December 17, 2008 :: 8 days to go!

--

Link did not know what it felt like to be standing alone in pitch darkness of the silent wood. The sense of loneliness overwhelmed him, and the silence...oh, the silence. He couldn't hear anything at all. He held his breath, and it was like everything else in that wood was doing the same with him. Link switched on the torch, and he didn't care about the keepers. The only person Link cared about was Mario. He wanted him back.

"Mario!" he shouted. "Mario, it's Link! Are you there?"

He walked and called out, stopping each time to try and hear an answer, but nothing came. His voice went trembly after a while, and if Link wasn't careful, the sheer darkness ad hopelessness would make him give up and lie under the trees. He stood still after shouting once more, and oh so faint, was the sound of a human voice.

Link froze.

"Mario!"

"I'm here! Over here!"

With Mario's voice to guide him, Link found it easy. The trees were bigger and more spaced apart. Link simply dashed ahead, and stopped dead when his torch shone on a flash of blue. Link saw the pit, which Mario was sitting in. He looked up into the light.

"Hello, my friend," Mario said. "Thank you for coming."

"Are you alright, Mario?"

"My ankle's broken. It happened when I fell in. But Link, I've got to get out of here by morning. The keepers know I'm here and they're coming for me when it gets light. They've dug this hole to catch people. The keepers don't know who I am but they're bringing that Mr Jarvis with them. The keepers have gone for the night. What time is it?"

Link shone the torch on Mario's watch.

"Ten to five!" Mario cried. "We must be quick. I have to be out of here before sunrise."

"Mario? I brought the car. I came in the Austin."

"You what? You actually drove here in the Austin? You're crazy, you could have been killed. But Link, there's a rope in the back of the Austin. Mr Scott always has one in there."

Link ran back to the car and ran the way he had came, shining the torch ahead of him. He found the car and got the rope, slinging it over his shoulder. With Mario's voice to guide him, Link had no trouble finding his best friend again. He tied it to the nearest tree and lowered the other half down to the plumber. He grasped it with both hands and hauled himself into a standing position. Link kept the torch on him at all times, and when Mario pulled himself over he breathed loud and fast.

A huge milk-lorry was the only thing they met on the drive home. As they approached Smash Mansion, Mario finally spoke.

"I'll have to go to hospital. It must be set properly then into plaster. They fix a metal thing into the plaster, I'll be able to walk on that."

"Shouldn't we just go now?"

"No. I'll lie on the floor of the living room, and wait till it's time to call Doctor Williams. I don't like waking doctors up at five in the morning. We'll call him at seven. And don't get me anything, Link. I'll be getting an anaesthetic soon, and you're not meant to have anything before that. You have something."

"I'm not hungry," Link said, but boy oh boy, could he have enjoyed a food fight with Roy at that moment. Mario lay on the floor of the living room, with Link rushing to get pillows and blankets. His eyes closed and the plumber appeared to be dozing off. Link lay on the sofa, and the next thing he heard after he closed his eyes was a familiar voice.

"Well, my goodness me, Mario, what on earth have you been up to?"