The weekend crept up on me like I was prey. However, the joke is on them because I accept danger with open arms. At least, that was the mindset I was trying to have in order to prepare myself for today. Mixed with fear, was excitement. Knowing that there was a high chance I may not return to this bedroom later made my time seem more valuable. I hear the sound of plates clattering downstairs; guess my sisters are making lunch. I had already eaten though, cereal bars tend to suffice. I flick my light switch off and I make my way downstairs. Father was passed out on his chair in the living room. I sigh when I come to the conclusion that he had been drinking again. What a loser. Vodka couldn't be that good...
I leave my house without saying a word and head to my car. I start it up and proceed to drive to my destination. Early this morning, America texted me 5:55 on the dot. I don't think I want to know why he was up that early. And it's not like he put a casual "hey" or at least tell me who he was; all I get is a random address from an unknown number. How fucking ominous of him. However, being that I only have 5 phone numbers saved in my phone and no one else texts me in general, I knew it was him. His stupid ass didn't even put a time. So he better not complain that I show up past noon.
I arrive to a small abandoned building; it had vines and shrubs growing on the side of it. Not a single car was parked near it. What a sad desolated place; was America really in here? Why did he choose this place; he better not try to murder me or I'll beat his scrawny little ass.
As I make my way to the front door, I hear muffled music. I knock on the door and wait for a reply; I received none. I attempt to open the door and to my surprise it was unlocked. I step inside and I scare the birds that were perched above the wood planks on the ceiling. It was a well lit place. The walls had giant windows that emitted a golden light. I could see dust particles dancing in the sunlight. The floor softly creeks as I advance in my steps. I hear the music more clearly now, it was coming from another room. I follow the sound and see America playing the piano in a giant empty room. He keeps his eyes closed as he plays his classical music; not even acknowledging me. He was so fucking weird. I watch him play, his face was softened and he seemed to completely be at peace. It was welcoming. I walk over to him and call his name. "America?" He only continues to play. I sigh and feel myself start to get comfortable. I sit below him as I wait for him to finish.
He finally opens his eyes and glances over to me with a smile. He stops playing and begins to play a tune I was too familiar with. Chopin's Nocturne No. 20 in C-Sharp Minor. I feel butterflies increase in my stomach by every piano key he presses. I remember when father taught me how to dance to this; America was playing this song on purpose. He expected me to know it. I arise to my feet; if it's a show he wants, it'll be a show he gets.
I stretch and begin to ballet dance to his playing. It felt so freeing. I dance around the piano and I feel his eyes watch me in wonder. I've never danced in front of anyone before, it felt a little uncomfortable but I sort of always wanted to do it. We somewhat had aligned interests so I didn't feel as embarrassed. It felt safe and judgement free. It was nice to have someone with the same taste appreciate my performance. I soon hear his keys sounding more and more emotional. So to keep up; I allow the music to control me. It possesses me and I dance my little heart out. I close my eyes and envision to be somewhere else. The song is slow; yet, powerful. I don't wear my proper shoes, it causes my feet and toes to start to hurt. I ignore the pain and proceed to dance.
His playing comes to an end so I wrap up my dance. He stares at me with a warming smile and he fills the air with an applause. "You're a natural." he says. I bow with a small smile. America stands up and leans against the piano. "I was waiting seven hours for you to show up."
"You never told me what time I had to show up; that's on you." I spit without an ounce of remorse.
"I know." he chuckles, "I needed a few hours to figure out how to get this piano in here." I stare at him baffled. No fucking way did he bring that piano here. "Why... why would you do that?" I ask.
"I wanted to. I claimed this abandoned building to be mine a few hours ago. I only wanted to make it feel more at home." he says stupidly.
"So you decided to get a piano?" I say trying to understand his logic. "Wait...last time I saw you, your friends stole your car. Did you get it bac-"
"I pushed the piano all the way from my father's house." he interrupts. I stare at him with an increasing amount of distress; I was incredibly baffled at his action- it didn't make any sense to me as to why he went through the trouble to do all of this. He was literally complaining about pushing my car to the gas station! He notices that I am speechless and decides to keep talking. "...I also had nothing better to do. I figured it would be a fun little activity to keep me busy while I waited upon your arrival." I still stare at him with disbelief, unable to find the right words to string together. I throw my hands up in frustration and walk in the other direction. He only chuckles.
