Unwritten: Diary of a Lean Green Plumber

Down the Rabbid Hole

16 February 2017

Smash Mansion

Dear Diary,

I can feel Josh's spirit with me everywhere I go and in everything I do. It's like he's reminding me not to give up just because he's no longer here. In spirit, he's giving me the strength I need to help his family. We've long since settled his affairs. Julian has a sizable inheritance, and he's in control of a trust fund for Jas until she turns 26. Josh had also left the house and its attached assets to Joan. They weren't wanting for anything, but it did little to ease the void his passing left behind.

Josh had also spent his final years cultivating a trust fund for yours truly, in case I wanted to branch out and start my own plumbing business—or even a ghost-hunting business. He'd also left me a book about gratitude—and I think that's more valuable than the trust fund. I read one chapter each night, finding that it soothes my pain. Even from beyond the grave, he always knows how to dish out advice and make me feel better.

Julian and Jackie have recently hired Agnes and Oliver. The latter couple runs the MK's gym, while the former runs the Brooklyn gym. Oliver and Agnes are handling this job like a pro, getting gym members checked in, answering questions and helping set up equipment. Wow—I never knew they could do that!

Each time I walk into the Brooklyn gym, though, I see Josh. He walks in and smiles at me while I get situated on my spin bike. As I pedal briskly, I remember our most important conversations—me confessing my mixed bag of emotions after Mario first achieved fame by saving Pauline, me venting to him following the first rescue missions, and that rainy October day after Mario and I had that fight, when he—with Jules's help—convinced me not to give up on my bro. Sweat runs thickly down my face, neck, arms and upper body, and I round my mouth as I breathe in and out. My eyes close, and then there's just sensation and motion and the endless stream of songs on my phone.

This quaint little street gym has changed so much since I first started my membership—but the appeal has stayed the same. It's like it has Josh's signature all over it. In this gym, I know that Josh is still around. He doesn't have a physical body anymore, but he's still here. And his visions will continue under Julian and Jackie's guidance. I shouldn't count that out.

Luigi

16 March 2017

Smash Mansion

Dear Diary,

Jas didn't celebrate her 20th birthday with a party. She'd kinda outgrown parties. Instead, she spent the day in the Smash World with Jake, her parents and her childhood friends, along with the friends she'd made in college. When they weren't watching me and the other Smashers kick [bleep] and take names, they were socializing at Brewster's Café or raiding the shopping center. After matches concluded for the day, I joined them for dinner at a restaurant—the same restaurant Josh had dined at on the night Falcon and I had mixed it up in the lounge in 1999. Gosh, why do all of these places keep reminding me of Josh?

"It's all right, Luigi," said Jas. "I miss him, too. This is my first birthday without him. But I don't think he'd want us to spend the rest of our lives as recluses, moping around."

"I'm not moping," I told her. "When I go to the old gym, I can see him sometimes. It's like he sends out hidden messages through the most mundane objects, encouraging me. Doesn't that sound crazy?"