ЦАРЬ KAISER - A Race to Conquer (Countryhumans)

Anger

"Come on German Empire," my bored cousin stood over me, leaning slightly on his cane. "I'm sure nobody will penalise you for what you did."

I buried my face in my hands. "Ugh, it was him. He made me lose control."

Austria-Hungary sighed. "Accusations, again."

The only people in the deserted room were my cousin, America, and me. The last shards of crystal were removed by the cleaning staff, but the general air of unease hung around, unable to be dispelled. My uncontrollable anger dissipated, replaced with shame, guilt, and hollowing hate for the man who made me do this. I didn't want to crash into a projector. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of all my peers. I didn't want to deface America's property. But I was manipulated.

"Come on," Austria Hungary repeated quite annoyingly this time. His voice turned high pitched and whiny, losing all its slippery oiliness just like water slipping off a rock, making it rough and sharp. "I don't want to stand around all day. It'll make my joints hurt more."

"Oh my," I rolled my eyes. My cousin could be very annoying with his comments. One day he'd yell about scaling Mount Everest, the next he couldn't get up the stairs. I walked out with him in the lead, onto the loud and busy street. I looked around to find our white sedan, which was parked near the end of the block. Instinctively, I wrapped my hand around the crook of his arm only to have him irritably jerk his arm away.

"I don't need your help," he spat. "I'm just a little older than you." He walked towards the car, muttering darkly under his breath about being strong. We drove out of the city in frosty silence, not acknowledging each other. For all his talk on anger, he was the one who acted very snappy. I realised that I wasn't going home for a while as we swerved off the main road and onto a dusty track down to the mainland.

"And why aren't I going home?" I asked, not looking at him.

"We're going to my home," Austria Hungary said matter of fact. "Where you will sit down and tea with me for the rest of the day."

I huffed impatiently. Tea. "I'd rather not," I said as neutrally as possible.

"But you see," he argued. "Not one other person who enjoys my presence is free to spend time with me. My sons are doing their work at this hour; Ottoman Empire sent me a telegram to go somewhere unpleasant after I had asked him to come; my other friends secretly hate me and don't have the courage to tell me as Ottoman Empire can; and my father is too busy with your father, hatching out some sort of devious plan to conquer the world." he topped his high list off with an 'it all makes sense' type of shrug. "So naturally, I took you along."

"Well, I don't want to."

His frown turned to a smile. "It's not like you have any choice. What are you going to do? Jump out of the...German Empire!" he was cut off by the roar of the wind as I opened the door and tumbled out onto the semi-soft grasses that grew alongside the road. I immediately regretted my actions after landing. However soft the ground could have been, I nevertheless felt the shocking impact on my elbow and hip, painfully reminding me that I wasn't spring and spry anymore. I winced, yet leapt to my feet and dashed into the field, where the car couldn't follow me. I knew that Austria Hungary could never follow me from the comfort of his auto.

"German Empire, come back this instant!" his indignant yell came.

I flashed a triumphant grin. "Never!" and pushed through the thick tussocks and into the dense shrubbery that marked the end of Austria Hungary's expansive plot of land. His territory consisted of a long road with small patches of land around it and then ends with a spacious one-storey villa. It was nice and peaceful, but also almost silent and boring. It was a sluggish place where I think I would die. My conglomerate compound off a cliffside was much more grandiose, thrilling, and quick-paced.