lingered after training. My heart hammered violently in my chest, not just from the impact, but from the realization that this was no accident. I straightened slowly, rolling my shoulder to test it. It burned, but it still moved. Good.

His shoulder protested with a sharp ache, but he tried again, leveraging all his weight against it. Out of nowhere, a sudden snap from above made him look up just in time to see a branch falling. Alaric instinctively dove to the side, but he was not fast enough. The branch clipped his shoulder as it crashed to the ground, sending a burst of pain radiating through his arm. "Ah—!" he hissed, clutching his shoulder as he stumbled to his feet. Blood seeped through the fabric of his shirt and the sleeve was torn from the impact. Alaric ripped the sleeve off entirely, tying it tightly around the wound to staunch the bleeding.

“Couldn’t get enough yesterday? I thought you’d take a break.” “Olivia, hello.” “Don’t hello me, you bitch.” “I’m not training, I’m just here for equipment…” “Let me assist you, you shouldn’t be doing it on your own with your injury…” I felt myself falling backwards, hitting my head on the weapons rack. I felt myself losing consciousness, when a sharp agony went through my shoulder. It penetrated my muscle, and I looked down, seeing if it had gone straight through to my chest, the pain was so intense.

I woke up, doing my morning routine. As I saw myself in the mirror. Dark circles started forming underneath my eyes. I looked exhausted and looked like I was about to kill someone. The second I thought that I decided I needed to blow some steam off. And when I mean blow steam off, I'm going to the gym. After I started my workout, I didn't stop until my hands were bleeding badly and started to bruise. I jumped in the shower that was near the gym and stayed in there for who knows how long. Once I jumped out, I put on new clothes that I'd brought with me. I then grabbed the first aid kit that was stashed away in case of blood and bruises. Which I have.

The breath completely caught in my lungs. I’d seen him on the court plenty of times. I’d seen the flawless, cut muscles that the sports magazines obsessed over. But the candlelight didn't lie, and from this angle, without his jersey hiding it, the reality was devastating. Right across the center of his shoulder blades, cutting through the smooth skin, was a cluster of jagged, uneven lines. They weren't neat surgical incisions. They were rough. Twisted. Some were thick and raised, others faded to a sickening, pale silver.