Luigi is not in this game.

Chapter Three

    "LACEY!"

    "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Rapid footsteps descended down the stairs. She slid into her seat with ease and grabbed the green controller out of Andres's hand. "Which star do I need?"

    "One hundred coins," He said, picking up the popcorn bowl. "That one is driving me insane." He popped a few pieces in his mouth and watched Lacey flip into the snowy level with a "Yahoo!". He was still reluctant to share his game with someone who wasn't his mom, especially on a file the two played on for ages. Instead, he made a new file for him and Lacey. It was obvious she'd played before.
He sat expectantly, watching closely as she effortlessly collected red and yellow coins from all the secret locations. Missed that one before. He thought to himself in annoyance. She was close to gathering 100 coins as she slid down the secret snow slide until she flew off the edge of the map. Too fast around the corner. Slight satisfaction pricked at his chest.

    "Dammit!" She shook her head.

    "At least you didn't get the star in the middle of the side." Andres held out the popcorn bowl to Lacey as she held out the controller. They switched places and Andres began to play again.

    "That's a fair point." She said, taking her share. "You might want to grab an extra life."

    "Sure." He wasn't too worried though. Even if they did die, they'd just spawn outside the castle instead of inside. Death was no big deal in this universe. Just a minor inconvenience.

    Lacey started to yawn a bit more frequently. After a few turns, it was starting to get late. His determination to finish a level kept him awake, but not for Lacey. She handed over the controller and stood up.

    "I think I'm going to bed." She said"Goodnight."

    "Night, I'm staying on. I want to finish this." He said.

    "Alright." She quietly stepped up the stairs. He unpaused the game and jumped into the painting on the wall—a brand new level with 7 stars to collect.

    "I think it's time for the ghost level," Lacey said, running Mario down the stairs.

    "Y'know I'm pretty sure Luigi is in this game with the ghosts," Andres added.

    "No, he's not."

    "I could have sworn." He thought hard about it. "Actually, it's definitely in the 3DS version but not on here. He would be right... there." He pointed to the fountain on the side of the screen. "And you can play him on the DS."

    "That's cool," She said, punching a ghost. The cage fell onto the ground. "I didn't know that."

    "Yeah, but I assume the DS version came out later than this version." Andres got up from his chair and walked into the kitchen. "Save me the merry-go-round star." He said, grabbing a snack from the cabinet. He settled back into his chair and watched as she was flipped into the level. She got through it fairly easily, snagging two stars in less than five minutes. She handed the controller over to Andres.

    Before he jumped back into the tiny cage, he made Mario run around the courtyard, punching all of the ghosts that lingered around. "Does anything special happen if you kill all of them?" He asked.

    "No, don't think so."

    "I'm gonna try anyway." So far, nothing. Just the usual coins that spat out of the dead ghosts. Ghosts aren't supposed to die twice. He thought. After an anticlimactic experiment, he turned back to the cage. His heart skipped a beat as he stopped in his tracks. Lacey saw it too. A little green guy stood next to the cage, gazing down at it curiously. He turned his head to the standing Mario, who stood completely still. The birds stopped chirping, the background music disappeared, no sound of rushing water. Andres was almost convinced that the game crashed.

    The panic lasted only a few moments until confusion and awe set in. "What? That's cool!" He said.

    "That's super strange, I've never seen him before," Lacey said. "Go talk to him."

    Andres was already striding towards Luigi, who was still staring.

    "It might be a cutscene."

    "There aren't cutscenes in this game though. I can't imagine why this would be the only one." Her face was twisted with confusion, but she said no more.

    Andres approached the green figure but paused when the screen slightly glitched. Maybe it was a coincidence. He pressed "A" to talk to him. The game let out a horrendous sound and the screen twisted with distorted colors. Andres jumped so hard that he dropped the controller onto the floor with a crash. His heart smashed into his chest rapidly as he shot his arm out towards the console and flicked the off button.

    "That scared the shit out of me!" Lacey exclaimed after a few Laceyents of silence.

    "That was terrifying." Andres was starting to cool off. That's not something you expect from a wholesome game. Severe glitches always startled him. Gave off the sense that something was wrong. Something was coded a certain way, supposed to do certain things, and people expect it to work. The moment it stops following the rules, something is wrong.

    "Well, are you just gonna sit there or are we gonna keep playing?" Lacey's voice pulled him out of his trance.

    "Sorry." He flicked the power button, not expecting it to work on the first try. It didn't. He sat and tried turning it off and on a few times until he decided to take out the cartridge and blow in it. It was kind of pointless but worth a shot. The TV screen remained black and buzzing.

    "Is it broken?" Lacey sat on the ground next to him. Andres's face started to burn. He just wanted to play the game and it wasn't cooperating.

    "Please work, Jesus." His movements became rapid.

    "Ok, slow down before you actually break it. Let me try." Andres slightly slid back out of her way, resting his hand on the front of the console where the controller connectors were. Two were scribbled out in Sharpie with the note "broken". The other two were untouched. Warmth emitted from the plastic and more alarm bells rang in his head. He felt around if it was hotter anywhere else, and lo and behold, the connector to the player one controller was much hotter than it should have been.

    "This is really hot, Lacey." He mentioned as she was still fiddling with the switch.

    "What?" She felt for herself, then unplugged the wire. As she did that, the TV abruptly displayed the game. For a split second, Andres noticed that instead of the home screen, it was back in the ghost courtyard. A sharp tingling feeling snapped at his hand that still lay on the console. He tried to pull away, but it was as if his hand was glued to the plastic. His skin tightened and pulled and melted into the plastic.

    "Lacey?" He turned to where she sat, or where she was supposed to be sitting. He didn't even have half a second to process when his vision cut out.