A Simple Promise
Chapter 3
That summer, as Luigi predicated, was one of the better summers they would remember years later. Soccer, beach trips, family outings, so many activates were done the summer went by before they knew it. Soon, Luigi's ninth birthday came and went, and shortly after that, it was back to school time.
Oddly enough, this would also prove to be the most life-changing school year the boys had ever faced.
It all started one morning, the first day of fifth grade for young Luigi, who woke up earlier than usual. Yawning as he realized he wouldn't be able to go back to bed, he got up and headed out the door. Walking past Mario's open door, he could hear his older brother snoring and stifled a small giggle- he'd have to prepare for school himself soon and he knew Mario wasn't big for class.
"Feed me...pasta...mmmm..." Luigi heard his brother mumbling as he turned on his back before more snoring resumed. Luigi shook his head in amusement before heading downstairs to watch the early weekday cartoons. He wasn't supposed to be up until around 7, and it was only 6:17 am, according to the clock in Mario's room.
As he sat down and flipped the TV on, being mindful of the volume since others were still asleep in the house, it occurred to him he hadn't seen his father since last night. Although his big brother tried to shield him from the 'adult' stuff, Luigi had begun to notice something strange with his mom and dad.
In particular, he noticed that his mom and dad were yelling at each other a lot more often than usual, but he didn't think anything of it. As far as he knew, they fought just like Mario and himself did whenever they didn't agree on something, like who had the remote first, or why they had to clean their rooms out that Saturday. But then again, he wasn't sure his parents were supposed to fight like that, so he wasn't sure how to look at that situation.
Luigi sighed and turned the TV off. Suddenly he lost interest in watching anything. He quietly headed back for his room, taking down his sketchbook and pens before sitting down at his desk. He needed something else to take his mind of the worry that was slowly growing within.
The hour passed before he knew it. He finished a sketch he started a few days ago, and started on a new one before checking the time. Checking the clock, it read 7:16am. It was time to get his brother up before he missed his first day of eighth grade... which for a sleeper like him, wouldn't be hard.
'Time to wake him up.' Luigi thought as he put his sketchbook down. He headed back down the hall to his brother's room, and was shocked when he could clearly hear an alarm going off, but his brother still sleeping like a log in the bed.
"Mario. Mario, wake up, it's time for school." Luigi said, gently nudging him. He turned the alarm off and waited a few minutes before he tried shaking him again.
Slightly irritated someone was trying to wake him, Mario waved Luigi away, turning on his side and away from Luigi.
"Come on...five more minutes..." the pre-teen mumbled. Luigi rolled his eyes. Why did he have such a slumbering older brother? Luigi paused for a second before he thought of something he was guaranteed would work...
"Mario, you better wake up or else Mom will do it."
Luigi grinned. Just like clockwork, Mario's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright, yawing loudly and rubbing his eyes before glaring at his laughing younger brother. He looked around. No mom to be seen.
"You just had to say that?" he complained as he threw the comforter of him and getting up.
Luigi shrugged casually. "Well, it's either that or the real Mom. Take your pick."
Mario said nothing but rolled his eyes, climbing out of bed and heading for the bathroom to wash up. After that, they went to make themselves some breakfast, discussing plans for after school, as well as who studied for their math test. Mario wasn't looking forward to his test at all, and Luigi could see that.
"Mario, it's not that bad. It's multiple-choice. Besides, you're older than me! You should be done in no time."
"Yeah, easy for you to say. I hate math!" he complained as he thought about the impeding 'F' that was bound to happen later today. He cringed. "Ugh... maaaaath..."
Luigi chuckled behind a spoonful of cereal, wondering exactly how he'd ended up with such a strange older brother. "Oh jeez... anyways, you up for some soccer later on after school? I think Mom and Dad won't mind."
Mario shrugged, finishing his cereal and leaning his chair back a bit. "Eh, dunno, fratello. After today's exam... you know, I may need to actually do that..."
They kept up the small talk for a bit longer, and were just about to clear the table when they father came in. He looked pretty beat, and the boys assumed that he just got off work. He didn't notice them at first, half asleep from getting home, and poured himself a cup of joe before turning around and seeing his boys.
"Morning, Dad." Luigi said. Mario grinned at the mug his dad held.
"Another long night, huh?" Dad shrugged and took a long swing before he answered. "Yeah... WAY too long... oh man..." Another long swing and their father was left staring into an empty mug. "I need a drink..."
Mario realized he'd been hearing his father say that quite a lot recently... and his mom wouldn't approve of it. Speaking of which...
"Oi. Weege. Go ask Mom for our lunch money, will ya? I still need to get ready for school."