This man was crazy. It's about a 15 minute drive from here to his house so I couldn't imagine of how long it took him to push the piano here. And plus, I'm sure his parents will be furious if they find out that he did this.
"Russia?" he calls, "Shall we start the inauguration now?" I turn and cock up my eyebrow. "Inauguration? For what?" I question. He smiles and takes a few steps towards me. "We need to make a pact for what we plan to partake in together."
"So it's like sealing the deal?" I question. "Precisely..." he says while revealing a sharp beautiful dagger. I take two steps back from him. What was he planning on doing with that? His ass better put that away before he hurts himself. He holds the knife to the palm of his hand. "May we be-" he his cut off by his phone ringing obnoxiously. He lowers the knife and groans to the high heavens. I believe this is the first time I've seen him this annoyed. He looks at his phone and then back at me. "Excuse me for a moment, I have to take this." I nod my head to show my understanding. He takes a few steps away from me and turns around. I hate to feel like I'm eavesdropping, but it wasn't like I could tune out his conversation.
"Hello?" he answers in the most cheery voice, "Yeah, I'm actually busy right now. Can I call you back?... What?... Well how long are you planning on keeping my car? I could get you guys in a lot of trouble... I'm not going anywhere to pick it up, you're bringing it to me..." His voice masked his irritation. I could tell he was losing patience based on the way he played with the knife in his fingers. He must be on the phone with the friends who took his car. If it were my friends, I would've threatened them to the core. I could barely handle people stealing my food, picturing myself in America's situation made me beyond frustrated.
"...Don't make me come and get it..." he warns on the phone. I watch a growing smirk appear on his face. "...fine." he whispers into the phone before hanging up. He then throws the knife into the wall and exhales with a shaky breath. "Sorry about that Russia, we can continu-"
"Why did they take your car in the first place?" I interrupt. He sighs, "They think it's funny for some reason. I'm the fifth wheel of the group so they think it's an appropriate joke to take away four of my wheels. It's annoying but I'll get my car back soon."
I get angry for him; his friends were douche bags. It's probably good that I don't have any friends because I couldn't handle something like this. "You need to get revenge so they never do this again."
"They're just kids." he says. "They aren't as mature as us; pranks and teasing are for children who are needy of attention. If I do anything, I'll be giving them exactly what they want."
"Well, children must also be taught lessons to learn from their mistakes. You can never expect them to mature without lessons." I say back. America looks at me with a smile realizing I was right. He pulls the dagger out of the wall and tucks it away. "You're right."
Soon before I knew it, we were no longer in the abandoned building. We were walking down the sidewalk carrying boxes of fireworks. America suggested that we give them a show inside their house. He's fucking crazy, but I loved the idea and went along with it.
Apparently, his "friends" were hanging out at Japan's house and planned to have a sleepover. America told me that he was invited but he already had plans; me. A sleepover always sounded like such fun, I could only imagine what it would be like...-but what was a sleepover without fireworks? We now stood in front of the targeted house. You could hear that they were blasting music. It was almost too perfect.
America pointed to a beautiful ruby sports car in the driveway. "That's mine!" he said. He circled his vehicle and let out a sharp gasp. "Shit... no way, they scratched it!" I walked over to see his view. The scratch stretched all the way from the driver's door to the gas tank. "Now that's just wrong." I say with anger boiling in my stomach. America says nothing; I can feel hatred radiating off of him. He marched over to the front door and places the boxes of fireworks on the ground. He took out his keys from his pocket and revealed a lock picker on the key chain. He fiddles with the lock until we hear a click. He quietly opens the door and gestures his head for us to go inside. We enter and shut the door behind us. The music comes from upstairs so that must be where they all are. America finds his car key dangling in the kitchen on a little hook above the sink. He takes it and stuffs it into his pocket.
"Let's set the fireworks up now." he says. I smile wickedly and start opening up the boxes. We set all the firework rockets in a straight line aimed at the staircase. I bet it's going to look so pretty going off. America kicks all the boxes with warning labels off to the side. He slips a lighter out from his pocket and tosses it to me.
"Can you light these up? I need to make a phone call." I catch the lighter with a nod.
With every dial sound his phone makes, I light a firework. Soon, the other end picks up. America speaks; "Hey, I took it upon myself to let me in your house and take back my car key. I don't appreciate what you guys did. And I saw what you did to my fucking car. So I'm downstairs right now and set up a little show for you guys. I recommend you come check it out, it goes off at any second now." He hangs up. How sinister- his calm fluent demeanor masked his wicked insanity. I finish lighting the line of fireworks and the first one fires. We hear confused screaming and his friends come running; how unfortunate for them- they get caught in the pretty blast.
