Chapter 7

7A - This Didn't Go Well

"You feeling hungry, bro?" Mario asked Luigi, who walked into his pad at around 6:45 PM.

"I'm starving real bad," Luigi replied.

"Please tell me you're not craving pizza or pasta," Mario said.

"I never said I was."

For tonight's dinner, Mario kept his red cap, but wore a blue shirt in addition to red overalls. Luigi's outfit was similar, except his cap and overalls were green.

Back in Dallas, Texas, Rocco set up a 6:56 PM dinner reservation at Pappa Bros. Steakhouse near the Parkland Hospital because he was supposed to stay with Alex for the night. It was only a fifteen-minute wait, so there was no need to walk around town for a while before coming back to eat. One minute before the wait was over, the Mario Bros. arrived at the steakhouse.

"I see you reversed your colors, guys," Rocco remarked after seeing their outfits.

"Yeah. We always wore these outfits in Brooklyn back then," Mario responded.

"That was until a couple years after we saved Princess Peach in '85; we changed up the shirts and overalls so that people would recognize us better," Luigi added in.

"All right, Mr. Peterson. Follow me this way," a female waitress said, beckoning the Mario Bros. and Rocco to walk towards their table near the bottom-right corner of the restaurant.

"What do you plan on getting, Mario?" Rocco asked.

"I'll tell you after I look at the menu," Mario replied.

"I know I'm getting a New York strip," Luigi said. The waitress came back and asked the group what they wanted to drink; Mario and Luigi got some iced water while Rocco got a Sierra Mist.

"I'm thinking about a 16-ounce ribeye..." Mario wondered out loud.

"That's a good choice. Do you like eating off the bone?" Rocco questioned.

"Half the time, yes. But there are times when I don't want to cut my lips while eating."

Five minutes later, another waitress came over to the table and took the group's orders: Mario chose the 16-ounce ribeye with green beans, Luigi chose the 16-ounce New York strip with cheddar mashed potatoes, and Rocco chose the 20-ounce T-bone with a house salad and ranch dressing.

"Why don't we say grace, please?" Rocco asked.

"Go for it," Mario agreed as he, Luigi, and Rocco bowed their heads.

"Dear God, we thank you so much for bringing us together and..." Rocco began his prayer. However, in the midst of it, a musician in the middle of the restaurant started playing one of Beethoven's piano sonatas.

The sound of the piano being played distracted Mario, who began to slowly get agitated. In fact, he harked back to seven years ago when the Mad Piano at Big Boo's Haunt scared the daylights out of him.

SEVEN YEARS AGO

Mario entered through the leftmost door to see what was in that room. All he could see was a grand piano that looked rather old and dusty.

"Hmm... I think this place needs a little music. It's so quiet in here," Mario said. He sat in front of the piano and lifted the lid covering the keys.

"Let's see if I can remember how to play this song..." Mario wondered. He started playing the title theme from "Super Mario World", but after a few bars, Mario heard some growling from underneath and stopped playing.

"What was that?" Mario got off the seat and backed up a few steps.

Suddenly, the piano turned 180 degrees and faced Mario; in the process, the piano knocked the seat over.

"Did it just...?" Mario questioned in a nervous tone of voice. In an instant, the piano opened its cover, revealing a mouth with sharp teeth inside, and chomped its jaws repeatedly. It made loud noises as if someone banged their hands on the keys.

"WWAAAHHH!" Mario cried as he ran for the door he went through. "GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

Luckily, Mario managed to escape before the piano could eat him whole.

PRESENT DAY

"Make it stop... Please..." Mario murmured under his breath. He threw his hands on his head after three more seconds, interrupting Rocco's grace.

"What's wrong, Mario?" Rocco asked.

"Tell him to stop! I don't want the piano on!" Mario yelled. His bad memory of the Mad Piano incident rang in his mind over and over again.

"Mario, lower your voice. People are looking at you," Luigi pointed out, having noticed most of the customers turn towards Mario. By now, Mario felt like his head was gonna explode and was crying.

"SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU! SHUT UP!" Mario quickly got up from his seat and tried to find the exit. He blindly went down the center aisle only to see the piano out the corner of his left eye. He screamed loud enough to stop the musician from playing and hung a right before finding the exit just to his right-hand side.

"Geez. What's gotten into him?" Rocco asked Luigi, who got up from his seat too.

"I'll tell you in a minute. I'm gonna go after Mario," Luigi said as he made his way to the exit.

"We didn't even start eating..." Rocco muttered.

Back outside, Mario hurried out of the restaurant screaming, "GET ME OUTTA HERE! I DON'T WANT THE-" Suddenly, Mario tripped over a parking curb and landed face first on the ground; he cried even harder than earlier and couldn't get himself to stand. Luigi saw Mario trip and fall and ran up to his side.

"You okay, bro?" Luigi asked.

"DON'T TALK TO ME!" Mario shouted. "WHY THE PIANO?!"