Mario was the only one who noticed the flash of... disgust, or anger, he wasn't sure... flash across his father's face before he suddenly headed for the sink and put the mug inside. "Yeah... go ask her... if she's even awake..." he muttered under his breath. Mario's eyebrow arched. O-kay... that was weird... but maybe his dad and mom weren't too much in the mood for any shenanigans today.
"Weege, hold on a moment." Mario caught his brother as the reached the top of the stairs. Luigi turned to face him. "Yeah bro?"
"I think I'll take you up on that offer for soccer after all. I don't remember if I packed my sweat suit and you need yours. Can you do that for me? I'll talk to Mom for the money."
Confused as to why his brother looked so serious at the mention of his favorite sport, but knowing at the same time when Mario looked like that, something was wrong, Luigi simply nodded and hurried off to do as his brother asked. That didn't mean he didn't wonder what was happening with his mom and his brother.
"I guess... I can ask him when we leave for school..." Luigi told himself. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.
Mario had begun to notice his parents weren't exactly on talking terms as of late. His father's offhand comment proved his suspicions, but his little brother seemed very unaware of what was happening. Or at least, he'd hoped that was the case.
"Hey, Mom?" Mario said as he stepped into the bedroom. He saw his mother sitting on the edge of the bed, her hand in her hands. "M-Mom? You alright?"
Sylvia jumped in surprise; she hadn't heard Mario knock or talk to her. "H-Hey, Mario. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." She rubbed her face and sat a little straighter. "Are you and Weegie ready for school?"
"Yes." Mario decided to pretend his mom didn't look like she'd been crying all night. He wasn't sure what to say to her about Dad's offhand comment, but now was not a good time. "Um, may I have the lunch money for me and Weege? We're walking to school today."
Sylvia looked a bit shocked that Mario actually wanted to walk, but she smiled and shook her head. "Strange boys, you two. But here you go." She handed Mario two ten dollar bills. "Make sure to watch over your brother, alright?"
Mario nodded. "Thanks Mom. Uh, by the way, Dad's downstairs. Just wanted to tell you."
Instantly, Sylvia's face changed. Mario didn't know what it was, but he knew it couldn't be anything good. She looked... mad. Did Dad do something to her?
"Thank you, honey. Now you get your brother and get going before you're late!" She quickly fell back into her old self and ruffled Mario's hair as she walked with him downstairs. Luigi was waiting for his brother, two small duffel bags in hand.
"Oh? Soccer today, boys?" Sylvia asked, giving Luigi a kiss. She glared at Charles but said nothing. The boys didn't talk, either. Something was definitely wrong.
"Yes, after school. That okay?" Mario aimed the question at both parents. Charles grunted and nodded, putting down his coffee mug with a bit more force than actually necessary. Sylvia ignored him and answered, "Yes. But once street lights come on-"
"Be back on the porch! We know Mom!" the two boys said in unison. Mario grabbed Luigi's wrist and tugged him out the door. "Come on, Weegie. We gotta get going."
Luigi stumbled as he tried to keep up with the pulling. "Okay, okay! Bro, you don't have to tug my wrist so hard! Marioooo!" Luigi exclaimed as they left for the day.
Mario was using an awful lot of force to tug his nine year old brother along. Luigi was complaining to him the whole way, but it seemed like Mario was lost in his head.
"MARIO! You're hurting me!" Luigi finally screamed. He tugged against his brother to get him to snap out of it. Mario glared over his shoulder, and pulled harder. "Come on!" Mario shouted, pulling Luigi angrily so they can cross the street.
"Ow! Owowowow...what was that for, Mario?!" Luigi exclaimed as he rubbed his wrists in pain. He looked at his brother, who was fuming as they walked to school.
"Mario? You okay?" Luigi asked, worried about Mario's anger. "Is it about Mo-"
"Luigi, drop it. Just shut up and come on, alright!?" he snapped rather angrily. Luigi froze for a second. Why was Mario getting mad at him?
"..okay." he said quietly. And for the rest of the walk to school, neither spoke. Luigi walked a few steps behind his brother so he wouldn't get him mad again.
Luigi was unaware of what Mario had seen in their mother, but he had been noticing that they were yelling at each other a lot more in the last few months. It was quiet, sometimes throwing angry looks at each other, but Luigi knew their parents were not happy like before. It worried him, and maybe that's why his brother was mad? Because he was seeing it too? But then, why yell at him?
Maybe it was the amount of TV he was watching, but he had something of an idea as to what happens to kids whose parents broke up. And he was only nine, but he wasn't stupid. Something was happening to his family, and it was making him a little nervous. But what could he do? He wasn't even sure as to why they were so mad at each other.
School seemed to lag on longer than usual. Both boys took their test, but neither really focused on it. Mario was still a bit angry at what happened earlier, but he felt guilt for snapping at his brother. Luigi felt worried that his parents would break up and one would move away and they wouldn't be a family anymore, as well as feeling a bit upset for Mario snapping at him for nothing.