America starts laughing mischievously and I join in. I could get used to this. The house catches on fire as dreadful screams fill the air. What babies- they should have seen this coming. Keep playing with fire and you'll get burned. The fire alarms soon go off. America and I watch the show. He turns to me, "Now I think would be the perfect opportunity to do the inauguration." he tells me. I nod, "I couldn't agree more." America smiles and whips out his dagger. He holds it to his hand.
"May we be united until after death we part. Neither of us will cower from any given feat; we will endure everything as one. If one dies, the other must lose their life as well." He slashes the palm of his hand. It drips blood as he hands me the knife. "Do you accept?"
I take the knife from him and slash my own hand. "I accept." He grabs my bloody hand with his and we shake on it. The deal was sealed. The final firework blows lighting the room red. The home remains in ruins.
America and I flee from the scene; soon we are cruising in his red car.
He blast music with his tinted windows rolled down. We both were laughing as we recollected the bits of pieces of the catastrophe we created. America lowers his music and turns to me. "That was only revenge; we didn't even get into the real shit yet." I smile, "Well let's get on with it then." I could be agreeing upon my death right now without even knowing. I adore the suspense. And you know what? Fuck it. It's summertime and I have no desire to be at home. It's my turn to have some fun.
I watch as America smirks in the rear view mirror before speeding off to our next destination.
Except, it was just a regular ol' parking lot. He parks the car and I give him a baffled stare. "What are we doing here?" I ask. He exits his car without answering so I just follow. "Just trust me!" he calls to me. Yeah, that's not happening. I stop walking and wait until he realizes that I demanded an answer.
He walks a few more feet ahead of me. When he notices he can only hear his own footsteps and comes to a stop. He turns around and meets my eyes. I watch him sigh in defeat and he points upwards. "We are going to climb that cellular tower..."
I raise an eyebrow. "Isn't that beyond illegal?" America laughed. "And what we've been doing previously isn't?"
"I dont know, this seems more... far fetched." I try to explain as I hesitantly glance at the tower. I've seen these all the time, and yes, I have imagined myself climbing one- but I've never thought of actually doing it. One foot in the wrong place was instant tragic death.
"Okay, I understand where you are coming from. However, think of how accomplished you'll feel if you reach the top. Aren't you forgetting? Feel. The sole purpose of any of this is to feel." he persuades.
I slowly nod my head and continue to follow him. He was right; I was glad he reminded me of the purpose of all this. And I needed more purpose in my life. But I still can't shake off the feeling of how crazy it all seemed to me.
All my life I have been following rules and doing the right thing; I may come off as a jerk sometimes but I have morals. And America was almost everything against those morals.
And yet, there was a gravitational pull that forced myself to be in his presence. He should be the last person I associate myself with. Was this at all right? Or was I being an idiot for once in my life; did I really enjoy danger?
Past all the fences and the "No Trespassing" signs; We stood under the enormous tower like small wondering mice. America gazes upon it with sparkling eyes; I gaze upon it with a tight lump in my throat. I sometimes wish I could stop overthinking this- when I had agreed on it, the idea was as sweet as lavenders. And now I felt those flowers beginning to wilt.
Before I could progress any further into my mind, America starts climbing fearlessly. Was it wrong that I expected him to get electrocuted? When he is about ten feet in the air and turns and stares down at me still implanted in the ground. "Russia?" he calls innocently.
I wear a dazed face as a thousand more thoughts race into my head. One slips out between my lips. "You are going to fall and fucking die..."
"I can survive steep falls, chill;
I always land on my feet without a hospital bill- Call me a cat if you will.
I have all my 9 lives still.
And we all know the first part of a particular Saying like a drill;
"Curiosity killed the cat." however, rarely do They ever mention the last fatal part so I shall Spill:
"But satisfactory brought it back." see the Thrill?"
Once again, I stare at this motherfucker like he donated 100 kidneys to a hospital- I was incredibly baffled. He smiles proudly at his own poetry but his expression evaporates when he sees I do not show the same in return. "Do you know what kind of cat you are?" he asks me.
I shake my head; "No, I am no feline of any-"
"A pussy!" he interrupts; he then falls into a laughing fit. I roll my eyes to the back of my head. Typical. Fucking typical America.
