Chapter two
He looked up from his writing when he heard the door creak. "What is it?"
"It's me, little Brother." The blonde woman stuck her head into the room. "I came to pay you a short visit."
"Does your boss know that you are here?"
She looked away with a nervous smile. "Not exactly… I left a note saying that I would be away visiting… I guess I may have forgotten to mention who I was visiting."
He smiled. "Please, come in."
Ukraine half skipped over to her brother's desk. She leaned over the desktop and tried to read the upside-down papers in front of her. "What are you working on?"
"I was writing about when we were younger," Ivan stated as he straightened out his papers. "I thought that if the other nations knew about how I grew up that they would be able to understand me better and we could all get along and be friends."
"Oh…" She bit her lip. "I see…"
"Remembering our childhood has brought back some fond memories."
"Oh…" His sister looked up at him sheepishly. "We had our happy moments."
"Da." He could feel his sister becoming nervous as she continued to read his papers. When she looked back up at him, her face had lost its rosy color and her blue eyes widened. "Is there something wrong, Sister?"
"It's nothing…" She stood straight up and looked over at the door. "I just remembered how much gas money I owe you and how rude I am for showing my face without any money to give you. Please forgive my shamelessness. I will excuse myself and leave right away."
"You don't have to-"
"Goodbye, little Brother."
Before he got a chance to finish his sentence she had ran out the door; slamming it behind her. Alone once more, he simply smiled and returned to his writing.
xx
"You brats are late," the general yelled from a distance. The snow made their world deafeningly quiet, but somehow this man's booming voice could be heard from any distance. "I should have your skins tanned and use your bones as tooth picks after eating you up raw."
"We are very sorry, Mr. Winter," Ivan panted as he ran toward his guardian. "We came as fast as we could."
"Then you should learn to run faster." Winter dropped a heavy fist on each of their heads. "Today you will run laps until you can run faster than this morning. From here to that hill to back here until I think that you have become fast."
The siblings looked at each other nervously. Ivan knew that the longer he ran would only tire him out. Tired legs were slow legs and slow legs meant running longer. It was an impossible task, but he did not dare oppose their guardian.
"Why have you not started running yet?" Winter asked impatiently. Kicking up a wave of snow, he cursed under his breath as the two made a mad dash for the hill. Behind them he yelled, "Run faster you ground squirrels!"
The cold air stung his lungs and the wind made his eyes water, but he kept running. It was ties like this that he wished he was tall like his sister. Because of her longer legs, she was a faster runner than he was and could trudge through the deeper snow better than he could. As he tromped forward on a return trip from the hill, I van stepped onto a deep snow drift and sunk down to his waist.
"Are you okay, Ivan?" Katyusha asked as she backtracked toward him. "I'll help you."
"Did I tell you to stop running, girl?" General Winters voice roared.
"I'm sorry, General Sir." Katyusha cried a she resumed her course.
Ivan's eyes grew wide as Winter walked toward him with his stone face cracked by a permanent frown. He could feel his body with full knowledge that he was not shivering from the cold. Trembling, he struggled to pull himself up. When a dark shadow fell on him, he froze.
"You stopped running, boy."
Ivan tried to form an apology, but his tongue would not move. His heart pounded like crazy and his mind went blank.
"Well, aren't you gonna drag yourself out of that hole?"
With new urgency, Ivan attempted to pull his body up to little avail. Helplessness washed over him as his strength began to wane. He looked up apologetically at the man.
"Do you need my help, boy?"
Ivan managed to squeak a fearful, "Please, Sir."
Thump!
His head was spinning and his senses were jumbled. He felt himself being pulled free from the snow. Not knowing which way was up and which way was down, dizziness threatened to make him sick. Being suspended did not last long before he felt the sudden thud of landing on his back.
"Remember this, boy," the General's voice echoed in his ears. "Anyone offering you help will one day knock you on your ass. It is better to struggle and use your own strength to solve your problems. If you are not strong enough, become strong enough. Other nations will swallow you up if you give them the chance. Now run!"
Ivan fumbled to his feet and tottered forward. "Yes, Sir!"
