CH.2

I walked down the old hallways, seeing as the years had flown by and my sister and I have gotten closer to America and Canada. Each day, when we were younger, we would play tag outside or hide and seek…Canada and I would usually win when, we'd play hide and seek…"I don't know how you guys just win like that! You're just too awesome at this game!" He laughs patting Canada's back, he just looks away slightly irritated, "Y-Yeah…awesome…" I couldn't help but giggle from the memory, it was so long ago, it seems like a dream because ever since we've hit our teenage years, everything just flipped in this house.

Every day I would here just a new argument happen between America and Britain, and each getting worse. So each time I'd hear, I'd rush to my room and cover my ears, I hated seeing them fight, sometimes for very little obscure things that really didn't needed to be fought over…but they'd argue nonetheless. I stopped near the doorway to Britain's study, a place that no one was allowed in, unless called into…and trust me no one wanted to go inside his study…not even for exploration. But I always had a curiosity for everything that went down in the house, my mind always wandering off to what there is on the East wing of the house. I placed my hand to the wall, as I heard whispers coming from the study, the door was opened just a crack and I heard my sister giggling and Britain's voice clearly. "huh?" I whispered to myself softly as I stood in place hearing the conversation, I never really heard my sister act so….friendly before and from the sounds of things, Britain was slightly enjoying it. I put a hand to my mouth quickly when I heard a thud, and quickly walked down the hall away from the study. I didn't know what they were doing, but I had a good idea of what was to happen next. I brushed the thought aside as I entered the kitchen, I noticed Alice was sweeping the floor, and America was looking down at his plate before him in horror. I assumed Alice had cooked up something for him, I couldn't help but smile, from seeing that horrified expression on his face.

"Do all British people suck at cooking!" He said out loud, anger and a slight bit of fear being heard in his tone, I walked up to him and looked at his plate quickly. It was this black blob that seemed to be spat down on his plate. My face turned a hint a green I think when I saw that thing, it was just completely revolting…Alice just rolled her eyes and kept on sweeping. I took his plate and dumped the contents into a trash bin; America looked at me strangely, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing? I was going to eat that!" I turned to him disbelievingly, "You seemed disgusted, I'll cook something for you…something that won't leave your stomach in the next minute." I spoke in my usual soft tone to him, smiling politely, he laughed at my comment and agreed to my proposal and so I decided to cook something, France another nation I met, taught me.

I set the plate on the table before him, and he looked at it as if God himself made the food, I couldn't help but laugh at how he devoured the plate of food before him. When he finished he gave me a really big smile and hugged me tightly, "Thank you so much Maddie! That was like the best thing I've ever eaten in years dude!" I blushed slightly from the comment and the hug, once he let me go he kept the smile plastered on his face and picked up the plate handing it casually at Alice. She looked at him angrily, "why don't you bloody give it to her!" America turned to her smiling still, "because you're cleaning duh!" She started mumbling something under her breath as she took the plate from his hands and walked to the sink.

I had to quickly put my hands to mouth to stop my laugh from coming out, I knew if I laughed I was sure to be punished by Alice later, but her grumpy expression on her face was just priceless to me. So I just let my thoughts wander so that I could not think about what America just did, when I tried this after about thirty seconds, I looked up to see America still standing there looking at me. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked back to him nervously, "Oh um…Your welcome f-for the food then." I spoke with a polite curtsy and attempted to leave. He grabbed my arm quickly and turned me around, it was so sudden for him to have done that, to tell you the truth he barley ever laid a hand on me. He turned me to him and kept that famous smile he always had on his face, but in his eyes when he looked at me showed slight confusion. "Hmm?" I said, a little shocked he grabbed me, "I was just wondering, you think a lot Maddie! And well could you tell me at least what's going on a little bit in there?" He said poking my forehead, I wrinkled my nose slightly when he did and sighed; I didn't really have a good reply to him.

So I just told him the first thought that came to mind, that I soon regret telling. "Well, I usually just start thinking about what is there in the East wing of the house, I know Britain had told us, well my sister and I, to never go there, but my c-curiously is starting to get the better of me…" His face instantly went serious when I mentioned the East wing, I didn't understand why so, I felt this pain hit my heart when he practically glared at me, taking a step back removing his hand from my arm. "Are you thinking about going back there?" He said with all seriousness in his tone, I would have sworn he was speaking with Britain, if it weren't me in the room, I looked to see that Alice had left, so I felt safe replying, "Oui…I kind of do…" I spoke softly, my head down slightly I couldn't look him in the eyes I just felt scared…he instantly replied, "Well don't." My eyes grew wide in shock on how bluntly he just said it to me, I could sense the anger in his tone, I moved my head up quickly to look at him and I saw the anger rising. "W-Wait but…Why? What could there be back there that's so, terrible th-that I can't go…?" He looked away staying silent for a while, until he finally said, "there are things there you don't need to know trust me when I say this that when Britain said not to go back there, don't" with that he finally turned and left my alone in the kitchen, to ponder on what he had said.

I had never seen him so angry with me before and it frightened me so much! I never meant to get him angry, but from the way he spoke it showed he really didn't want me going back there…I gave out a sigh and just walked out the kitchen, having new worries to follow me and new thoughts that just ticked away in my head just waiting to turn into actions.

More days passed and I felt the tension in the house just building up between America and Britain, I felt that one of these days soon to come that America is just finally going to blow up…any second now. And all I could do is just watch how this house's old tranquility was turning into hostility and the peace once here was slowly disappearing. During which these times, I decided to go to Canada, hopefully he was able to comfort me during these times, and he's lived through this more than me. I walked around the corridors and accidently got lost looking for his room. I went through this hall I never seen before; everything looked like it was a darker shade from the main part of the house I always stayed at. Until I discovered this giant mahogany door, it was so tall, it looked as if it were 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, the door was sealed shut though with wood, nails, metal, anything you could think of to lock up a door. I instantly knew where that door led in this house, "the East wing…" I whispered to myself, I walked up to the door and placed a hand on the door, tracing the intricate designs that were carved into this door. I only wished I knew a way of unlocking the door, until I leaned against the wall near the door and felt an opening there, I almost fell back when I leaned against it. I moved back and placed my hand on the wall and saw the peeling wallpaper. I tilted my head to the side, my curiosity taking the better of me, I was about to peel away at the wallpaper until I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I let out a shriek and turned around and saw that it was Canada. "W-What are you doing here!" He spoke as if panicking pulling me away from the doors, "I was looking for your room, b-but I got lost…I've never been to this part of the house…" Canada gave me a sigh, pulling my arm away from the doors, we started walking and Canada kept himself silent all the while, when we finally reached his room, he closed the door and spoke in a hoarse whisper, "that door leads to the East Wing! Never go near that door again!" I kept quiet, I felt I was being punished when he spoke to me like that, and lately everyone has been getting mad at me for mentioning it.

I want to go through those doors more than ever now, they looked so intricate and detailed, and they were so big! Like it lead to an entire different realm of some kind, what I had noticed is that…Amelia never really worried about the East wing…hasn't she always been more of the adventurous type than me? Ever since we've been growing up together in this house she had been distancing herself from me, including Alice. I decided that day to go find Amelia and talk to her about this and what she thought lay on the other side of those doors.