Dead Mario 64

Super Mario 64 is a video game, that honestly, I could not get into. My friends always told me about how amazing and great it was, but I just couldn't bring myself to play it. I didn't like how it looked. But I like games that are scary, such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, or Slender. Even at a young age, I watched scary movies, and sort of strayed from bright and happy imagery.

In school, I drew gruesome images of people being ripped to shreds, zombies eating brains, and many other disturbing pictures. As crude as they were, my teachers always told me to leave the room. But that didn't stop me. I continued, and soon became somewhat insane. My mother, who was in the hospital, forced my father to take me to a counselor. After a few weeks visiting the Counselor, I began to feel normal again. I did well in school, no more scary imagery on paper, and I even stopped playing scary games. I made many new friends, and we all had good times.

At the age of around 15, my friends began talking about this old N64 game called Super Mario 64. I asked them what it was, and they told me it was a revolutionary game, and I needed to play it. I told them I wasn't interested, but they kept pushing and pushing, until I gave up, and told them I would give it a try. I went over to my friends house later, who gave me an extra copy. It looked a bit beaten, but it was old, so I excused it for now. My friend said it still worked fine. He also gave me a free N64 to play on. But only for a week.

I went home, plugged in the N64, and began. The game ran normally, I thought, until something odd happened. The title said, "It's-a me..." but then there was a loud, piercing noise that lasted a second, but it left a ringing in my ears for quite some time. Mario's Head showed up, and stared directly at me. My friends said you could tinker with the face on the main screen, so I clicked the A button on his face. Mario didn't respond. I clicked A again. Nothing. A. Nothing. A. Nothing. A... It disappeared.

The head vanished. It didn't surprise me, for I thought it was normal. I continued to the file select, and there was only one with any data. "Dead Mario" it said. I tried clicking on a new file, but when I did, the loud noise played again, and forced me to play on "Dead Mario."

I chose the file, and it started immediately. I was inside Peach's Castle, but there was no toad, no light, and only 1 door. The door was on the top on the stairs, so I went towards it. Every inch I got closer to the door, a human-like laugh could be heard more and more.

I went into the door, but a text box stopped me, and it said, "Your fault." It then forced me inside, and the door vanished.

The spiral stairs showed multiple pictures on the wall, and it was all the pictures I drew when I was little. But... more detailed. At the end, there was another door. Another text box appeared, and it said, "He died because of you." It then forced me inside again, and the door disappeared. I was then in the circular room. There were pictures of my friends and family, and there was a sign in front of me.

"Pick one." It said.

I was legit scared, and it was pretty hard to scare me. But I continued, since I was curious. I went into the picture of the friend who gave me the game, and a flash of light greeted me to a screen with a hovering knife. Underneath it, the text said, "End it."

I clicked, and I heard a scream. The game then told me in a strange voice, "You. Killed. Him." and shut off. I was glad.

The next day, my friend called me and told me that the guy who loaned me the game died. I was in shock, and told him everything. My friend told me I was crazy, and hung up. I think I was. But who can say what was real or not anymore? Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it was just a coincidence. But the game was strange... I knew it. I took the game, and threw it in the trash. Hoping to never see it again.

Hopefully... I won't.