Most think vacations are a time to relax, mine on the other hand was anything but relaxing.

Ever since I got into history I had always wanted to see more of the world. Different cultures fascinated me and I wanted to learn from them. Then my interest sparked even further when I discovered the anime series; Hetalia. In Hetalia almost all the nations of the world had personifications, and it showed their interactions with each other in many humorous ways. This series got me through high school, and after having been stuck in America all my life, my desire to see more of the world grew. During my free time I had written down a list of nations I wanted to see the most. When I turned eighteen my interest in Hetalia was gone, but that was the time I began my international excursions, and so far my trips to them had been uneventful but at the same time a very new experience indeed.
Now here I was at yet another country, the lovely nation of Belarus.
I had been in Belarus for two days already, and I loved every minute of it. I spent my time visiting historical spots, going to the different shops, taking pictures, and sketching the sights in my art book. Now it was the third day, and on this particular day something happened that would change my life forever.
I had been sitting on a bench outside a bookstore in Minsk. Earlier I had been sketching a bird perched on a lamp post, but it had flown off before I had gotten a good outline down. So here I was looking around for something else to inspire me. I looked up at the sky and sighed. I absentmindedly twisted around one of my light brown braids with my finger. My other hand was rhythmically tapping the sketchbook resting on my lap. I closed my hazel eyes and began to hum a bit hoping it would ease the boredom just a bit.

When I opened my eyes again someone entering the bookstore caught my interest. This person seemed familiar, even though I was certain I had never met them in my life. This person was a young woman around my age with long platinum blonde hair, with a dark blue bow centered right above her forehead. She was quite beautiful as well. I would have just continued to sit still, but something was urging me to follow her inside the store. I found her browsing some books, there was a stack of ones she had selected next to her. The books were in Russian, so I pulled out my translator. I soon figured out the books were a mix of fairy tales and some romance novels. I knew the latter were romance novels, for I had seen the same books in America.
I truly felt as if I should know this woman, but there was no way I could have met her. Then it hit me, I knew now who she reminded me of.
In my Hetalia days my favorite character had always been Belarus, I seemed to relate to her in a way. I always felt the fan base misunderstood her constantly. Most of them always saw Belarus as nothing else but as an insane stalker towards the character Russia. As much as that portrayed side of her intrigued me to like her in the first place, I still wanted to learn more about her. I studied her character a bit more, and I discovered there was more to her than loving and stalking Russia. When I learned more about her whole character I found a special connection to her.

Of course, I quickly shook off the idea this woman was Belarus. Hetalia was nothing but a work of fiction, nothing more, nothing less. There was no way the characters were real. Still though, I wanted to talk to her. I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I continued to watch her from behind bookshelves. She finished with her selections and brought the large stack of books to the cashier. She must of had quite the sum of money on her to pay for all that. That stack looked quite heavy too, but she seemed just fine carrying it in a bag with no problems. I stalked her as she left the store, but then her bag snagged on the door. The books fell out and into a big messy pile. She looked at them in alarm and knelt down to stack them up again. I felt bad for her and I glanced at my own large bag I had slung around my shoulder. My bag was plenty big enough to fit all those books. I knelt down in front of her,

"May I help you?" I asked in Russian. She looked up at me.

"Yes, thank you." she replied. "Though I would be grateful if you didn't attempt speaking Russian." she remarked in English.

I was taken aback by that statement.

