The Morelli Bros. (Chapter I, Part VIII)

Posted on May 4, 2015 by R. Richardsson

“Goomba!”

Like many a nameless Bond villain, the creatures announced their presence as one. A quick count put their numbers at a dozen, a formidable number had they been people, but these beings didn’t seem to be all that intelligent. While their eyes glared at him with malevolence, they continued to slowly march forward despite what he had done to their brethren.

He noticed, as well, that they didn’t come as a single group, but rather, in small groups of two or three at most.

“Luigi,” he commanded with authority. “Flip!”

His brother, who was still recovering from their sudden trip to Neverland, rose into a crouch and laced his hands, palms up, before him. With a final nod to show that he was ready, Mario launched himself into action. His legs pumped beneath him as he charged toward his brother. It was a move he had practiced many times with his sibling, one he was normally more comfortable with when using a vertical barrier, and was something he had thought of for just such an occasion.

His brother, who was every bit as strong as he, gave his hands to him as an impromptu spring. Mario’s right foot found the pocket they had created, and in the next second, his left foot landed on Luigi’s right shoulder. The younger of the two then redirected his momentum and launched him with all his might. The effect couldn’t have been more perfect, for the older Morelli now flew up and away from him, spinning in mid-air to face the attacking creatures.

As Mario came down upon the leading trio, Luigi sprung to his feet and ran towards a duo that were now branching off in his direction. Unlike the other, who leapt with the grace of practice, Luigi jumped into the air with his legs still pumping as wildly as if they had never left the ground.

“Wa-HOO,” Mario yelled to the side of him, where he was using the natural sponginess of the creatures to bounce from one to the next. Luigi laughed, but his merriment was cut short when he made his first contact with one of the Goomba creatures. He watched in horror as the fungal creature burst beneath him, its intestines jettisoning from a large split in the creature’s side. Unlike any digestive system he’d ever heard about, this creature’s was every bit the nature of its body. They were dark green, covered in slime, and emitted a smell worse than any sewer he had ever worked around.

He had nearly slipped from the top of the creature’s chitinous dome when it reached its lowest point, and his recovery was even worse. While Mario continued to bounce from one creature to the next, he had to do everything in his power to just maintain his sense of momentum. Unlike his brother, after the second of the two splooshed beneath him, he found himself over-compensating the anticipated launch, and instead of leaping gracefully into the air, he flew straight out and face planted, hard, into the dirt.

Luigi felt the air rush out of him as he hit the ground. Stunned, he looked into the eyes of another of the foul creatures.

Trespasser (Part XIV)

Posted on May 2, 2015 by R. Richardsson

The drive home was agonizing. Not only did his thoughts torture him the entire way, but so too did his aching muscles. The only comfort was the low rumble of the engine in his 1984 Ford pickup. The horses thundered when he pressed down on the pedal, but at a steady speed, like the one he was cruising at now, it sounded as a stampede would from a mile away.

From time to time, his eyes would begin growing heavy, but he would catch himself with a quick jerk of the head. It was a small movement, violent, and its only intention was to shake the sleep from his bones, but it wasn’t going to work for much longer. As he rolled down the window for a little fresh air, he replayed the short conversation with Davie in his head.

“It’s about Vanessa. Even now, she’s…”

She’s, what? Getting into some sort of trouble? That wasn’t very likely, but then again, he hadn’t been around much, as of late. With the extra shifts he’s had to cover, there have been times when days would pass before he had a chance to sit down and relax with his family.

He tried to imagine the mischief that she could be getting herself into, but nothing even came close to believable in his eyes. Could she be stealing? Not very likely. She spent most of her time lost in her own imagination, and material objects were only as precious as she made them out to be. She still played with that unfinished figurine of hers!

Just that thought alone ruled out any destructive behaviour. Most times, she didn’t move from one spot for hours, so it wasn’t very likely that she was tearing the neighborhood up. She was loud, at the very most, and that wasn’t very often. There were times when he’d be working outside and he’d have to stop just to make sure she was still there.

“Ugh,” he moaned wearily. While he was almost home, three o’clock was just around the corner. Six came even sooner. But before he could lay down, he had a promise to keep. Davie was waiting up, with whatever important information that he thought he needed to know, and if anything, he was a man of his word.

As he fought to stifle off another yawn, he tightened his knuckles around the wheel in determination. Only twenty more minutes stood between him and the answers to his questions. Hopefully, only a half an hour stood between him and his bed.

The Morelli Bros. (Chapter I, Part VI)

Posted on March 13, 2015 by R. Richardsson

It was his sense of sound that returned first. Even before he felt it on his skin, the grass and leaves sighed as a warm breeze brushed past them. Somewhere in the distance, a bird chirruped playfully, calling out to whomever would listen to its song. What darkness had once surrounded him was gone, chased away by the natural light of the sun.

“How long was I out,” he wondered.

His body ached, bruised from the rubble that had battered him in the alley. Slowly, he pushed himself into a sitting position, balled his hands into fists, and ground them into his eyes as he attempted to chase away the cobwebs.

When he opened his eyes, the light stabbed into them like red-hot daggers. His vision was blurry, but what he could see was nothing short of confusing. A sea of green surrounded him, undulating softly to and fro in the wind. His head barely poked over the tips of the soft blades of grass, which he could now identify by its fresh smell, something he hadn’t experienced since he was a boy.

“Luigi!”

As his vision swam into focus, he could see that he was indeed in the middle of the richest pasture he had ever laid eyes upon. The grass was deep emerald, and as he rose to his feet, he discovered that it reached nearly to his waist. Though the ground around his immediate area was flat, he soon learned that he was between two lines of hills that sharply rose and fell to either side of him.

“Luigi,” he hollered again as a sinking feeling began to grow inside of him. The last thing he remembered, before being swallowed by the darkness, was the look in his brother’s eyes as he slipped away. It was the fear of a man who know he was going to die.

He turned, and what he saw next stopped him in his tracks. Suddenly, the desperation was pushed aside, the need to find his sibling, forgotten. For, before him was something that in all his years as a plumber, had never existed until this moment.

Mario Morelli, son of Rocco and a master of his trade in his own right, was staring into the five foot diameter opening of a green steel pipe. There was only a few feet in before it dropped off into the ground, but it was the sign over the opening that gave him more cause for concern. In bold letters, in a font he didn’t recognize, was a word he could easily read.

EARTH

“…unngh…”

He didn’t have long to ponder the implications, for behind him, something was shambling toward him.