Freedom Burns

night 4

poland's pov

i was sitting in my office. nothing new today, germany did all the repairs on the list for me. soo i'm kind of just vibing. stipes peaked down at me, and suddenly, i had an idea. "do you know about the children who.. died here?" he flinched, and dropped down. "where'd you hear about that." woa, that changed his mood. "uhm- i met a guy, kazakhstan, outside. he said that his older brother died here and he's been begging germany for any sort of lead ever since their dad died." stipes' gazed softened, and he sighed. "guess this was bound to happen one way or another.." he brought his good hand up to his face. i raised an eyebrow. "so you do know?" it seemed to be physically hurting him to talk about. "yea, a bit too much. I'd recommend you lock up, this'll take a bit. and don't interrupt me, got it?" i nodded. "good."

"have i mentioned i'm older than you? probably not. i think i'm 31, but it's been quite a while since i've properly pointed it out.. anyway, yea, i know quite a bit about the children, cos' i'm one of them." i stood frozen. there's no- he held out his hand. "the name's america."

"duppa is kazkhstan's older brother, russia. tars was his best friend, china, and collin was mine, france. that's changed since then, obviously, but that's how it was. the building started burning and.. and we didn't know what to do. i panicked and lead us to the empty suit room, since my father worked here and gave me a tour. he's long since retired but.. whatever, i'm getting off topic. china was the youngest, so i gave her the smallest suit. russia was the tallest, so he got the biggest suit. france really, really liked the main character, so they got collin. i let everyone choose before me, and i knew i'd get the broken one, but i didn't care. we were safe from the fire, and that's all the mattered, at least, that's what i thought. the fire reached the room and.. i heard france scream. i tried to get out, i couldn't let them die. but the fire reached me too and.. the springs were heat activated. that's all i'll say. we woke up like this. we didn't know what to do, so we did nothing. for 3 years, we sat there and did nothing. we were vandalized, but we didn't know what to do. but.. it all got to france's head. and that's when it started. fourteen years ago, france suggested we fought back. we didn't like it at all at first, not one bit. but eventually.. we all caved to the insanity of it. i regret it, how much i pushed for the idea. i thought that if we murdered the night guard, then the place would close down and they'd burn the suits or something. i didn't care, i just wanted to be free. it didn't work. they didn't close down, they just changed the suits. and yet we were still stuck. there was nothing we could do, we were trapped. i think that's why they kill. they're angry and sad and numb all at once. we all just want to be freed, and apparently they could care less the price. i don't blame them. if i hadn't seen the night guard's face as he realized what was happening, i probably would want to kill to. they think the first guy injured me, since i ripped off my own hand after. they didn't figure out we changed suits, they weren't awake. but i got the broken one. i can't sleep. i can't rest. i'm always painfully awake. that could be another reason i don't want you to die, perhaps i empathize with you.. in any sense, they thought he injured me and i was too traumatized to ever fight again. they trust me to spy for them, but china's smarter than she looks. she figured it out, and agreed to let me do my own thing since she didn't particularly care, as long as france was happy she'd be happy. she took on my role as the stealthy one, and i've been helping the night guards ever since."

he took a long, hard breath. "wow, thanks, that felt good to get off my chest. sorry for rambling." i just nodded. whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthe- "i promise they're good people. they've just been lead astray. if this were in any other circumstance.. i- i think you and france would've gotten along well. china would like you immediately after that, and you've already got me. i wish it was that way.." i can tell he does. i can tell he wished it was like that from the start. i can tell he wished that they were dead, and finally at peace. "what's it like to live in constant restlessness?" his expression darkened. "awful. at first i thought that it was cool. i was the oldest and had the most information, and so it got to my head. and then we changed suits. again. and again. and again. and again. it was painful, they were ripping my skin off and replacing it. please don't imagine that feeling." i shuddered. "to be changed once every year.. it's painful." sti- america looked away. a smile that cracked his face interrupted his brooding. "i'm glad kazakhstan cares. russia always was worried that nobody would. i'm guessing his sisters don't?" i shook my head, causing him to nod thoughtfully. "i wish i could tell him that, but i can't tell him how i figured it out."

a thought interrupted all the others. "do you know any of the workers?" he glanced back at me. "hm? oh, yeah. japan and philippines are the main two security guards up front, germany's the manager and also repairs us occasionally, obviously you, and italy works in the kitchen. that's it, right? talk about understaffed.." i chuckled at his retort. "yeah, there's also dixie. she reminds me a lot of you, actually." america's gaze darkened. "oh. her." part of me wanted to lash out and defend her, but the rational side of me told me to listen to his reasoning. "is something wrong? do you not like her, or something?" his leg twitched. "uhm. she's- my little sister. we had a big fight a day or two before the fire, and she told me i was better off dead than bothering her. i got the last word, but.." he trailed off. i wanted to say something, but america cut me off. "oh look, it's 5:56. i'm heading back. good day, poland." i smiled, gently. "bye, america."

- - - - -
haha i didn't remember i had to do this at 11:09 pfft what, nooooo. anyway, big plot twist(?). i left hints here and there, mostly on russia, like his party hat being the pepsi logo, and all of his juggling balls representing their flags. (ex; america had the white and red stripes one). hopefully this was somewhat predictable so this wasn't just out of the blue.

is it christmas yet?,
-aut

1115 words