"It's just a piano, Mario. There's nothing wrong with a simple musical instrument."

"BUT I'M AFRAID OF THEM!" Mario retorted loudly, banging his fists on the pavement. "YOU KNOW THAT'S TRUE!"

While Mario yelled at Luigi, Rocco walked outside and approached him.

"Mario, you literally embarrassed yourself in front-" Rocco started to tell Mario.

"I DON'T CARE! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!"

Mario managed to stand up and stormed off toward the sidewalk next to the freeway.

"Mario! Where are you going?!" Rocco called. "Come back!"

"DON'T FOLLOW ME!" Mario shouted again. Rocco facepalmed himself after Mario disappeared behind the bushes.

"Oh my God... What am I gonna do...?" Rocco sighed.

"He has the Warp Pipe keypad and I can't get home if he uses it!" Luigi replied. "Someone's got to do something!"

"Well, I was supposed to stay with Alex tonight, but..." Rocco mulled it over for a few seconds. "I'm gonna try to find Mario. Will you please look after Alex until he and I are squared away?"

"Sure. Just text me when you find Mario," Luigi said.

"All right. See ya," Rocco proceeded to follow the path he thought Mario took while Luigi walked towards the Parkland Hospital.

Meanwhile, in Alex's room, he was reading some of his favorite books when a random 15-year-old boy walked into the room; the door was accidentally left open for some reason.

"Uh, who are you?" Alex asked.

"You don't need to know who I am, baldie," the boy answered.

"'Baldie'? Why call me that?" Alex started to feel uncomfortable, knowing that he's gonna be bullied.

"Because I heard that that's what cancer kids are!" the bully chuckled. "You must be the younger version of your grandpa! Hahaha!"

"Stop it!" Alex yelled. "It's not funny!"

"Oh, yes, it is! Actually, I don't what cancer is. Maybe it's just like the flu. What do you think?" the bully taunted.

"It's not the flu!" Alex screamed; he was on the verge of tears. "Leave me alone!"

"But don't you miss your mommy and daddy? Huh? Someone needs to look after this young, balded baby."

"I said, 'Stop it'! Stop!" Alex started flailing around in his blankets.

"There you go! Flap your arms and legs in your bed!" the bully declared. "You know what? How about I play with some of your toys?"

"No! Don't touch it!" Alex saw that the bully was heading to his GameCube located near the window. "Stop!"

At the same time the bully approached Alex's room, Luigi entered the elevator that would take him to the fifth floor.

"I can't wait to see Alex again," Luigi said to himself. After exiting the elevator, he suddenly heard loud screaming on from his right.

"What's going on over there?" Luigi asked as he slowly walked to where the screams were coming from. "Is that...?"

"Put it back!" Alex cried. The bully had obtained the GameCube and lifted it above his head.

"No. It's mine now," the bully said smugly. "I got to thank you for giving me a free GameCube; I've always wanted one for several months now." Alex stopped yelling words and resorted to screaming at the top of his lungs, making the bully laugh with glee.

Finally, Luigi arrived at the doorway leading to Alex's room, and leaned in enough to see Alex being bullied.

"No... Not him..." Luigi murmured as his temper gradually rose up. He barged into the room and pinned the bully against the wall opposite of Alex's bed. The bully shrieked with terror while Alex quickly hid underneath his blankets and continued to scream bloody murder.

"What are you doing?! Get-" the bully started before Luigi put his hand over his mouth.

"First off, shut the freak up! Second, you're gonna tell me what you did to Alex, and I want an honest answer!" Luigi demanded in an angry tone of voice. His yelling scared Alex even more.

"I... I didn't...do anything..." the bully pleaded; he was tearing up at Luigi glaring at him.

"Oh, you didn't do anything? You know what? That's what all bullies say! 'I didn't do anything!' And then they get away with everything without being punished! But I'm NOT letting that happen!" Luigi yelled.

"Do me a huge favor and leave my best buddy alone! If I find out myself or from Alex's parents that you're pestering him again in any way, shape, or form; you're gonna be in for a world of pain even worse than tonight!" Luigi threw the bully to his left so hard that he flew out the door and down the hallway.

"Now leave!" Luigi screamed, pointing his finger forward. "Find your parents and GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS HOSPITAL!" The bully got up and ran away as fast as he could, having been startled by Luigi's outburst.

"Thank you," Luigi said after taking a deep breath. He turned to Alex, who was still screaming and crying. "Are you okay, Alex?" His voice was a bit scratchy from yelling at the bully.

"NO! GET AWAY!" Alex cried.

"Hey. Hey. Buddy. It's okay," Luigi coaxed Alex. He approached Alex and held out his right hand.

"STOP! DON'T HURT ME!"

"Alex. I'm not gonna hurt you. Easy now."

"YES, YOU ARE! GET AWAY!"

"Alex. Alex. Calm down. It's-a me," Luigi slowly pulled the blankets off Alex.

"M-M-Mario...?" Alex looked up to see Luigi in front of him. "LUIGI!" Alex immediately threw his arms around Luigi's neck; Luigi returned the hug.

