Chapter 5-A Surprising Attack
If Peach got her hands on Mario, he would certainly be dead. Come to think of it, though, Peach might have a heart attack and die first, just out of anger. So it's just a choice of who's going to die…
Most people were completely baffled by Peach's actions. They had confused looks on their faces, and some of them were whispering to each other about why Peach had stopped. It was one of times where you found yourself waiting and waiting, but what you were waiting for never came…
Luigi, however, understood why Peach was in high distress. Well, he was Mario's brother…The funny thing was, though, that Luigi and Mario departed their house at separate times…so could Mario just be held up in traffic? What traffic? By the look of it, the entire Mushroom Kingdom crowded itself into Peach's ballroom…this caused Luigi to try and come up with a different conclusion. Did Mario get in an accident? That wouldn't be good…Well, it would certainly explain why Mario wasn't present at the occasion. Is Mario…dead? Luigi asked himself, swallowing hard and looking around the ballroom. Luigi felt like it couldn't possibly happen: Mario…dead? He almost wanted to ask Daisy to pinch him to see if he was dreaming…
Peach began to speak again. She started off slowly, almost as though she wasn't entirely sure what to say, but gradually, she became comfortable again. Every couple of seconds she would pause to curse at Mario in her mind. Then, she would need to take a deep breath just so she didn't get out of control.
Everyone not on stage was still a bit confused. Yeah, she began to speak again, but what was the deal with the whole deep breaths? Was her asthma acting up? Did she even have asthma…? Ah, well, it didn't really matter…right?
Luigi's thoughts of a dead Mario were fortunately wrong. Mario wasn't lying dead in his car after running a red light. Certainly not; Mario would know better. It wouldn't be like him to run a red light or even a stop sign. He was a very careful driver…a very careful one. Most of the times he even obeyed the speed limit! If the sign said only to go 25, Mario would only be going 25. On most occasions, Mario found himself leading a pack of cars that were honking their horns at him, urging him to go faster…
Mario was outside the castle, looking through one of the windows. An onlooker outside of the castle would surely be wondering why some man was looking through the window and not actually inside at the party. Either something went wrong, or Mario's just afraid of Chain Chomps or something…
He could see Peach talking, but had no idea what she was saying. He began to get a nervous sensation. It was the kind of feeling you got when you knew something bad was going to happen, but you didn't know what or when. Well, Mario knew the 'what' part about it; he wasn't inside at Peach's party, so Peach would want to kill him. As for 'when', he was just hoping that it wouldn't be anytime soon…or when he is eating a good meal or something…
Even Mario's legitimate excuse would certainly not be excused by Peach. Under any circumstances, she expected him to be at the party. Gee, even if he was in the hospital Peach would be angry…well, maybe she's not that bad…
Peach's speech was coming to an end, and the Toad band was prepared to play their music, which had been scheduled immediately after Peach would stop talking. Well, maybe it was just another red herring: Peach's speech would always sound like it was going to stop, but then she would just think of something else to talk about. This caught the Toad band off guard many times.
So what ever happened to Peach 'not having much to say'? Uh huh…sure…Mario was right: when Peach started speaking, she could go on for a long time, even if it was public speaking such as this…
"Thank you all!" Peach finished, waving to the crowd as she moved towards the steps. She had pulled this off, too! It seemed that everything was going perfectly for her…except the fact that Mario was still not present. What a jerk! How dare he not come to my birthday party, Peach thought.
BAM! A loud gunshot reverberated throughout the castle. The guests began screaming loudly, rushing towards the front door to the castle. People were toppling over one another…doing anything they could to survive…
BAM! A second gunshot was heard!
BAM! A third!
Peach and everyone still on stage were being escorted into a different room by Toadsworth, who appeared to be extremely nervous and scared. He found it quite surprising that he didn't have a heart attack right then and there. He must have been one brave Toad…
Peach glanced behind her, watching the last of the guests rush out of the ballroom. Well, the last of those people who were alive…