A Nightmare on Mushroom Street

Hidden Truths

~"What?" Yoshi spat into the phone. "That... that can't be true."

"It's real . . . and I don't know what to do," Peach cried. "It's more than a coincidence now. It's... it's a pattern."

Yoshi's mind had clogged up, staring into the fireplace. He didn't even realize he ended the call, full of thought. How the hell could Mario be dead now? Mario's corpse did show up in his dream moments ago, was he responsible for that?

"What the fuck . . ." Yoshi buried his face into his hands, lost.

He didn't want to go back to sleep at the moment. Then he remembered the questioning with Waluigi at Peach's castle, she said something about dreams being . . . real?

I need to get to Peach's, he thought. She'll know what this means. He also didn't feel safe here anymore, not after that scary encounter.

. . .

9:20 pm

~Law-enforcement personnel had flooded Mario's home, sweeping the entire property.

"My god, that smell," Waluigi covered his nose.
"What's the estimated time of death?"

"At least twenty-four hours," the medical examiner said. "We'll know more after we take samples."

Waluigi looked down at the corpse. This one was more perplexing than those previous. No weapon in sight. Those cuts to the throat were eye-catching, though.

"Lack of a weapon this time," Waluigi scratched his chin. "Must be a homicide."

He looked down at Mario's body one last time, then turned to the stairs for more inquiries.

. . .

Peach was sitting on her bed, legs crossed. Her room temperature was cool, but not too chilly. She had her window parched; after everything that's happened, she needed some fresh air and just some time to think.

A light tapping noise snapped her out of her trance. What was that? Sounded like it came from near the window.

She slid off her bed and walked on over to her window to take a closer look. When she leaned her head out, she shrieked at the sight.

"Jesus, Yoshi!" she jumped. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Yoshi was kneeled right outside the window, on the ledge. Peach's room wasn't exactly low to the ground either, so the dino was up dangerously high.

"Are you gonna let me in?" he grunted from out there, his eyes shifting from her to the ground below.

"Yeah, come on," she reluctantly opened it all the way, letting the dinosaur crawl in through the frame.

"All right, I know I was rude, a dick, and just non-understanding but. . . I need you to please tell me what's been going on." Yoshi stressed.

Peach looked down and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm having these dreams, a-and l'm scared. I think Luigi was having them too."

"Peach, listen, we've all--" Yoshi started.

"I know what you're gonna say. But now every time I dream . . .I always see this man. And he's . . . he's burned . . . and melted. And he's always trying to . . . attack me with these knives--"

"Knives on his fingers," Yoshi murmured.

"What? Oh, my god," Peach whispered, putting her hands over her mouth. "We're having the same dream . . ."

"Peach, it's not possible," Yoshi said slowly.

"It is possible." she countered.

"It's just a dream, all right?"