Book 1 - Puppets

XII - Tapping Hands

Russia hurriedly pulls in. As soon as the car stops moving, the teens run out and hurry inside. Once consolidated in one room, Massachusetts pulls out his phone and types aggressively before putting it up to his ear.

Russia, Texas, and Canada sit back on the couch. Louisiana sits on the floor nearby, her legs crossed. Massachusetts paces in front of the couch, one arm crossed over his chest and the other tightly wound up his neck.

"Hey, Pothead," Massachusetts demands, "What the hell going on in your state?"

Russia watches, curious.

"You know exactly what I am talking about! The stairs, the freaky monster thing that chased us. The car stopped by itself! ... Yes, we're all okay and back at the hotel. Yup. Well, you can thank Russia for that... We left before sunrise for the mountains-"

Massachusetts scowls.

"Don't interrupt me! We were in the mountains before sunrise, and suddenly something began to chase us. I couldn't really see what it was because when it got close, the car turned off, and all the lights flickered out," Massachusetts says, waving his hand to punctuate the sentence.

Russia finds himself nodding along to the story.

"Russia was driving and he got the car started again after I tried to repel whatever the fuck that was. It was like something was holding us... Uh-huh. Yeah... We sped off... There was a lot of swerving, but no one was hurt, and I didn't see any damage to the car..."

A brief pause filled by Massachusetts' face scrunching weirdly.

"No driving in the daAark," Massachusetts whines mockingly, "Maybe you should've told us that before we left! Besides, we also went a few minutes into the forest to a weird carpeted staircase. Took way longer to get back. Yeah, bye."

Massachusetts pockets the phone with a huff before straddling the arm of the couch next to Russia.

"I'm hungry," Canada says flippantly.

With that, they go back into the car to get something to eat.

On the way, Russia continues to see odd shapes on the edges of the headlights. He decides against stopping.

Eventually, they settle on a pizza restaurant in the more populated area around their hotel. Usually, Russia would be a little annoyed by the background chatter, but now he finds it almost comforting.

'It is a reminder that we are not here alone.'

Looking at the states, Russia notices that Texas is staring out the window and seems lost in thought. His hands fidget on the table. Russia kicks Texas' foot lightly, and Texas' head jerks up, eyes wide.

"What?" Texas questions, looking around.

"Are you okay?" Russia asks, reaching out a hand hesitantly.

Texas chuckles. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little high-strung."

"We all made it back okay," Canada affirms, "Just you eat before we leave, eh?"

Texas grabs a few slices of pizza to munch on. After eating, they settle back at the hotel for a quiet night.

The next morning, they make sure to wait until sunrise before leaving. However, instead of leaving their clothes in the room like before, they decide to pack them and throw their bags into the back of the car.

Russia texts New York to inform him of their decision. New York replies quickly, promising the bill is covered, and he recommends Russia tell the stewardess at the front desk that they were checking out. Then, after a quick stop for coffee and snacks, they are back on their way back into the mountains.