Germany—Der Doppelgänger [Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806]
Germany was just ten years old. Although nations could be quite mature for that age, and Germany, in Prussia's words, 'was born an old, grumpy man', he was still a boy. He wasn't indifferent to stories of ghosts and sinister apparitions, and every time he heard one of these, he ended up clinging to his older brother or the closest maid.
That's why the apparition of the other boy shook him to the core.
It had started around the first week of August. It seemed like another day, and he supposed the person looking at him was just his reflection—until he realized that was the window and not a mirror. Who's that boy, he wanted to ask Prussia, interrupting his breakfast verbosity, but one more look and he was gone. So Prussia kept bragging about France being washed up and he kept eating his morning meal, guessing he was just imagining things. He had forgotten about it when he saw him the next day, on his way to his bedroom.
He was in the middle of the hallway, standing very still. Germany stopped and looked around—there were no adults to tell about this.
"Hello?" He dared address the boy.
Are you my brother?, he was going to ask next. They looked so similar...But the other boy didn't reply. He just walked into the nearest room. Germany quickly followed. The room was empty. He looked behind the curtains and under the furniture but he wasn't there. The windows were closed and there was no other way out.
He couldn't just ignore it: he saw him again, many times, everywhere, most often in the corners of the rooms, in the hallways, at the door. The worst of those moments were at night. At that time, he was alone and guessed his presence in every shadow. It was at those moments when he stopped behaving like a little adult and ran to beg Prussia to let him sleep with him. Prussia always mocked him before making room for him in his bed, snored and yelled in his sleep, but it was better than being alone.
And he opened his eyes and there he was, looking at him from above, without blinking, the moonlight making him even paler than he already was. Germany, trying to repress a scream, covered himself with the sheets, closed his eyes firmly and wished him away. What do you want from me? Leave me alone! Those nights, he couldn't sleep. He wished this ghost told him something, anything, but he didn't even hear him breathe.
And one day, it all became clear, when he stopped in the hallway, after spotting himself one more time. This time, he was looking at him from a big portrait hanging on the wall, dressed richly and with a golden orb on one hand, a scepter in the other and a crown on his head. He read the plaque: Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.