Molly plopped herself on the couch in front of the TV and turned it on. A ray of artificial light receded down the living room's wall as her mom's car slowly backed out of the tiny driveway. She turned back to the television and flicked absent-mindedly through the channels, her eyes shifting occasionally to the clock softly ticking in the doorway to the kitchen.

Shouldn't the time have changed to 9 by now? she asked herself. The red electronic numbers flashed to the hour and she groaned. Why was time going by so slowly?

It was Thursday. Molly's school had closed for Christmas Vacation yesterday, and her mom just left to visit her aunt for the holiday in two days. She wouldn't be home until next Wednesday. Her older sister was over her friend's house for the weekend. Her father was already at the aunt's house.

Molly shivered, and it wasn't from the cold as white flakes of snow drifted to the frozen ground. There was nothing worse than her bitchy aunt. She was determined never to go over there again. She shook her head furiously, not wanting to think about her freaky family member.

Maybe she could go over one of her cousin's house tomorrow, or talk to one of her friends, like Abby. It was getting late though, and she didn't want to disturb anyone of they were asleep or anything.

Slowly, slowly, the time passed, and she found her way to her bedroom. Eventually her eyes drifted shut. Hopefully tomorrow would bring about a more eventful day.

She was awakened by a hard knock on her front door.

Molly jumped, her heart fluttering in her chest. Several jumbled thoughts flittered across her mind. Was her mom back so soon? Had something happened?

She padded down the hall and peeked through the curtains of the front window. A UPS man was found standing at the door with a tall box behind him. Maybe the neighbors in the upstairs apartments ordered something, she guessed, but, as he knocked again and no one came forward to greet him, she started to feel uneasy. Did her dad buy something and not tell her? Was it an early Christmas present? Was it her older sister's?

Molly climbed down the stairs and apprehensively opened the door. It swung open with a squeak. Cold wind hit her full force and small lines of snow swirled over the threshold.

The deliveryman, who had started to turn away, looked up. His lips were pressed tightly together as he forced a smile. His eyes, which shone with confusion, kept glancing nervously at the package.

He held out the electronic signature board. "Um…sign here please."

Molly took the machine from his hands and stared at it closely, puzzled. The information on it read her address, along with her last name-Rose.

Shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head, she quickly scribbled her name and handed it over. The postman dumped the box in the middle of the living room with a weary grunt and rushed, hurriedly, from the house. After a moment, Molly stepped up to the package. It was almost seven feet tall and five feet wide. The sides were held together by a thick rope, with a packet of papers on top under a neatly tied bow. She jumped and snatched the papers, falling backwards as she landing and tripped over her own feet. A sharp pain went up her spine as her tailbone met the floor.

Rubbing her lower back, she glanced at the giant letters in bold print on the first page. What she read made her feel sick and her lower lip trembled from the effort of holding back a sob. If she hadn't been on the floor, she would be at that moment, as her limbs grew weak. She felt her hands shaking as she raised the cover page to her eyes again.

"Hetalia Unit Manual and User Guide for…" She swallowed. "For I van Braginsky."

Her head shot up to watch the box fearfully. Her mouth was suddenly dry and her hands were becoming clammy. I-it c-can't be true. T-there's no way R-Russia's in there! She had read some of the Hetalia Unit fan-fictions online before, but they were fiction! They couldn't be real.

"This is…it's just a twisted joke from Abby, probably", Molly said aloud, trying to convince herself. "Y-yeah, t-that's it."

She slowly, carefully, climbed to her feet and took a small step towards the box. Nothing happened. She stepped a bit closer. Another baby step. And another. Finally, she was close enough to touch it. She cautiously reached out a hand and rapped on it lightly.

The package shifted and she jumped back with a startled shriek. M-my hand knocked it, that's all.

The second time it bounced, she longer tried to pretend that this was real. She instead focused on not jumping out of the window. Then, as a loud snapping noise sounded as the rope broke, she turned to the window. The sides of the box fell open like a peeled orange.

