World 2-3: Evasion

6:00 AM

Mario woke to the sound of rushing water. At first he stupidly thought he was back on that raft, crashing through the ocean. But that had just been a dream of his... or perhaps a delusion. He slowly rose out of his bed, every inch of his body creaking and groaning like stiff old wooden boards. He realized within a few moments of exhausted stupor that the sound of water was coming from his shower.

"Hey Mario, that you?" Came Luigi's voice from his bathroom. "I got the shower all ready for you. Hurry up and get ready so we can get you in. I got an appointment for you at eight."

This was unusually bossy for Luigi. He almost forgotten he'd given Luigi a spare key out of courtesy. Then again, he supposed Luigi was doing him a favor. Grumbling slightly less than he was usually inclined to he made his way to the shower, grabbing the nearest clothes he had to clean and putting them on the bathroom sink.

The shower water was refreshing, but it caused him to sober up from the brief relaxed state of half-sleep. A plethora of worries came back to him as the hot water cascaded over him: Where were his shrooms? What was going to happen with that last job? Why did he keep blacking out? Nagging concerns to which the answers did not seem closer continued to bombard him until he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, at which point the sleepiness returned, having only been kept briefly at bay by the warm water.

"I told Daisy not to take any calls today. She got a paid day off so she's happy about it," Luigi said.

"You say that like we were expecting a busy day," Mario grunted, pulling on his boots.

"Yeah well either way taking care of you is priority one," Luigi said. "By the way, we need to swing by the office on the way to the doctor's real quick. We need to get your insurance info. I know you always leave it in your office."

Mario nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait to find out exactly how broke I am."

Though this course did give him an opportunity to try and recover what he'd lost. Assuming it was in fact still there. The drive over felt like an eternity. Even though he was constantly dozing off, the back and forth shifting made it actually seem longer than it really was. When they finally arrived, however, Mario was wide awake, and leapt out of Luigi's car with the grace of a much younger man.

He unlocked the front door and they both went inside. Mario knew what he had to do first – his freshly sober mind having the benefit of relatively clear thinking.

"Hey, I need to use the bathroom real quick. Gimme a second," Mario said.

Luigi nodded and just sat down at Daisy's desk, playing with the bomb-shaped desk toy she had. Mario closed the door behind him and turned on the fan to try and mask the sound of him tearing the place apart. He checked the sink, underneath it, in the toilet bowl, in the tank, behind the small radiator in the corner. Nothing. The mushrooms were not here.

Mario flushed the toilet for effect, washed his hands for real to remove the dirt from the places he'd checked and then exited out into the main area. Luigi was tossing the toy into the air and catching it.

"Man, you must have had something nasty for dinner," Luigi smirked. "Grab your stuff so we can get moving, bro."

Mario entered the tiny office and shut the door behind him. There was nothing to block the sound of his shuffling, but he was supposed to be looking for insurance papers anyway. He found them almost immediately because they were always near the top of his desk. But he made a show of searching anyways. In the drawers – nothing. In the pile on his desk – nothing. And nothing on the floor either.

They can't have just magically disappeared, Mario thought, cursing internally as he felt the rising swell of a panic attack. Maybe they were just gone. Maybe Daisy found them, used herself and just took them for herself. All he had to worry about now was getting new ones. He could cut himself an advance on his salary. But with what money? They were on the edge of bankruptcy as it was. And he'd lost a huge paycheck.

That memory infuriated him even more. The one time in ages he'd actually been sober on the job and that was when he fucked everything up. He let out a small sigh and realized for the first time that he might be in over his head. He might actually need some help, beyond just the doctor looking at his brain. Maybe he had a problem. Maybe he could get better.

He opened the door to his office and slunk out holding the insurance papers. He was prepared to tell Luigi the truth.

"Look, bro, I gotta-"

He stopped when he saw the small baggie in Luigi's hands. There was a look of disappointment mixed with the tiniest hint of superiority – the kind his parents used to give him and Luigi all the time whenever they caught the brothers in a lie.

"So, Mario. Were you looking for these?"