Split Personality

Smarter Not Harder

heh. here we go. 

_____________________________

America's POV:

I walk out of the meeting room as soon as it's over. I go down stairs and talk to my brother for a bit about random things that bros talk about. To be honest I don't remember.

Now for a nice walk. I came via a portal so that means I don't have a gas way of getting home. I can walk but it's so far.

I walk down to the edge of the woods. I hear people walking out of the building and getting in their cars to go home. But something doesn't add up. The door opened once about fifteen seconds ago. I did not hear footsteps or a car door open.

I hear a twig snap to my left. I look to see nothing there. This place is giving me the creeps, but it's the fastest way home.

During my walk I keep hearing leaves crunching, twigs snapping and other various small noises. I just keep calm and keep walking.

I see my house in the distance. Well more of the back of it anyways. Everyone in the CH world has a house. Usually with a large span of property. That's because of how little of us there are. We can stay far away from each other and not cause problems in the CH world. Humans live here too but they are more rare.

My property is on the edge of the forest opening up to a big field. There is a river and waterfall nearby and a cliff at the end of the field showing the vast land of the CH world. It just keeps going. It's beautiful. I love my home.

My house is rather large. I have over fifty one children after all. They are all grown up and have made their own little shacks all over the property. Once they got the chance to move out they did. After all they're Independent Americans.

I walk up the porch and put my key in the door. I turn the lock and that's when I hear a fight. It sounds like a real fight too. Not just a play fight.

I turn to see Oregon, Texas, and Florida. Texas was tying someone up, Oregon was choking them, and Florida was punching and kicking them like there was no tomorrow.

I ran over to see what was going on. "Hay move! What's the problem?!" They all get up and I see someone I should not have been seeing. It was Third, he was tied up on the ground and was coughing from Oregon's strong choke hold.

I sigh. "Hello there. May I ask why you followed me?" I say sternly. His eyes change from the Red color they were and to a light pink color. The coward. "I'm sorry! I was just doing what I was told!" He says, sounding panicked.

"Who told you to follow me and why?" I ask. "...Red did. He told me to follow you. I didn't want to, I swear!" He says. "Why?!" I yell. He stays quiet and starts to hyperventilate.

"Shit." I whisper. I take a few deep breaths to calm down. I keep forgetting how emotionally fragile he is.

I bend down and sit him up. I untie the knot of the rope then I look up at him. "I'm going to untie you, but before I do that you must promise me you won't run off. These woods are big, confusing and dangerous if you don't know your way around." He nods.

"Dad what are you doing?! That's Nazi! Why are you-" I look up at Texas and give him a look of 'shut up I'm busy' he goes quiet but the three kids of mine still look confused and concerned.

I take the rope off and toss it to the side. "Now just tell me why he wanted you to follow me. That's all I ask." I say calmly. "...I'm not quite sure...sorry America..." He says looking at the ground. Something's telling me he's not telling the truth, but I can't make him. Well I can, I just shouldn't.

"Well how about this. I'm going to call Britain and tell him where you are. I'm going to say that everything is fine and you are staying with me for a little while and I'll bring you back tonight." He nods. "Cool! Well let's go inside then, it's freezing out here." I stand up and wave my hand signaling to follow. They all follow me and we go inside.

We get inside and sit down on the couch. Well all of us except Third. "Hay N, you gunna sit down?" He looks up at me and shakes his head. "How come?" I ask. "I'm covered in dirt from the tackle earlier. I don't want to make a mess of your couch." He says.

"Some dirt is nothing compared to the plethora of things that have been on this couch. Go ahead, it's not like it's hard to clean." I say my kids nod. He thinks for a moment then sits down on the end of the couch. He puts his hands on his lap and looks uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong N?" I ask. "Something is always wrong, you're going to need to be more specific." He says with a small smile. I chuckle at the joke he was making.

"I mean you look uncomfortable. Is there something on your mind?" I say. "Always, it's impossible for me to not to be wondering about this, overthinking that, piecing together a puzzle I've been trying to solve for god knows how long. But currently? I'm just thinking about what Britain is doing right now. He's going to kill me." He says smiling.

"I mean, yeah. He's probably pissed right now. But everything should be fine when I call him. Here lemme do that real quick." I say. I pull out my phone and call him.

I hear a ring, another ring, another ring. Why is he not picking up? "Hello, this is Britain. If I'm not picking up that's probably because I'm doing something better with my time. Try again later and don't bother with a voice mail."

I sigh and click my tongue. "Well that's odd. He must be looking for you, he's not picking up. I guess I'll message him instead." I say as I switch over to text. I would do a voice mail, but the guy never listens to them for some reason.

I type a simple 'I got Third with me.' And I wait for a 'read' to appear below the message. A few seconds later it does. Then he calls me. I answer. "Hey dad, why weren't you answering?" I ask.

"I was looking for Third and didn't have time to talk to you." He said, sounding a bit mad. I chuckle. "Dad you never seem to have the time to talk to me."

"That's besides the point. Where is Third?" My dad asks. "He's sitting on the couch next to me. He got beat up by some of the states but other than that he's fine." I say leaning back.

"Oh good. He is getting it when he gets back here!" He yells in a grimacing tone. "Now hold your horses there killer. Let me explain what happened first." I say in a 'geez dude chill' kind of tone.

I get ready to say what I wanted but I look over and see Third looking at me and I realize the things I'm going to say I should not say in front of him. "Give me one second dad." I say standing up. "You four stay here. I'm going to get a better signal." I say and I walk off to my bedroom.

"He didn't want to come here in the first place. Red told him to and he says he doesn't know why but I know he does. He's scared to tell me. Somethings wrong." I say walking into my room and locking the door.

"That's an easy fix. Just force it out of him. Problem solved." My father says. "What happened to 'think smarter not harder'? Sometimes I think when you get mad you're just as bad of a problem solver as I am when drunk."

"How is that a bad solution?" My dad asks. I sigh. "Because it seems like every time we talk to him one on one it's some sort of questioning. The least we could do is make it seem less like an interrogation." I explain.

"Why? What's the point?" He asks. I groan. "What's less stressful, answering a question in an interrogation? Or, answering the same question in a normal conversation?" I ask. "Normal of course." My father says. "Now, how honestly do you give answers in a stressful situation?" I ask.

"They're usually about sixty percent true-...ooooh! Ok now I get it." My father says. "Are you sure you do?"I ask sarcastically. God, this is so much harder than I thought it would be. 

_________________________________________

hope you liked it! comment anything you want as always!

anyways, toodaloo,

-Grilly