Luigi's Mansion

Chapter 20 - An Untimely Encounter

   "Luigi... Wake up... wake up..."

   Out of the darkness it called him. "Luigi... What's the holdup?... I need you!!"

Luigi stirred with a moan. The incessant voice kept nagging overhead, just loud enough to annoy him. He hadn't even known he was sleeping – or he couldn't remember going to sleep, anyway. But he must have been, because all was dark; or at least it had been until now.

   He certainly didn't feel very comfortable; underneath him he could suddenly feel a cold, hard floor. Maybe he had dozed off somewhere and Mario was trying to get him to move.

   "Okay, I'm getting... up," Luigi mumbled grouchily. Carefully pushing himself up, he blinked a few times and looked around.

Right away something was off kilter. His head ached something awful, and he didn't feel very rested. In fact, his limbs were weak, like he'd run himself into the ground; and it was only with a good amount of pain that he moved. Rising to his knees, he gasped and froze with a start.

   "Mario?"

   He wasn't in his bed. He wasn't even in his house. He was in a dark foyer – and as he stared all about him he saw the floor littered with metal bars and broken pieces of glass.

   Some huge accident had happened here... and he was lying in the middle of it.

   Luigi jumped, the terrible memories of his last moments flooding in. The mansion! Something had happened... he had gotten hit!

   Quickly trying to stagger to his feet, Luigi's fears were soon confirmed when he was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of throbbing pain in his head. It felt bad – really bad. Almost as if...

   He realized with a jolt that he had been knocked out.

   It all came back to him quickly after that. Suddenly he remembered the blackout; the eerie ghosts from the parlor who had been chasing him... and then...

   No. Slowly, Luigi raised his eyes skyward - and swallowed.

The chandelier. The enormous piece that had once lit the foyer with an antique glow no longer hung in its place overhead. Luigi looked now at the huge wreckage that littered the floor in all directions. It had been severed from the ceiling in a single act of violence... and he realized with a shudder of terror that it had fallen on him.

Fallen on him!

   ...Then where had the ghosts gone?

   On the instant alert, Luigi whirled both ways, heart pounding. The ghosts had had him, hadn't they? What had happened?

   He had expected them to pop up anywhere, grab his quivering neck and drag him to places unknown; but after several long seconds he realized it was in vain. How could that be...?

But it was safe... he was alone.

Where had they gone? They were chasing him... he had been done for!

   Why had they left him there? Did they think he was dead?

   Luigi felt around for his flashlight and turned it on. In any case, it appeared they really had left... at least for now. Casting his beam through the darkness, his eyes fell upon the ancient clock built into the grand staircase over the heart doors. It read three fifteen.

   Luigi swallowed nervously. Three o'clock... wasn't there something bad about that hour?

   He tilted his head and watched it for a moment doubtfully. Had that clock even been working? He had never actually noticed. Still, it seemed to propose a reasonable time.