25m Distance Between Us

Shackled to a Wall

A thunderbolt flashed, and it began to rain outside.

"What will we do now, Mario?" Pauline said, sitting on the couch. "The whole day's shot. I hate rain!"

"Well, we can-a always play Scrabble!" Mario said, holding out the board game in its box.

Pauline shook her head. She didn't want to play Scrabble. "No, I'd rather not."

She preferred Monopoly, because she had always dreamed of owning property and playing the stock market, and selling houses. Perhaps it was from growing up poor to successless parents that made her this way.

"Why? Scared-a-that you'll lose?" Mario teased.

"Oh, brother! Let's go, then!" Pauline appended, feeling challenged. She sat right at the table quickly, and Mario came with the box. He unboxed the game and pulled out the board, the chips, and the pen and pad.

He split 5 letters between himself and Pauline.

Pauline got the letters "P-A-C-H-E".

Mario got the letters "A-P-O-K-O"

"Oh, this is an easy one." Pauline boasted. "'Peach'." As she observed the letters while putting them on the board, a smirk came on her face. "Looks like the 'P' is a Double-Pointer!"

Mario looked on confused. He did not understand the game any more than Pauline did, but the two of them had played it once before with Luigi as the arbiter, and he had explained the Double and Triple-Point letters and their functions.

"54 points." Pauline stated, proud.

"What?!" Mario cried out. "That's bullshit! How can-a you get that-a much?! "

Pauline didn't waste time showing him her pen and paper calculations, and moved to her drawer, where she had her calculator.

She returned to the table with the calculator in hand, and turned it so Mario could see it as she stood beside him.

"It comes to 54. I'm telling you! Look: the letters make 27, and because there's a Double-point counter on the 'P', and you multiply it by 2, you get..." she ecalculated on her calculator. "54. Ya see?"

Mario sulked. The mustachioed plumber was fed up of this game already, if an evening of this was going to come out of it. He got up from the table and walked over to the fridge and got himself a beer.

Pauline sighed exasperatedly.

Suddenly, water began to trickle down from the ceiling.

"Damn it," Pauline snarled, pounding her fist on the table. "this building is so old, I was wondering why this didn't happen sooner!"

"This isn't the rain, Paulie." Mario stated. "It's a leaky pipe. But yeah, it's-a not a surprise at all!"

Pauline looked to Mario and tilted her head slightly, an exasperated expression on her face.

"Yeah, yeah," Mario sighed. "I'll check it out."

It was all but a distant memory to her, as she lay down, chained to the wall. Pauline felt terrible; she missed Mario now, and wished her hardest that he would come and rescue her and the Princess.

The shackles were very tight on her wrists, and her wrists had begun to itch. The dripping pipe was driving her crazy, as well.

She couldn't help but think of the terrified expression on Peach's face earlier when she was dragged away by Bowser's minions. They must be truly planning something reprehensible to do to her.

All Pauline knew, was that if she signed on for Peach and Bowser's wedding, Mario would never forgive her.

Heck, she wouldn't even be able to forgive herself, either.

In the short time they had met, she had grown fond of Princess Peach. She was definitely the type of gal that she'd love to hang out at the Coconut Mall and go Bargain-hunting with. Pauline chuckled at the idea of a Royal person shopping at a Mall. Outrageous. But then again, Peach was a Lady of the people, so it could be possible. Perhaps one day she could get together with her and Mario and fulfill this dream.

If she survives this ordeal, of course.

A Shy Guy opened the door and came in. Its mask seemed to be staring into Pauline's very soul. The soulless eyes and gaping mouth made Pauline feel unsettled; she had never before encountered such a creature as this.

The Shy Guy refused to speak to her, and instead took out a Fire flower.

Pauline thought it looked pretty, as she did not know what it would do. When she saw the Shy Guy transform into an Orange colour with a white band and shoes, she remembered the day when she found a strange mushroom and gave it to Mario, and it caused him to double in size. (He was certainly good in bed after that, she could agree.)

She wondered what this was, exactly.

She found this out immediately when the Shy Guy shot a fire ball at her. Instinctively, even though she was chained to the wall, she quickly maneuvered her body to the left, letting the fire ball hit the wall where she was a second ago. The pulling caused the cuffs to tear into her wrist slightly, causing her to bleed.

Then came another fire ball. And another. And another. It was getting cumbersome, trying to dodge these things, and her wrists were wearing away under the rusted steel with every thrust to the side.

Could this be their plan? To kill her slowly, by her own hand? She was sure that if she kept this up, she would start wearing down into her own veins in her wrists. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she tried her best to conceal the pain that swept her.

The Shy Guy's expressionless mask made her feel like the victim in a horror movie.

If her ankles weren't shackled as well, she would have kicked that mask clean off his face. But then again, what could be underneath? Did she even want to know?

The Shy Guy shot again, and this time the Fire ball hit Pauline; it felt like a Hockey Puck bashing into her stomach, leaving an after-burn, which caused her flesh to blister. She cried out in pain.

Her shriek was so loud that Princess Peach heard it from the other side of the ship and cringed. Bowser grinned wickedly, and Peach quickly turned to face the nasty Koopa King. "What are they doing to her?!" Peach demanded, very visibly concerned. The Princess was on the brink of tears. That scream had disturbed her greatly.

"Persuading her." the cruel demon turtle replied, with a wicked grin. "She'll eventually come around and see things my way, just as you will, Peach."

"I'll never 'see things your way'!" She spat.

Bowser shook it off and chuckled. When the Princess was worried about others, she tended to become extremely testy. He loved it. He was very much accustomed to it, after all the times he's kidnapped Peach and threatened her kingdom and friends.

"You will, one way or another." Bowser reassured.

Peach did not know what he meant by that, but she suddenly felt very concerned.

She hoped Mario would come soon.