Now that I think about it, he was a very unpredictable man. He seemed to have mood swings but I could see that he generally can compose his emotions- except his laughter. He doesn't cry or get angry like a little bitch. His optimistic mindset only made him seem more mysterious- especially hearing his past, true feelings, and desires! How does he do it?
Was it wrong that I wanted to see him snap? What would even make someone like him snap? He likes danger and was even calm when he had learned of his friends scratching his car. I pondered about his past, actually now thinking of it- he seemed way more emotional in his past. Like a normal bratty teenager.
Comparing that behavior to what he is now didn't add up... fuck, I did it again. I over analyzed something unnecessary when clearly the answer is, America had just matured. He matured. Of course he isn't going to behave the same anymore.
Since this is the case, I guess there really was no way to make him snap.
"Russia!" America screams with fear in his voice. He hangs upside down on a rod holding on for dear life. "Help me!" he screams desperately. I feel my heart rate pick up and I climb the tower rapidly without hesitation. I didn't have it in me to allow anyone to plunge to their death, remember my morals? I think I'm too empathetic and that really conflicts with me hating everyone.
When I reach my hand out to America he laughs. He dangles from his arm like a monkey and was hysterically laughing at me. This asshole was completely fine. I stare at him with flummox and annoyance. I should've saw that coming.
He speaks in between his laughs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-I had to get you up here somehow!" His mocking words remind me to look down. A decision I immediately regret so I clench the rods tighter and forcibly look up. But seeing the vast tower above us made me shiver. It overwhelms me. I close my eyes temporarily to try to calm myself down and process all of this.
"Russia..." America coos teasingly, "I hope you aren't scared of your first challenge. Want me to hold your wittle hand?"
"Fuck off." I whisper in the wind.
"Good. Otherwise, that'd be embarrassing for you." I can see his stupid smirk even with my eyes shut.
I open my eyes and meet his. His are filled with amusement; mine were pissed the hell off. I start climbing the tower out of spite. Fuck America and his games.
I hear him following me closely behind. "Hey!" he barks, "you shouldn't be so pessimistic all the time." I roll my eyes. "Being optimistic will only make you more disappointed, trust me." I remind him. He counters, "Depriving all hope from your life is not a good life style." I know this motherfucker did not try to give me advice on life style. I snap my head to him. "And climbing a fucking cellular tower is?!" I question. "Well you're here with me so that doesn't really say much on your behalf!" I groan with annoyance. I swear, all that man did was vex me. "Suck a dick!" I yell. "Name a time and place baby!" he flirts. I start gagging with disgust. "What the fuck?" I find myself climbing faster as he laughs below me. I really need to watch what I say around him.
We were now about 70 feet in the air. Never thought that it was possible for me to be higher than a everyday pot smoker. "How tall is this tower?" I ask America. We both stop climbing and take a small break. "About 200 feet I think." he says out of breath. "Christ..." I say with an exhale. "Heh, just wait until we have to climb back down..." America reminds. "Fuck that, I think I might jump off." I say. America then groans out of nowhere. "I should've brought parachutes!" That would've actually been a good idea. "Yeah dumbass, why didn't you?" I question. He shrugs and continues climbing. I sigh and continue our pursuit.
Time passes and I can see we were almost at the top. I do not dare to look below me. I only look up; in the periwinkle colored sky from a distance, I see pretty pink clouds that crazily overlay each other. It reminds me of sweet cotton candy. But do not be fooled- only such beautiful clouds could mean one thing; a storm.
"America," I call, "we can't stay up here for too long, those are cumulonimbus clouds." I hear him sigh. "Well I'm sorry, it's not like either of us could check the weather anymore!" he says in a sarcastic tone. I exhale slowly with a sullen breath knowing damn well I was the one to convince him to delete the app in the first place. Why must everything come to bite me in the ass?
Soon America hangs from the tippy top. He wears a smile consisting of only pride. When I join him, I find that it is I who is smiling too. There is a bunch of strange equipment at the top. From afar, it appears to be small- I didn't envision it to be this large. It reminds me of that time of when I discovered how big traffic lights truly were... it still shocks me.
I remove my eyes from the actual tower and I indulged the view. Yes, it was absolutely terrifying of how high I was. However, it was gorgeous up here. The town we lived in wasn't the most appetizing, but from up here, I couldn't see the mole growing in the buildings or smell the disgusting rotting vehicle engines or the chewed gum plastered among the cracked sidewalks.