When lunchtime came around, Mario spotted Luigi sitting in their usual seat by himself, sadly nibbling away at his pizza. Mario felt terrible. He didn't mean to snap at Luigi like that, and he needed him to know it.
"H-Hey, Weegie...?" Mario stammered as he sat down. Luigi looked sideways at him.
"Hmm?" Luigi answered, mouth half-full of food.
Mario actually found his brother's stuffed cheeks a bit funny, and he chuckled lightly before he remembered what he was supposed to be saying. "About earlier...sorry I snapped on you. I was..."
"Upset?" his little brother said with a smile as he finally swallowed his food. Mario nodded sheepishly. "It's okay, bro. I forgive you. But... Mom and Dad? Why are they fighting so much?" Luigi wondered. He put his slice of pizza down, and Mario could see he was growing worried.
"I don't like it when they fight. It...it scares me. They don't love each other any more, Mario?" Worried blue eyes met his firm ones. Mario, sure in what he was saying, dismissed his comment with a wave of his hand.
"They still do. It's probably something they got mad about, but they'll make up, like us. We fight, but we don't hate each other, right?"
Luigi smiled again. "Right!" Mario smiled at his little brother, and they resumed eating lunch and talking about their math test.
The bell rung, signaling the end of lunch, and Mario got up, throwing away his tray and clapping Luigi on his back. "Come on, let's head to class before we get in trouble!" Mario shrugged. He wasn't really looking forward to his next class but Luigi had a point. "Yeah. Let's go."
As Luigi and Mario walked out, Luigi looked once more at his brother. "You okay now, Mario?"
"Yeah, Weegie. Now get to class." Mario gave his brother a light shove towards the stairs. "Soccer later, alright?"
"Okay!"
The rest of the day went without anymore thoughts on their parents. At the end of the school day, they played some soccer at the nearby park, and then went home. That's when trouble began.
The first thing both boys noticed was that the spare key their parents kept in case of emergency wasn't under the mat like usual. Mario had brought his key with him, but still found that a bit strange.
Upon entering, Mario heard something like muffled shouts coming from the kitchen. Not paying too much mind to it, he took the duffel bags from his little brother. "Weegie, I'll be back. Go get us a snack, alright?"
He left Luigi to put away his gear, trying not to get nosy and see who was yelling. He knew it had to be his parents, and if it was, he wanted nothing to do with it. He refused to believe that his parents were breaking up. It was just an argument, people argued all the time. They would be okay, he just knew it.
He wished he had told Luigi the same thing.
Luigi, also hearing the yelling, tiptoed toward the kitchen, and overheard things no nine-year old should have heard from his parents.
"Why the fuck did you think it was okay to go snooping around in my shit? Yes, I've had an affair! Is that what you wanted to hear!" his father yelled.
Luigi, being the sensitive little boy he was, barely manages restraining himself as his mother replied back.
"What about the boys, huh, you sorry piece of crap!?" Sylvia sounded strange to Luigi. Was she crying? And why was she yelling?
"What are you going to tell them, hmm!? You cheated on me with a whore! A whore!"
Luigi stumbled back as his mother and father went at it, then turned and bolted for his room. Collapsing on his bed, he buried his face in his pillow, keeping his screams muffled as much as possible.
He had never heard either of them using such powerful language. Never. And it made him sick.
Mario, who had made a pit stop to the bathroom, was just coming out, laughing at a joke he told himself, when he caught Luigi in his room. Judging from the curled-up ball on the bed, he knew something was wrong.
"Weege? Everything alright?"
Luigi was still laying on his bed, his tears soaking his pillow. Mario walked in and closed the door. Then he went and sat next to his nine year old brother, laying a small hand on his trembling a shoulder.
"Weegie? What's wrong, Weege?" Mario asked, keeping his voice low.
Luigi sat up, his eyes red and puffy from crying. " You were wrong, Mario... you were wrong!"
"Woah, woah! What are you talking about?"
Luigi's bottom lip was trembling and he threw himself into his brother. "M-Mom...Mom and Dad were fighting, and they...t-they..." He choked up again, and was unable to finish.
Mario hissed under his breath. He knew it. Damn, why hadn't he told him to keep away? "Fighting? As in hitting?" he asked, trying to play it calm. His heart sunk as his brother shook his head no and held on tighter.
"T-T-They were y-yelling...at each other. C-Cursing a lot, too."
Before Mario could ask anything else, he heard stomping past their room. He held his breath and waited. When he heard nothing, he pried Luigi's arms from his waist. "I'll e back. Stay here."
Mario walked to his brother's door and pressed an ear it, trying to hear anything. For a while, it was quiet. He didn't hear anything.
