8C - How's Alex Doing?

It's 5:05 PM on August 31, 2003. Inside his room in the Parkland Hospital, Alex was watching a movie on his TV. Suddenly, Alex heard someone knock on his open door and paused the movie.

"Who is it?" Alex asked while slowly getting out of his bed.

"It's-a me!" a familiar voice called out.

"Mario?"

Right on cue, Mario showed himself and kneeled before holding his arms out. "Hello, Alex!"

Alex squealed with joy as he ran up to give Mario a hug. "I missed you, Mario!"

"I missed you too!" Mario lifted Alex up and spun him around twice; Alex giggled while being spun around.

After setting Alex back down on the floor, Mario asked, "How's my number-one buddy doing?"

"I'm great!" Alex replied. "The doctor told me that the cancer in me is almost gone!"

Mario gasped with disbelief. "No way. Are you joking?"

"No, I'm not."

Mario leaped in the air while holding his right fist toward the ceiling and exclaimed, "Wahoo! That's my Alex!" He then held out his palms and said, "Double high-fives!" Alex high-fived Mario twice with both hands before Mario kneeled again.

"So, how did the doctor find out your cancer is almost gone?" Mario asked.

"They did an x-ray and saw the thing in me is this small," Alex answered while placing his index finger and thumb together.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you! You did a great job, buddy!" Alex high-fived Mario again before Mario looked around the room. "I see your mommy and daddy aren't here. Where are they?"

"They're at home with Leah," Alex replied before sitting on Mario's right knee; Mario then put his arm around him. "Mommy and Daddy don't see me every day. The nurses take care of me almost all the time."

"I understand. You do miss them, right?" Mario asked.

"Yes, I do. But I'm okay with being alone," Alex said.

"How about this? Would you like for me to stay with you until your bedtime?" Mario offered. Alex's eyes widened a bit.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! I don't like to see you lonely. You need someone to look after you," Mario explained.

"Okay. You can stay with me," Alex said with a smile.

In response, Mario shouted, "Yippee!" and lifted Alex up again. "We're gonna have some fun!"

"Thank you for coming over," Alex thanked Mario.

"You're welcome, buddy. So, what do you want do today?"

"Um... How about hide-and-seek?" Alex requested.

"Oh boy! I love that game!" Mario exclaimed with glee. "Me and Luigi used to do it a lot when we were kids."

"That's neat."

"Now, before we begin, please be careful," Mario instructed Alex. "This is a very big hospital and I don't want you to get lost."

"Okay."

"What should I count to, Alex?" Mario asked.

"Count to twenty, please," Alex replied.

"Okey-dokey! That should give you plenty of time to find a hiding spot," Mario said. "Are you ready to play?"

"I'm ready!"

"All right-y! Let's-a go!" Mario declared just as Alex went out of his room. He hung a right at the same time Mario started counting to twenty at a slow pace. It wasn't long before Alex found a door that led to a huge flight of stairs. He proceeded to carefully go downstairs to the fourth floor.

After Alex exited the staircase room, a random nurse saw him and asked, "What are you doing over here?"

"I'm playing hide-and-seek with a friend," Alex answered.

"Oh, how fun. Well, I hope he finds you soon," the nurse said. "Your parents might get worried about you."

"Thanks. Bye," Alex bid the nurse goodbye, who continued down the hall. "Where do I hide?"

"Ready or not, here I go!" Back in Alex's room, Mario was ready to find where Alex is hiding. He exited the room and started walking to his left. It's key that Mario should not make too much noise; otherwise, Alex would know that Mario's nearby. The same goes with Alex; if he accidentally makes a noise loud enough for Mario to hear, he will have given away his hiding spot.

"Oh, Alex! Where are you?" Mario called at a low tone of voice. He made sure not to search in the patients' rooms since it would be wrong for Alex to hide in any one of them. Mario figured that Alex could have hidden underneath a receptionist's desk, behind a big potted plant, or inside some sort of unknown room.

After five minutes of walking around the fifth floor, Mario couldn't find Alex. "Oh, mamma mia. I'm starting to get a bit worried."

Meanwhile, Alex walked up and down the main hall of the fourth floor to find the perfect hiding spot. Suddenly, he came up with an idea. "I got it! I'll go in there!" Alex wasted no time and went straight for the "Games and Entertainment" room where he was given his personalized GameCube bundle. He then hid behind the cabinet beneath the TV, which was where the hospital's GameCube was set up.

Back up on the fifth floor, Mario stopped for a few seconds to think of where Alex is hiding before finally figuring it out. "Oh! I know where he is!" Mario immediately went to the staircase and made his way to the fourth floor.

Even though he knew where Alex was hiding, he called out, "Where, oh where is my number-one buddy?" Within several seconds, he came across the "Games and Entertainment" room and slowly opened the door before tiptoeing inside. Mario crouched down and scanned his surroundings because he knew Alex was sitting down in his hiding spot.

Mario eventually saw Alex's feet from underneath the TV cabinet and slowly crawled to the cabinet. He then stood up slowly and looked through the gap between the cabinet and the wall; Alex was sitting within the gap and didn't know Mario was standing in front of him. Mario extended his arms into the gap and waited a couple seconds before tickling Alex.

"There you are, Alex!" Mario said as Alex came out from behind the cabinet. He was laughing so much from being tickled.

"Yeah! You found me!" Alex exclaimed as he hopped twice before doing the V-sign with his right hand. Mario chuckled and did the V-sign too before hugging Alex again.

"I love you, Mario," Alex said.

"I love you too, buddy," Mario replied softly. "You did very good. I knew you were gonna hide in here."

"Because I love to play video games!"

"You sure do!" Mario gave Alex another high-five before stating, "I guess it's my turn to hide now."

"Can we start again from my room, please?" Alex asked.

"Of course! We can go wherever you want as long as you're careful around here."

As Alex nodded in agreement, Mario offered, "You wanna go for a ride?"

"Yeah!"

"All right-y! Up you go!" Mario proceeded to lift Alex onto his shoulders. "Okay. Hold on tight."

Mario exited the "Games and Entertainment" room with Alex before starting off to his room.

"You must be great at hide-and-seek," Mario remarked. "Even greater than Luigi when he was the hider."

Both giggled at the comment as they continued down the hall to the elevator. Mario and Alex were in for a fun afternoon together.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: And that's a wrap for "Golfing Struggles", guys. I hope you all enjoyed it. Stay tuned for more game adaptations and/or original stories in the coming days, and thanks again to mariobroultimate for inspiring me to become a better Fanfiction creator. This is nintendoscript15 signing out.