Sunlight hit my face uncomfortably, painfully bringing me out of my slumber. My head felt like it was splitting open, and it hurt to breathe. Flashes of my previous encounter with Russia zoomed in and out of my mind. Blood, shouting, crying, pain. Was I dead? No, my hurting confirmed that somehow, I had survived Russia's attack.

I turned my head to the side and saw that my right shoulder, the one that had been stabbed, was in bandages. My chest was wrapped up, too. I gingerly felt around my lower ribcage and winced. Injured rib, or ribs, check. I felt my head and found that it had been bandaged.

The door creaked open and Lithuania appeared. His eyes dilated, and he ran before I could say a word.

Oh, no, I thought with dread. He's going to get Mr. Russia!

The door reopened a moment later and I cracked an eye open, feigning sleep.

"I know you are awake," I heard Russia say. He entered, wearing a yellow turtleneck underneath a gray blazer. I couldn't see his expression from where he stood. "There is no point in trying to look as though you are sleeping."

Something willed me to open my eyes, and I saw the tall Russian man looking crestfallen. It didn't make me feel bad one bit. "You're insane," I spat. "Your mind is messed up. I can see why you're alone. Nobody would ever live with you because they wanted to."

Russia nodded sadly. "I do not... You do not understand... I just..." He couldn't finish his sentence, instead running to the side of the bed and kneeling. "Anechka, I did not mean to hurt you." He took my hand in his. I yanked it back and crossed my arms.

"You didn't mean to hurt me? You're crazy! You treat someone really nicely, then you beat them nearly to death? What is wrong with you?"

Russia's purple eyes shimmered with tears. "Please understand-"

"Understand what? That you're a monster with no heart or soul? I know that already."

The Russian put his hands in his lap. "Please, Anechka... Forgive me."

I glanced down to look him in the eyes and was surprised to see the pain, sadness, and sincerity that resided in them. He took my hand again, but I didn't pull away. "Forgive me," he whispered.

Something in the way this man was acting, different from any other way he had before. Not asking, but... pleading, begging... "I... You're forgiven." The words escaped my mouth without control from my mind. What was I saying? He stabbed me and almost killed me...

And you forgive him? My conscience hissed.

I can't not forgive him, my other inner voice reasoned. He might actually kill me this time, or be really sad and kill himself or something...

"I forgive you, Mr. Russia," I repeated.

Russia's eyebrows went up. "Верно? You mean it?"

Did I mean it? How could I mean it, after what he did? But it wasn't his fault, was it? His mind seemed unstable. But Lithuania had said Russia was evil. "Second chances can save a life," Mother used to say. A second chance for someone who had attempted to kill me? My mother's voice kept repeating her second chances mantra in my head, and I gave in. "Yes," I sighed. "I do mean it."

Russia smiled and said, "Thank you, Anechka!"

I nodded tiredly. "Mr. Russia, how long was I asleep?"

The man thought for a second and replied, "2 days. And a night."

"2 days?" I exclaimed. "But who's been doing the cooking and cleaning?"

"Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, of course. They don't mind. They knew it was good that you slept for so long."

I frowned. "How is that good?"

"Well, it allowed you to heal more effectively than if you had been awake. If you weren't asleep, you would've insisted on cooking and you would be hurt even more," Russia said.

That was exactly what I would've done. "Mr. Russia," I said, "I don't want to be bedridden until I heal up. I can't just lie in bed and let you feed me. I must pull my own weight. My mother and father raised me to be responsible."

Russia said, "I understand how you feel, but you can't be going about. You would hurt yourself worse."

I saw that there was no point in trying to deny that I would worsen my injuries if I tried to move around too much, so I stayed in bed most of the next two weeks. As it turned out, I had a concussion, two cracked ribs, and I had dislocated my left shoulder, though it had been put back in place while I slept.

I stayed in bed for a few weeks to recover. With Russia away at meetings most of the time, I got restless and decided to try befriending the Baltic states. They were nice enough, if not a little jumpy, and sociable. They were around my age, a few years younger in Latvia's case, but that made them easy to talk to. Try as I might, however, I couldn't get any information about Russia's mental state or why he went crazy sometimes.

As my body got better, I could get around better; my ankle was less painful and I walked around more. Not having to rely on someone for transportation was wonderful, and I took my free time to explore the house.

Many rooms held old things, like clothes and various weapons from eras past. Some held things of use to me: in one particular dresser, I found a large array of colorful bandanas. In another, I found a pair of dusty overalls that Russia said used to belong to his sister.

One day, during a search, I spotted a door I hadn't seen before. Upon entering, I found that it was empty save for a stack of papers in the corner. Curiosity pulled me closer, and I saw that the papers were actually pictures.

They were all of Russia and two girls. One had short silvery hair, like Russia's, and wore overalls. She had a very large... bosom, to put it nicely. The other girl was very pretty and had long blonde hair that reached almost to her waist. She usually wore a dark blue dress with a bow tied in the back and frowned a lot.

The girls looked a lot like Russia, and I remembered what he had said when I first awoke in his home: "Ukraine does not talk to me, and Belarus is... Nyet, дорогой. We are distanced from each other, all of us." So were these his sisters...? I selected one yellowed picture with all three of them together and went to find Russia.

He was in the greenhosue humming "Korobeiniki" while planting some new sunflowers.

I rapped on the door. "Mr. Russia?" He looked up and motioned for me to come in. I opened the door and felt the temperature rise a little. It had been getting a bit warmer outside, though not by much. "I found this picture in an empty room. Are these your sisters?" I handed the picture to him.

Russia took the picture, and his eyes combed it for a few seconds. He sighed and showed the photo to me. "Da. This"- he pointed to the girl in overalls- "is my big sister, Ukraine. You have some of her overalls, remember? This"- he pointed to the pretty girl in the dress- "is Belarus, my little sister. Would you like to help me plant these seeds?"

Sensing he didn't want to talk about his sisters at the moment, I dug a hole and buried a seed inside. Why didn't he want to talk about his family? Something was going on with him and his sisters. I've got to find them, I decided. I must.

)*(*)*(

Oh, my. I am about to drop off right now. I had to save this three times and keep rewriting it because my laptop kept bugging out! Whatever, it's done know. I was actually listening to Korobeiniki while writing this, so I had to put it in. You know I had to! Oh, and I changed the word for "darling" because I had it wrong. I changed it in the second chapter, too, so don't worry!

Верно - Truly

Nyet - No

дорогой - Darling

Korobeiniki - Russian folk song, better known as the theme for Tetris

Da - Yes