Then he heard it. A lot more screaming. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but something told him that it wasn't a friendly chat.
Mario stepped out of the room and headed for his parent's room. Just as he neared the destination, his father flew by him, two bags in hand.
"No, I've had it! You don't ever help the boys, and you barely talk to me! And now you want to go running off to start a new life! You're a worthless bag of crap! My father was right... I never should've married you!"
"Well too bad! We both fucked up! I don't care what you do; just leave me alone!"
His mother was standing at the entrance way of their room, angry tears streaming down her face. She was yelling at his father to leave and never come back.
Now seeing what he meant, Mario quietly went back in Luigi's room, closing the door behind him before seating next to him and pulling him to his small frame.
"Mario? Wh-What's going on? Did they make up?"
Mario said nothing, not even hearing the question. He hugged his little brother tighter, and Luigi let out a shaking gasp before looking up at his twin brother. Luigi was right. He had been completely wrong... his father...
"Bro?" he asked super softly.
"Dad's leaving. He's not...not coming home." Mario said quietly, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. But he was unable to.
"No...no. Why? Don't they love each other anymore?"
Mario wasn't sure. Earlier in the day, he had felt so certain things simply it a snag. That it would blow over and they would be back to normal, laughing at Dad's jokes and eating Mom's delicious home cooking..
Now...he didn't know.
"Dad's going away from us, too?" Luigi asked. "Why?"
Mario looked at him. "I don't know. I don't know, but... don't be afraid, okay? I'll never leave you, and you know that."
Luigi smiled a little. "I know, Mario. You're my bro; I know you'll always be with me." he happily said.
Mario chuckled before hoking his pink with his brother's. Luigi hooked back and nodded.
"I promise to never leave your side, fratello." they said in unison.
Both brothers, now feeling a bit better, thought about their mother.
"Hey Weegie. Let's go see Mom."
Luigi nodded. He'd been thinking about her, too. "Yeah."
The boys walked to their Sylvia's room, where they saw the beautiful woman looking lost and disgrutled. Her usually curly, light-brown hair now looked like a lion's mane. Her eyes were lifeless and flat, nothing like thei one brown orbs that sparkled with life.
Luigi took Mario's hand in his, scared of making that first step. It didn't matter; Mario couldn't do it, either.
"Mommy?" Luigi's soft voice called. His mother turned slightly, her mouth barely moving. "Hey, baby."
Luigi walked over to her, reaching up to her baby-like. She smiled, picked him up and hugged him tight. Luigi rested his head on her shoulder. Mario walked over, sat down next to her, and held her hand.
"Mom? What's going on? Where's Dad?" Mario asked, even though he heard the answer already.
Sylvia sighed. "He's gone. He's leaving. And he is not coming back."
Mario's pre-teenage brain-year old brain quickly caught on to the statement. "He doesn't love us, Mom, does he."
She nodded. "Of course. He loves you two will all his heart. But me and him...oh, baby, it's too complicated to explain right now."
Mario looked at her, confused. She knew he was, but she couldn't tell him these things, despite him almost turning thirteen. It was still too fresh, and it would be too hard.
"I'm sorry. I know this isn't easy, but..."
"Mommy."
Both looked at the youngest, who was dozing off, a sleepy smile on his face. "It's okay. It'll be okay."
Mario looked at Luigi with this proud expression, and nodded, looking at his mother, who didn't understand why her son was saying that.
"Baby? Are you okay?"
Luigi nodded, holding his mother closer, snuggling into her. "We'll always be together. No matter... what..." She sat further back, leaning against the pillows. Soon, her gentle voice hummed a lullaby that lulled Luigi to sleep.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
Mario looked at Sylvia sheepishly as he neared the edge of her bed, awkwardly reaching out to her. Sylvia gave her son a hopeless smile, as she knew what he wanted.
Holding out her right arm, she allowed access for Mario to snuggle up to her. He loved his mom. She was always there, always trying to keep the boys safe from harm. "You two are all I have now... so we have to protect each other, alright?"
"Mom?" Mario mumbled. He was staring at her television screen, his cheek pressed close enough to her heart that he could hear it.
"Yes, baby?"
Mario glanced at Luigi and brushed a loose piece of his hair back. He then looked at her and smiled confidently.
"Weegie's right. We're gonna be okay. You'll be okay."
Sylvia was a bit taken back, but nodded and held both her sons closer. "You're right. We will be."
She looked at a photo frame that was sitting on the dresser. It was her marriage picture. The boys weren't born yet, but she looked gorgoeus in her white, her husband in his tux.
Maybe he didn't love her, and she sure as hell didn't want him back. But he gave her the greatest gift in the world- two adorable, strong sons.
"We'll be okay, guys." she whispered to her sons. "I know we will."
"Me too, Mom. I know we will, too."
