I’m Sorry, I’m Broken, chapter 3,
Vinyl was a mess of grunts and groans as she returned to the waking world, a white hand wondered around the floor until the mares head slipped off the part of her arm that had served as her pillow for the night. As her forehead greeted the ground, she felt her glasses over her eyes and instantly relaxed becoming a limp lump on the floor. "Got to get to class," Vinyl thought as her eyes finally opened. She saw the orange pill bottle for only a moment before her sensitive eyes were shut at the sight of daylight pouring through the window. By some strange reflex, she took the bottle in her hand before deciding that it was time to get up.
Vinyl swung her head and tightened her stomach, pulling herself to sit up without the use of her arms. Seconds after she fell to one side, knocking her head on a dresser with a prominent thud. The dresser rocked for a moment as an unknown object could be heard falling to the ground, but the mare simply sat there, uncaring. Another moment passed and Vinyl curled her legs in and shrugged forward until she was leaning over her folded legs, and with more effort then the mare would have liked to use, she rolled onto her feet and stood up. She swayed side to side, her eyes barely ready to open as she reluctantly made her way to the living room. Vinyl greeted the door the same as the floor, with another firm thud just before her hand found the nob. She made it a few steps out of the room before grazing the wall and falling to the floor, her mind finally waking up with her, and beginning to think of the day ahead.
"I got to get to class soon," Was her first thought, "No wait, classes were over yesterday. Well, I still wanna eat, I'll head to the cafe." Vinyl's fully adjusted eyes opened to look at the ceiling, her thoughts becoming mischievous. "But First I got to do something in Octavia's room, maybe a..." All at once, the events that transpired yesterday came flooding back to her, remembering in detail the sight of Octavia falling to the ground. Vinyl didn't have to look to know that the broken cello was just a foot away from her, still sitting broken on the floor where it had been left. "Why...." Was all she could ask herself as her mind drifted back.
"Can't believe I didn't think of this sooner," Vinyl thought to herself as she rummaged through her dresser, "Where is that stupid,... there you are!" The white mare pulled out a small rolled up tool-kit and ran to the room opposite of hers, "This will teach that grey bitch not to lock me out." It had been a full month since her roommate had snuck a new lock on her door, keeping Vinyl from attempting any of her usual pranks that the grey mare would normally wake up to. Vinyl unrolled the kit and revealed a series of small picks, taking hold of two, she slid them into the lock and got to work. "This use to be a lot easier," She complained to herself just as she heard the lock click and unlatch.
The room was clean, cluttered only by a few stray clothes and a desk covered in papers and other supplies. "Now let's see..." Vinyl looked around and thought of what she could do to mess with her roommate. Many of her old tricks came to mind, a bucket of water, dresser sling shot, itching powder in her sheets, all had been done and would not be satisfying enough. Her eyes fell on the closet that hung half open, a large glass case sitting just inside. The glass case contained the one thing the crazy mare had never even thought to lay a hand on, a custom cello. "Weird, she normally has this with her no matter where she go's," The thought of breaking the instrument popped into vinyl's head and made her cringe, "Wow brain, I'm trying to prove a point, not kill her college life, no instrument means she can't pass her classes. However..." The mischievous mare pulled out another lock pick as she eyed the small lock on the glass case, a devilish grin crept across her face. "I bet just having it will do the job, no need to even scratch it."
Vinyl rolled over, away from the one thing in the room that reminded her of her guilt, how she had gone too far before she even realised it, and pushed a mare to a point she herself could have never imagined. She hugged herself as the image of Octavia's near death fall played over and over again in her head. The look in her eyes as she fell from the window, void of any fear or regret, it was the saddest sight Vinyl had ever seen. Suddenly, Vinyl could feel a pair of eyes watching her, standing over the broken cello. She froze as she heard a snicker in the back of her mind. Then she felt anther presence, three, four, five, until the living room could have easily been filled with ponies. The sound of laughter filled her mind causing a piercing headache that threatened to crack her skull in two. Her chest tightened and choked her as the room began close in around her. Then, it all stopped, the sudden sound of her alarm clock broke the silence like a wrecking ball hitting a china shop. The sudden shock of the noise had made Vinyl jump to her feet and face her room. She dropped the pill bottle that was still clutched in her hand, and noticed that the room was empty, no one was there, she was alone. Unexplainable anger welled up inside the unicorn as she looked for something to throw at the offending device, finding nothing, she settled for punching the door frame.
Vinyl Walked into the cafe looking exactly how she felt, a depressed mess that lacked a dark cloud looming over her head. Her head hung low as she stared at the ground, her hands tucked away in her pockets where her thumbs flicked off each finger for no other reason than to feel the scratch of her nail. Vinyl wanted to go back home, spend the rest of the day, maybe even her life as nothing more than a lump on the floor. Each step she took only increased her desire to turn around and leave, but the knot in her stomach reminded her why she didn't, she was hungry.
