Princess

Part 6: The Others

The wall was more interesting than Peach's life at the moment. Sure, her life had always been rather dull, only interrupted from her usual schedule of attending to royal matters by a surprise kidnapping, and she'd even become tired of those after the 3rd attempt. Bowser had decided a fitting punishment for acting out of line during his little meeting was to lock her up in her room for a week, her only company being Kamek whenever he brought her her daily meals. 

She gazed at the pastel pink paintwork for about the three-hundredth time. Boredom was the only emotion she could feel. She wanted to feel scared or worried for the lives of her citizens and friends, but she couldn't. All her worry had been lapped up and replaced by the feeling of slowly going mad. The cracks in the ceiling had become her therapist. She chuckled in a low tone, feeling her sanity diminishing with every minute she watched the wall.

"You're a wall. I'm a human. You aren't living, why am I doing this? Oh well," she said, staring intently at the painted plaster as if it would respond. It was a fucking wall, no shit it wouldn't reply. Her eyes scanned over it, looking for anything intriguing to stare at for the time being. Nothing.

 It was bland, to say the most. It was a wall, what more could anybody expect of it. Yet walls held secrets. The walls, so plain and uninteresting, had seen the most colorful and vibrant displays that hadn't even grazed the sight of a living person. The walls, if they were people, would be the most intelligent of humans. They were paintings that hadn't reached a canvas, they were ideas that hadn't left the mind, they were the pencils that hadn't touched the paper, the books that hadn't been written. They were plain to the naked eye, but beneath, they were everything humanity wasn't. 

A yell snapped her out of her daydream about the walls of her prison. She sighed, knowing the all too familiar sound of an argument breaking out. Which set of minions would be duking it out with slurs today? She hated to admit it, but the spats between the workers of Bowser's army could sometimes be the highlight of her week. They were interesting and distracted her from her sad life.

"I ain't no brat!" a high pitched, prepubescent male voice screeched from the hallway.

"That's what you think, golden boy. You're a fucking brat and Father's favourite! I was all set to be the heir and then you came along and snatched it away from me!" another male yelled, his voice with a slight German hint to it. This man sounded quite a bit older than the first. The harsh sound of a slap followed his words, a cry of pain coming seconds after. Peach winced, violence was one of the few things she couldn't bear to see, or hear. 

She guessed it was either two koopalings or one koopaling and Bowser Jr. She'd partially forgotten about the seven mistakes known as Bowser's adopted kids. It was rare to come across them, as they were rather 'shy' in a way, not the 'timid nerd' kind of shy, apart from maybe Iggy but he was completely crazy so he was every personality that could ever exist. No, the koopalings were the kind of shy that goth kids were. They'd shoot you a disgusted glare, as if you were a bug that needed to be squished, and then walk off, muttering cuss words and empty threats about how they'd shoot you if you dared even be in the same room as them. Yet the koopalings would most likely shoot you.

"Shut the fuck up!" a woman screeched, a loud slam of a door interrupting her words.

Peach shut her eyes and tried to imagine the scene playing out outside her locked door, yet she couldn't. She just couldn't remember what was outside her room, it had seemed like so long since she'd last been out. Yet it had only been a week. Was she going mad? Probably. Who wouldn't have lost a few marbles in her position? Someone who probably had a few screws loose in the first place.

"Shut up, slut! This isn't your concern!" the older male snapped. Irritation was clear in his tone.

The koopalings were loud, she thought as she listened in on their screaming argument. You could probably hear them even if you were on the other side of the castle. No matter what they did, it always was loud. Heavy metal from one room, mechanical screeches of experiments from another, piano music, yelling, shitty game music on full volume, and the list goes on. They also cursed a hell of a fucking lot. That must come with being around underpaid goombas with no filter whatsoever. A torrent of insults was flying like bullets outside between the siblings.