Mal Pugh

Part 20

NC courage was playing the Houston Dash. This was Mal, Kelly, and Alex's first game back since the World Cup. It was 83 minutes in and Mal was having an average game. She had gotten 2 assists. One of those assists was from a goal from Alex Morgan. Even after her assist Mal didn't run to Alex's arms like she normally did. All Alex received was a high five and a fake smile. Alex knew the only reason she even bothered was because the camera was on them. NC was up 2-1 and only 7 minutes were left. The ball had just gone out on Houston and NC was taking a corner kick. Kelly, who was playing midfield, took the corner. She sent it directly to Mal who jumped up to head it in. As Mal jumped up, a Houston defender, who also saw the ball coming jumped towards Mal. The front of Mal's face smacked off of the back of the defenders head. As the two hit they fell the ground. Mal fell directly onto her shoulder and side and when she came down her foot rolled underneath her. To make matters worse, the defender landed on top of her. The wind was instantly taken out of her. She laid on the ground in so much pain but was unable to even cry. Kelly and Alex ran directly over to her as she laid on the ground and instantly knew she was injured. Mal had not moved from her position at all since she had landed. Mal had blood dripping down her nose and it was starting to become bruised already. The way Mallory's collar bone was bent at such an odd position, the two figured it was probably broken. At this point, Mallory started gasping for air and was crying very hard. She grabbed onto Alex's hand, who sat next to her, as the medical staff sprinted towards her and began working on her. Kelly sat with Mal's head in her lap. The medical team wiped the blood off of Mal's nose but it kept bleeding. The ended up stuffing cotton inside her nose to plug it. As soon as the trainer touched Mal's shoulder she let out a gasp. As this was happening they pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal a nasty bruise starting to form on her ribs. The medical staff asked Mal if anywhere else hurt and she told them her ankle. They made sure to take note to look at it once they got inside. Because of her collar bone and ribs they didn't want to carry her off the field. To avoid further injury they put her on a stretcher and wheeled her into the building and out of the arena.
15 minutes later the game had ended and NC had won. Kelly and Alex skipped the typical press meetings and greetings with the fans to go straight to Mal. She had been injured about 25 minutes ago and she seemed to still be crying slightly. After talking to the staff, they were told that Mallory sprained her left ankle, broke her right collar bone, cracked 2 ribs on the right side, broke her nose, and had a concussion. They were also informed that Mallory would probably need surgery on her collar bone in 1-2 weeks. Because of this, Mal would most likely be out 2-3 months then she could work her way into it again. At this point, Kelly decided it would be a good idea to give Christen and Tobin information on how Mallory was. She also said they could come see her if they wanted and they agreed.

Alex sat with Mal while Kelly, Tobin, and Christen sat in the players lounge. Mal still didn't know they were here but they didn't want to overwhelm her yet. Mallory's arm had been wrapped and put into a sling and ice was applied. Her nose had finally stopped bleeding but it was now starting to bruise and two black eyes were forming. Because of her concussion she had on sunglasses and was given a puke bag, that Alex held, in case her nausea made her sick. Her foot was wrapped and had ice on it and was elevated on pillows. Lastly, she had her sports bra and jersey cut off so they could look at her ribs without taking the jersey off and further injuring her collar bone. After they had been wrapped and given ice, Alex  helped her put an oversized T-shirt on without moving her arm. Her soccer cleats, shin guards, socks, and shorts were taken off and replaced with comfortable sweat pants. It was now 2 and a half hours later and she was ready to go. She was set in a wheelchair and was wheeled out. Almost out of the building, she spotted Tobin and Christen with Kelly and they were walking towards her. She saw the awful looks of pitty on their faces. All she wanted to do was let Christen hold her and let Mallory cry. But Mallory wouldn't be weak and selfish. She didn't want them to get hurt like everyone else in her life, like Dansby or her parents. She immediately looked away and pretended that they weren't there. They all immediately felt hurt. They thought Mal might give up the act and be glad to see them once they saw her but they were very wrong. They kept walking, with Alex pushing Mal in the wheelchair, until they had reached Kelly's car. Since it was dark, Mallory took off the sunglasses. Her head was pounding. Once they got to the car, Kelly pushed back the front seat and reclined it slightly. Kelly and Alex helped her into the car. When she finally got into the seat she let out a gasp of pain that didn't go unnoticed by anybody. Kelly got into the drivers seat and Alex sat behind Mal. Not a word was said the whole 40 minute ride back and the radio was off due to Mal's concussion. Upon pulling into the driveway, Christen got out of the car and was making her way over to Mal's side of the car. Mal knew she what Christen was trying to do.

"Alex and Kelly, will you guys help me get inside" Mal said thinking fast. This was the most words she had willingly said  together in the last week. Christen immediately stopped in her tracks. After a lot of pain, Kelly and Alex finally got Mal into a standing position. Because of her sling and ribs somebody couldn't stand on her right side. Alex stood on her left side and Mal put her arm around her put most of her weight onto her. Kelly stood behind Mal and helped lift her weight up to get up the few steps into the home. Alex took Mal to her room and Kelly sat down her begs. Mal now sat on the bed. Kelly and Alex walked out of the room and into the living room.

"Christen, go help our girl. You're the only one that can. She needs you" Alex said. The other three women sat on the couch together and waited.