Whispers filled the air as she trudged to the front counter, whispers about her, about Octavia. Some accused Vinyl of pushing the gray mare out the window. Had Vinyl been in higher spirits, she might have jumped the ponies in question. Others thought it was an accident, that Octavia was careless and Vinyl saved her life. One group sounded sure it was a suicide attempt, "Yeah, because of me," Vinyl thought. Out of nowhere, the white mare felt a firm bump of another ponies elbow strike her side, pushing her over forcing her to catch herself on the edge of a table. "The fucks your problem!?" Vinyl shouted, looking up to see the assailant. It was a white, skinny stallion dressed in black and a crimson red tie, he put on his best scowl, trying to look tough, in spite of the fact that he was short and his hands were clearly shaking, struggling to keep hold of his tray of food. Vinyl fumed and took a step forward, but stopped before taking another when she recognized his clothes, the stallion was dressed in the all black uniform that only music majors wore. Suddenly, Vinyls anger vanished, replaced again with remorse coupled with a feeling of sympathy. She gave the stallion a light shove to the shoulder, barely enough to force a step back, then returned her hands to her jacket pockets, and walked away. She could hear the musician gasp, having not noticed that he was holding his breath while he was being stared down by what most musical students know as "The Ivry Menace". Had this happened only two days ago, the poor stallion would be lucky to leave with all his teeth, but today, Vinyl looked like an empty shell, a ghost, just drifting through the cafe, and she knew it.
"Large strawberry smooth," Vinyl said, low-toned to the mare behind the counter. Nodding her head in response the mare got to work, whipping up the order within minutes and handing it to her customer, being sure to add a generous helping of whip cream on top. Vinyl pulled out a few bits from her pocket and began to hand them to the mare, who gently pushed her hand back. "Huh?"
"You can keep that sweetie," The mare said with a smile, her eyes lidded giving Vinyl a look she had never seen before. The white mare cocked her head in confusion, "it's on the house," the counter mare clarified. "I heard what happen and well... You look like you could use a pick-me-up, so..." she added, gently pushing Vinyl's hand full of bits further away.
The Vinyl understood, that look in the mare's eyes, it was pity, this mare was pitying her, and it pissed her off. she gripped the coins in her hand hard enough to hear them scraping against one another. She gritted her teeth as she emitted a low growl, directed at the mare behind the counter. The poor mare could feel Vinyl's death glare hidden behind the white mares glasses, and took a step back, smiling wider and raising her hands defensively. The white mare raised her hand, making the counter mare flinch in fear just before Vinyl's hand slammed the hand full of bits onto the counter. "I'm not some charity case!" Vinyl shouted before taking her breakfast in hand, "Keep the fucking change!" Vinyl stormed off, ignoring the stares of the ponies who heard her outburst. It was only after she had rushed out the door, that the mare at the counter relaxed, falling to her knees.
Vinyl wanted to go home, it was all she could think of, but even with her meal in hand, she just kept walking, further and further away from the university. Her mind was blank, void of thought, the only thing telling her that she was even awake and not walking through a dream was the ice cold fruit beverage in her hand. She sipped the sweet treat as she walked aimlessly through Tall Tail City, had she cared enough to watch where she was going, she would have noticed that she was walking in one circle after another, often passing the same street sign a few times before making a new turn. Hours passed, it was mid afternoon when Vinyl got her smoothie, but by the time she realized she had finished it long ago, the sun was already starting to set over the horizon. "Did I really just walk around town all day?" The white unicorn asked herself, her aching feet responding to the question with a few pulses of slight pain.
Vinyl spotted a trash can and moved toward it to throw away her cup which was long empty and bone dry. She looks around, trying to get her bearings and figure out which way was home, but she froze as her eyes fell on a large sign the bore a red cross. "W-what?" Vinyl studdered out loud to herself as she realized where she was. The entrance to Tall Tail Hospital was only a few feet to her left, opening and closing as she stood just close enough to set off the motion sensor doors. "I- I wonder if she's OK,... The doctor said she was but... could something else had happened?" she asked herself. "No, I shouldn't be here," Vinyl added snapping at herself as she remembered the weight of Bon-bon's fist on her cheek. "I should just go home and-"
"Oh, you're back!" Said a cheerful mare sitting behind the front desk of te hospital lobby, "Did you forget what room you're friend is in?" Vinyl's head snapped up having been pulled out of the trance she didn't know she was in. Somewhere between throwing away her cup and remembering getting punched by Bon-bon, she had walked into the hospital and up to the front desk. "Miss?" the nurse ask, "do you remember your friend's room number?"
"N-no," Vinyl stuttered, forcing the words out like a confused foal that didn't know if she was in trouble or not.
"Third floor at the end of the hall on the left, room three oh one," The mare said, gesturing her hand to the hall with a smile.
"T... thank you," Vinyl said, again forcing the words
"Happy to help," the nurse said, "it's good to see that someone has so many friends that come to visit her."
To be continued