What you find in the attic

For reasons of privacy, I would rather not disclose my name. You can just call me Sam. This entire incident started when I decided to finally move out of my parents house. I was 19 at the time, and was eager to move on with my life. I had already packed all of my stuff, when my mom recommended that I check the attic for anything that I had left there. I told her that I wouldn't need boxes of dust in college, but she insisted. The attic had at least an inch of dust, and it was pretty hard to see around. Nothing really caught my eye, except for a box with the words "Games" written in black sharpie. I opened it up and was delighted with what I saw. It was my old Wii! On top of it were some of my old games, such as Wii Sports or SSBB, as well as the controllers. I got an clean box and carefully put in my new-found treasure. As I put the box into the cramped space of my trunk, I waved goodbye to my parents before setting off.

After orientation and the tour of campus, I decided to bring my stuff to my dorm. I got one of the only rooms without a roommate, so I was pretty lucky. There was the standard desk and bed, as well as a simple bathroom. My room also came with a TV. "I'm so lucky, I could play Russian Roulette with 6 bullets and the gun would jam!" I told myself as I began unpacking. I got out all my school stuff, and began to set up the Wii. "I've got an hour to kill, might as well start playing." I closed my eyes and pulled out a game. It was Super Paper Mario, one of my favorite games. I inserted the disk and went to the game window. The game took almost a full minute to load, which I blame on the fact that it's been in my attic for 7 years. I decided that I would relive my nostalgia and watch the completed intro. Instead of the intro opening with the Dark Prognosticus being shown, it started with what appeared to be Mario's head, eyes wide open with a look of fear on his face, and blood trickling from his forehead. I quickly switched off the Wii and decided that I would instead check out some of the students nearby.

Throughout the day, the image stayed in my mind. I must have been thinking about the image a lot, as the guys next to me often had to jostle me with their elbows once the class was over. Once the day was done, I headed back to my dorm. Everything seemed normal, but I inspected the room to see if anything was out of place. I'm a bit paranoid, you see, and hate it when someone enters my room. I quickly changed into my pajamas, and lied down in bed. I was awake for hours before I realized that I wasn't going to sleep much. I got up and sat down on the chair in front of my TV. My paranoia was pushing me to see what was going on with my Wii. I started the game again but quickly skipped to the title screen. "Everything seems normal here." I said to myself. I guessed that the screen was one of the many sick Easter Eggs that Nintendo likes to put with their products. I checked my saves and realized that I only had one save file. I opened it and put a random scrabble of letters. The game started with the same opening, Mario and Luigi in their house, and Toad coming to tell them that Princess Peach was kidnapped. When he said this, Mario and Luigi had horrified looks on their faces. I didn't remember if this was part of the game that I had played as a child, but I shook it off as being something I didn't realize as a kid. The next screen showed Bowser in his castle, declaring to his troops that they were going to go and capture the princess, only for Mario and Luigi to be spotted in the crowd of Goombas and Koopas. The usual witty dialogue appeared on screen, and the the games villain, Count Bleck, appeared with the captured princess. Something obviously didn't look right, as Peach had bruises on her arms and a black eye. When Peach saw Mario and Luigi, she recoiled back and began screaming. Had I found a morbid Easter Egg of some sort?

As Mario tried to jump on Bleck, a black hole appeared and sucked in Mario, stretching and squishing him, only now the sound of bones cracking was audible. I winced each time I heard it, wondering when it would finally stop. With Mario knocked out, Bleck sucked in all of the characters except for Mario into a black hole, and disappeared. I didn't feel like playing anymore, as I realized how heavy my body was feeling. I turned of the TV and quickly fell asleep.

The next day was pretty normal, and we started to do some work in our classes. I'm taking classes on politics and economy, which both drained my energy pretty quickly. I got back to my room and decided that I would play a different game, as I was too tired to deal with that shit in Super Paper Mario. Instead I pulled out a rather obscure game, Blazing Angels. The premise was that you were the pilot of a fighter plane during WW2. I was never any good, and couldn't even make it past the tutorial. Each time my plane crashed I would hear a noise that appeared to be my pilot screaming. I decided that I should play a game I can actually play well. This time I pulled out Super Mario Galaxy 2, another one of my favorites. I had beaten the game, and decided that I would try to get all of the Prankster Comets. Most of them were stopping enemies to get a certain amount of points, while one or two involved the use of various power ups. My favorites were where you had to collect these silver stars before getting the actual star you need to beat the level. I was pretty rusty at the game, and died to even the easiest enemies. Every time that I died though, instead of Mario falling down and the screen going black, it showed Mario jumping off the edge of the map into the black hole below. This freaked me out, as Nintendo would never put something as dark as suicide in a game. I turned off my TV and Wii before going to bed. This morning I received a notification to come down to the office. Confused with what they wanted, I quickly went to the principles office. He told me that students had been reporting screams coming from my room, and was worried if I was okay. I lied through my teeth and told him that I was simply watching a horror movie. He chuckled, and told me to avoid horror movies for a while. He then called my teachers to allow me in late.

I've decided that I should sell the games, along with the Wii. I've been having nightmares for weeks, with images of Mario's horrified face, Princess Peach's injuries, and Mario jumping to his death. The very human screams of my pilot ring through my ears, and I've decided I can't take it anymore. I played Super Paper Mario, which was the root of this problem once more, and I wished I didn't. Every death of an enemy was followed by a pool of blood forming at their corpse. Mimi, the girl who transforms into a giant spider-monster snapped her neck for a full minute, while Dimentio, the strange jester who ends up backstabbing Count Bleck was even more sadistic, telling Luigi to kill himself during their fight. The music was much deeper, and the characters had expressions of pure sadness. Whenever I died, the same image that appeared on the opening was shown. I'm sorry if this leaves questions unanswered, but I can't take playing those games any longer. And to whoever buys these games, I warn you to not let it get to your head.