All the imperfections were not visible. We hung from the highest viewpoint of the town. Nothing surpasses us in height. I turn to America who was also taking in the sight. "It's beautiful up here." I say. He nods his head in agreement. "I think everything is more beautiful from far away, distance tends to hide flaws." he says.
"Definitely." I reply, he read my mind. Was it wrong that I did not want to leave from up here? It made me feel such light from inside, like I was an innocent child who climbed a tree for fun. The feeling from inside felt so nice. I place my hand on my chest hoping I could entrap it in my heart forever. America glances over to me. "You feel that too?" I nod my head silently.
"Yeah, being up here gives you so much motivation to want to see another day. It gives you hope that there could be so much more to life if you keep climbing and reaching for it. That there is truly a reason for you to stop everything and turn your life around into whatever you dream of it to be. Sometimes, you need to break away from society to feel this. So many unfortunate souls forget to do that and they plunge into a darkness they can never escape from. I feel sorry for them but it's not like I could convince them into climbing a cellular tower. They will die without ever knowing. Thankfully, that won't be us." he delivers with passion.
"I love when you convey your words into something so meaningful and inspirational. I'm starting to believe you are the only person worth listening to." I tell him. I could tell that he never gets to speak this way with anyone else, they would never understand. But I understood crystal clear. I had no negative judgment of his words, I agreed with all of them. How safe it felt to speak with him. He only smiles to himself in satisfaction and we continue to speculate the world.
As we take in the scenery we dive into more deep conversation about our overall feelings towards life. We listen to each other fully without interruption. It was truly refreshing. I'd stay up here forever if I could- and for once, I didn't want to be alone. I was finding America's presence to be more pleasurable.
The more we progressed in conversation, the more the cumulonimbus clouds inched above us. The beautiful scenery was becoming obscure and made it appear to be night. Soon the world rumbles and it invades our only beautiful moment. I cursed the interloper. America and I glance at each other knowing it was time to go. We begin to climb down.
"In all honesty," he begins, " I was expecting to feel thrill and pure fear up here; but feeling the complete opposite definitely was a satisfying twist."
"I couldn't agree more. It made me feel a different type of alive though. I hope we can do this again." I tell him.
"Of course! We could even do it tomorrow if you'd like."
"Hm, I'll have to see how I'm feeling. I know all this damn climbing will make me sore in the morning."
"Oh yeah, good point..." he says. "Want to grab something to eat when we make it down?"
"Sure." I say, "What would you want to..." I find myself stopping mid sentence and I am no longer climbing down. I feel wrong, like I was being watched. All the hairs on my body were standing up. I feel staticky, like if someone were to touch me, I would shock them.
America notices the change in my mood. "Russia?" he asks sounding concerned. When I look over to him, all his hair was floating around him. My heart drops to my stomach when I realize what was happening, I see America's face lose color when he realizes it too.
We were about to be struck by lightening.
"We need to get close to the ground now!" I say. I begin to climb down quickly but America doesn't move a muscle. "America!" I yell.
He leans all the way back while only relying on an arm and a foot to keep him on the tower. He smiles wickedly. "You can't outrun lightening; whatever happens, happens!" he says in a gentle amused tone. I saw fear instilled in him a moment ago, where did it all drain to?
"Fucking obviously but maybe it'll change targets if we are close enough to the ground. We are the highest things up here!" I remind.
"Waiting up here seems like more fun!" he chimes.
"Stupid idiot! We can't die now, we still have more things to do!" I say hoping it'll persuade him.
"Hm." he considers. "See you at the bottom then!" he lets go of the tower and begins to plunge to the ground.
I let out a horrifying gasp and catch him by his shirt collar. "You fucking idiot!" I yell. He smiles at me slyly as he begins to slip out of his shirt. "Give me your hand!" I say in a panic. He does; he hangs in the air dangling from my hand. I try my best to keep us both from falling. My fingers struggle to remain on the metal rails.
"Someone is slipping..." America teases from underneath me. It begins to rain and it worsens my attempt to hold on. Everything was becoming so slippery. I struggle to hold on. I couldn't climb down because I held America's hand. I was stuck with two options; hold on for dear life or let go.
"T-This isn't fair! Only you get to feel the thrill!" I yell at America, "Why can't you share it with me!"
"Then fucking let go." he says. It was as if his words have control of my fingers. I let go and I watch the tip of the tower grow smaller and smaller.