"Is my Russian really that bad?" I questioned. She nodded and continued on stacking the books.
"You can use my bag to hold your books I don't mind." I took my bag off of my shoulder and placed it next to the books.
"Thank you for your generosity." The woman said, and began putting the books into my bag. When she finished, I held the door open for her. I followed her once she was through.
"Are you from America?" she asked me.
"Yes I am." I confirmed.
"What brings you to Belarus?" She asked.
"I'm just on a simple vacation, and I wanted to learn more about the history here." I explained.
"If you want to learn about this nations history, I would be obliged to share it with you." She offered.
I thanked her, I was happy that a local was going to share her historical knowledge with me.
We sat on a bench together. I took out my historical notes book and a pen from a pocket on my shirt. She began answering my questions, I wrote down all her answers with a smile on my face. As I was asking her questions I realized there was something about her answers. The way she described historical events, it was almost like she had been there in person. I convinced myself to ignore this and continue my interview with her. I put the book and pen back into my shirt pocket once she finished.
"Thanks so much for sharing all that with me." I was truly grateful.
"You are most welcome." She replied.
I then realized at that moment I had never asked for her name. "How silly of me, I haven't gotten your name yet." I apologized. She looked at me, "I'm Natalia Arlovskaya."
That name, it was Belarus's human name. I stared in shock at her for a minute, surely this was a coincidence. This had to be a coincidence, there was no way she existed.
"Is something the matter?" She asked in concern.
"No, it's nothing." I smiled, and ignored my confusion.
"What is your name?" She asked.
"Oh, it's Elena, Elena Klein." I answered. I fidgeted a little bit, I could hardly believe I was in the presence of a personification of a nation. This was too good to be true. I managed to contain my excitement and continue a normal conversation with Natalia. "May I ask you about the books you bought?" I asked. Natalia seemed to take a moment to think it over till she gave me her permission.

"It seems you like Romance quite a bit." I shared my observation.

"I love to read them, the relationships seem so deep, after all I'm in love myself." There was a brief smile on her face, but her expression went neutral again.
"What's he like? Uh, I'm not trying to get too personal, but I'd like to know." I asked nervously.
"It's alright, I like to talk about him anyway." She had a thoughtful expression on her face, her eyes looked distant though. "He is strong, and intimidating that is one thing. He always seems to have that sweet smile on his face." I saw her smiling again as she thought more about her love. "I think, despite his intimidating nature, he truly means well."
I knew exactly who she was talking about, she was describing Russia. I was going to keep it to myself that I knew more about her. "He sounds like quite the guy." I smiled, "I hope your relationship succeeds." I was trying to be supportive, but her smile vanished. "I don't think he likes me." She sighed.
"Why do you think that?" I asked.
"He tries to avoid me most of the time, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong." She looked a little sad. I put my hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry I'm sure you will win his heart eventually." I encouraged her.
"You think so?" She started to look hopeful. I nodded to reassure her.
Then she stood up looking alert.

"What's wro-" she covered my mouth with her hand to shut me up. I got up, she seemed to be hearing something I wasn't. I looked around and noticed how dark it had gotten. I looked in Natalia's direction, she was staring at a cluster of trees. It was too dark, I couldn't see anything in them. Suddenly, Natalia tackled me to the ground and at the same time I heard the loud bang of a gun.

"What the hell!?" I cried in alarm.

Natalia got up quickly and pulled me to my feet, she didn't let go of my wrist instead she ran off pulling me behind her. I could hardly keep up with her pace she was so fast. "Natalia, what's going on?" I tried to get an explanation. "Just run." Was all she said. People watched us as we ran past. I turned around and saw some dangerous looking men were following us. Natalia kept taking sharp turns down different streets, I almost tripped several times. I couldn't do this for much longer, I was beginning to feel numb in my legs and chest from exhaustion. Despite her efforts we found ourselves standing in front of a dead end. I gasped for breath, my legs were shaking from running. Natalia turned to face our pursuers. She lifted up her skirt just a bit to reveal a handgun strapped around her thigh. She took the handgun from it's holster and aimed it at the men. She didn't hesitate to pull back the revolver, she glared at the group. "Come any closer, and I promise it is the last thing you will do."
The men looked at one another, then focused their attention back on us. I had slumped against the wall behind us, still tired. I was scared, I didn't understand what was going on at all.
A van appeared from the corner and headed towards us. The back doors flung open, and a man stepped out. It was too dark to distinguish what he looked like.

"Natalia Arlovskaya, you are to come with us." He said in a calm way.

"Why should I?" She answered, I could hear she was quite angry. She aimed the gun at the man, but he retained a confident look. I heard some sort of gun fired twice. I felt a sharp sting in my shoulder, I looked to see a tranquilizer dart embedded there. Natalia collapsed next to me out cold. I did my best to keep awake but it was no use. I slipped into unconsciousness.