"Oh, buddy... I'm so sorry you got scared..." Luigi whispered. Alex started crying again but didn't scream this time.

"Y-you screamed a-at m-me!" Alex sobbed.

"I didn't scream at you... It was that boy's fault... Not yours..." Luigi wiped Alex's face of his tears. "It's okay... I'm here now..."

"I'm s-so sc-scared!" Alex hugged Luigi a bit tighter.

"I know... I know you're scared... But it's all over..." Luigi said softly. He lifted Alex off his bed and walked around the room with Alex in his arms.

"Oh, mamma mia..." Luigi said to himself. "I picked the worst time to visit Alex..." After a half-minute, Luigi laid Alex back on his bed; Alex had calmed down a small bit.

"Thank you...for coming..." Alex thanked Luigi.

"You're welcome, buddy," Luigi replied. "I'm always there for you." He sat on a chair to the left of Alex's bed.

"Where's...Daddy?" Alex questioned.

"Your daddy's having dinner with Mario. He asked me to stay with you until you go to sleep."

"Did that boy go away?"

"He's gone for good. I made sure he learned his lesson," Luigi reassured Alex. "But no one's gonna touch you ever again." He got up to close the door before sitting next to Alex again. "Did he break anything?"

"He almost broke the GameCube." Alex pointed to his GameCube lying on its side on the floor. The bully dropped it while Luigi yelled at him, but it didn't get damaged. Luigi picked up the GameCube and put it back where it was before.

"Your GameCube's okay, buddy. It'll still work."

"Thank you," Alex sighed with relief and looked up at the ceiling. "Will you please not leave me?"

"I promise I'll stay with you," Luigi replied before stroking Alex's head. "And I'll make sure your daddy comes back really soon. Okay?"

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Rocco continued to search for Mario. It's been ten minutes since he stormed off. He texted Mario, "Please answer me, Mario. I need to know where you are."

As soon as he sent the text, Rocco received a text from Luigi that said, "Alex got scared by a bully. I'm staying with him until you come back to the hospital. I'm so sorry." Seeing that text made Rocco tear up a bit, but he pulled himself together after a couple seconds.

Two minutes later, Rocco got a text from Mario saying, "If you want to know where I am, I'm at the courtyard next to the hospital." Rocco wasted no time and headed off to the courtyard. He saw Mario sitting on a bench with his head hung downward and his cap on the ground next to his right shoe.

"There you are. I've been looking all over for the last 15 minutes," Rocco said.

"You shouldn't have followed me..." Mario responded with a hoarse voice; he had shredded his vocal cords from his tantrum at the restaurant.

"But I needed to. I thought you got hit by a car or something." Rocco sat next to Mario. "Why were you even complaining about the piano? What's wrong with it?"

"It's my biggest fear..." Mario replied.

"Wha-" Rocco chuckled with disbelief. "Who in this world is afraid of-" Rocco started to ask before Mario slapped his arm. "Hey! You don't hit me like that!"

"I am TOO afraid of pianos!" Mario protested. "You don't know my phobia!"

"Okay. I get it. You're scared of pianos," Rocco gave in. "But I've never even heard of this so-called phobia. I mean, what is it?"

"It's been going on for so many years," Mario explained. "It was back when I was collecting these Power Stars to restore Princess Peach's castle that I came across this haunted house and there was a grand piano in this one room."

"And it scared you? By what? The sight of it?"

"No. I sat down to play a little song and it growled at me before..." Mario started to tear up. "That damn piano was chomping at me and roaring at me! I've never seen a piano like that!"

"But it's just one haunted piano for crying out loud!" Rocco said. "Why are you so scared of the regular pianos? They're just musical instruments!"

"I... I can't look at them, I can't... I can't stand the sound of them because they sound like someone's slamming their hands on the keys... I can't even touch one because it's gonna eat me...!" Mario complained before looking down at the ground again and crying his eyes out.

"They're not gonna eat you, Mario," Rocco said. "Pianos exist for people to make music. Not for people to run away like a five-year-old." Hearing Rocco say that made Mario riled up again.

"I'm NOT a five-year-old! I am NOT! I'm just afraid of them, OKAY?!" Mario yelled.

"Mario. Chill out. Please," Rocco requested.

"I'll chill out if you just leave!"

"But I want to help you. You need to get over this fear of yours."

"But I don't know how to handle it! It's hard!" Mario whined.

"I understand. I know it's hard. But you can't just stay scared of pianos forever," Rocco said before Mario took a deep breath.

"You're right... Again..." After ten seconds of silence, Mario asked, "Can you leave now? I'll let you know when I'm ready to go home."

"All right. If you don't want to text me, I'll be waiting at the hospital's entrance." Rocco then walked off to the front door, leaving Mario alone in the courtyard again. It took twenty more minutes before Mario met up with Rocco and Luigi and went back to his pad with Luigi shortly thereafter.