Title: The Beach
Summary: Cuba does not know the rules, but he knows how to read the signs. He was lucky he read them right.
Pairings: None
Disclaimer: Hetalia Axis Powers and the 200 Phenomena in the City of Calgary are the creations of Hidekaz Himaruya and an unknown author respectively. I am merely a writer taking creative liberties.
There is a beach within the city. To find it, step into any elevator and go to the top floor. Press every button in ascending order, including the close and open door buttons.
Instead of opening onto the next highest floor, the elevator will open into a small cottage. The door of the vacant cottage will open onto the beach. The beach is warm and apparently temperate, shockingly beautiful at every hour, but blood and some sticky black substance will colour the white sand in long streaks.
The beach is bordered on one side by an impossibly thick forest. Entering this will make your life forfeit. At sunset and sunrise, a group of men dressed in the traditional clothing of different religions (most prominently Ashkenazi Rabbis and Protestant Ministers) will emerge from this forest and search the beach in silence, sifting through the sand as penance for their lives of deception. These figures will be so taken with their work that they will refuse to talk to you, only muttering "searching... searching... must keep searching..." in their native tongue. Total darkness and proper sunlight burn these poor souls, so they must return to the forest.
Otherwise, you will be alone on the beach. The water stretches impossibly far, as far as the eye can see and further still. Wider and higher than the ocean, and far stiller, this water will soothe you as you gaze upon it. But never let it lull you to sleep outside of the cottage. The men in the forest may find what they're searching for within you.
At first, Cuba found nothing strange about the beach he had discovered. Yes, the sand was colored oddly in stripes with some sticky dark fluid and yes, the location of the beach was illogical, but Cuba had seen far stranger things in his time and chose not to think of it; it was his haven, a beautiful, quiet place he could escape to and relax.
The first few days, nothing of note happened. Cuba just lounged there, lying in the warm sand and smoking a cigar. However, one day, when he stayed past his usual time and was admiring the spectacular sunset, there were other visitors to the beach.
They were all male, and seemed to be religious, since they were dressed in the traditional clothes of many different religions. Cuba watched them as they dug into the sand, curious, until the sun had set completely and night descended. At this point, the group retreated to the extremely dense forest bordering the beach.
At this point, Cuba left.
Something felt wrong about this beach. Very wrong. He resolved not to return.