Molly froze a few feet from the window as the box revealed the tall, largely built country. He titled his head, his light-colored scarf falling behind his broad shoulders, and his light, gray-blue eyes landed on her. She tensed like a deer caught in a car's headlights.

"R-R-Russia", she squeaked.

"Da", he responded in a heavy Russian accent. "And who are you?" His mouth split open into a sweet smile, but Molly's shaking only increased. "Something wrong?"

She jerked her head from left to right. She read the stories with Latvia in them-the terrible, abusive, fane-made fan-fictions-and she didn't want anything like that to happen to herself. She was, of course she had to be, the descendent of someone from Latvia.

"H-hold on o-one second", Molly told him and fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone. She quickly typed in Abby's number on the keypad. She had to try several times before all the numbers were punched in correctly thanks to her trembling hands. "Abby!" she cried in a hushed whisper.

"Little Latvia!" Molly's eyes widened as the sound echoed in the room. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized she had hit the speaker button in her haste. Damn her nicknames. Even her mind's words were small and scared.

She shut it off and pressed the phone to her ear. She turned to make sure Russia was still in the living room before continuing. "You n-need to get over h-here. Now."

There was a pause. "Uh, I can't really Molly. I'll have to ask my parents and you know how they-"

"Just get here!" she hissed shakily, feeling tears of desperation prick at her eyes. She rubbed her eyes briskly before forcing an unconvincing smile and turning back to face the intimidating country.

She felt a chill run down her back and her smile melted into a hopeless line as she noticed the positively creepy childish grin playing across Russia's face.

"Latvia, did you say?" he asked, ominously cheerful.

Molly shuddered. She was going to kill Abby if she came over.

Russia took a step closer to Molly, and she took one back in turn, trying to keep the distance between them constant. His smile faded and she froze for a second, until it popped back on his face.

"Latvia?" he repeated.

Molly nodded warily. "M-my grandma was f-f-from there."

He stepped closer, but Molly was thinking on plans of escape to notice his advance.

"I know Latvia. Very well, in fact. It's nice to meet someone close to him. I'm sure that he will be very excited when I tell him of you." As he spoke, he closed the distance in three long strides.

Molly swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat. She wished Abby were here right now. She wasn't afraid of Russia; she even liked him! Maybe she could distract him long enough for her to dash out of the house and run as far from the place as possible. Preferably without screaming her lung out.

The large country's smile widened as he pressed a gloved hand atop her head. She slumped forward under the pressure, her knees cramping as he pressed down.

"You are small like him too," he giggled happily. "Are you all, I wonder?" Molly quivered under his touch. She could feel the coldness of his skin on her scalp through the fabric. "And shake the same as well! …You are afraid, da?" His face was open, his smile appeared friendly, but she suspected the glint in his eyes to be that of a hint of cruelty.

"No-no! O-of course not! I'm just…surprised…" she answered quickly, stumbling over her words. She tried to keep still.

"So am I. I did not expect to be shipped off when I left the world meeting yesterday…although, it would be nice if it wasn't somewhere cold and snowy too."

"I-I can turn up the heat, I guess." Molly left the room, but the chilling feeling of being watched told her that Russia was trailing behind her.

Outside, a small, blue Toyota pulled up in front of the house. The passenger door opened and frustrated talking filled the crisp, quiet air.

"You know that I'm not going to do this every time", Abby's mom pointed out, annoyance and anger plainly showed in her voice.

Abby suppressed a sigh. How many times have you said that now? Eight? Nine? she wondered. "Yeah, I know, I know, Mom. She just sounded really upset and I wanted to make sure that she's alright."

"I don't care what you wanted to do. You should have told me earlier!"

"But-I couldn't! Molly-"

"Just go", her mom said, looking straight ahead and clenching the steering wheel. "Call me whenever you decided to come home too."

Abby let out an exasperated sigh and slammed the car door shut. Her mom drove off instantly. "Thanks, Mom", she mumbled sourly and trudged up the driveway.

She knocked on the door and rocked back on her heels as she waited. After a moment, she knocked again. Another minute went by without a sound.

"If she's not home…" she growled under her breath.