Note—The reason that I wasn't able to upload Ch.1 sooner is because my wifi has been down for a while, so I finally decided to go to my local library. So, here's chapter one of The Dark Echoes.
Mario woke with a start. Sweat poured on his brow, his breathing apart in gasps. He turned on the light next to his bed and slowly began to walk to the window of his room. Rain ran down the glass surface and thunder roared in the distance. The portly plumber stared into the night for a while and then wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. This was the sixth day in a row that this sensation had occurred: he would always fall asleep and when he did, he had the strangest dream about a lone corridor that he was in. In this corridor, he was running from a large shine of light and heading into the upper darkness of the hall. When he was almost engulfed in the darkness, a voice whispered in his head: "Awaken".
This dream had been flashing in his mind for days now, the outcome never changing. There was even one time when Mario had tried to run towards the light, instead of vice versa. But, the darkness drew him in and, just like before, the dream was over. He had tried to go to sleep, but he could never do such a thing. So he always dressed himself and prepared himself for the remaining day. Mario jumped into his shower and quickly followed suit by dressing himself in his blue overalls, red shirt, and his favorite red hat. He knew that Luigi would either still be at Daisy's house or asleep, but he didn't want to make any loud noises regardless. Mario quietly tiptoed towards the living room and grabbed his tool bag from the floor. He looked at the clock that was on the wall and saw that it was about six o' clock. His appointment started at nine anyway, so he had ample time. Mario began to tiptoe again towards the door and reached to get a poncho from the coat rack. When he did, he came face to face with Luigi, who had been hiding in the darkness of the room.
"WHAAA!" Mario screamed, falling onto the floor in surprise. Luigi slowly extended his hand as to help his older sibling up, but Mario angrily slapped it away.
"W-what do you think you're doin'?" Mario stammered, getting up inch by inch from the floor. He had never realized that it was so hard!
"Me? You were the one sneaking out!" Luigi fired back, trying very hard not to raise his voice. "In fact, I've noticed that you've been sneaking out a lot in the past few days!"
Mario almost apologized for his behavior when his common sense almost slapped him: this was his little brother! If anyone was going to be apologizing, it was going to be him!
"So what if I was sneaking out?" Mario said. "I was going to work anyway!"
"But, you haven't been sneaking off to work before!" Luigi exclaimed. Then, when Mario was about to bring up another point, Luigi stopped him.
"Look, I know that you go to work and that it's not an easy job," Luigi began. "But I don't want you overworking yourself, bro. I've seen the tired look on your face these past days."
Mario frowned. Did he really look like that after his dreams?
"You don't have to worry, Luigi. I'm okay."
This didn't seem to satisfy the younger brother, but before he could say anything, Mario grabbed a poncho and headed out the door.
"Oh and tell Daisy I said hi," Mario joked mischievously as he exited the house.
Luigi sighed and smiled at the closed door. Maybe Mario was okay—he probably just was a bit tired. But something in his heart didn't confirm that. Something told him that, somehow, Mario was in some unseen danger and that Luigi would have to look after him.