Canada started his day like normal. He woke up, got dressed, and walked out into the hallway to head to America's room to make sure his brother got up in time.
He knocked on the door, gently enough not to cause a ruckus but loud enough that someone could hear it inside.
There was no answer.
Canada knocked a little harder, knowing that if his brother was still asleep he wouldn't have heard the knock.
Still, no reply.
Usually after this, Canada would leave, assuming that America was either already up and around the house, or he was just still asleep.
But today was different. Something felt wrong.
So gently, Canada opened the door to his brother's room.
Instead of seeing his brother, Canada saw on the bed there was a small, string-tied package, and a piece of paper.
First he went to the piece of paper, and saw it was a note written in America's handwriting.
𝑇𝑜 𝐼 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑎,
𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑. 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒. 𝐴𝑙𝑠𝑜, 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝐼 𝑡𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡 𝐼'𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠. 𝐵𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐼𝑓 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑎𝑚, 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑀𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾𝑖𝑤𝑖, 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑡. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝐼'𝑚 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜, 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑡. 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑢𝑝. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦. 𝑈𝑘𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑑, 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 (𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑. 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡, 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚.
--𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐵𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎
𝑃.𝑆. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐼'𝑚 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒. 𝑆𝑜 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠.
Canada read the letter, promising in his head to do everything America asked. When he got to the last part, he glanced over at the package, wondering what could be inside.
He put the letter down back on the bed, and picked up the package. It was pretty light, and the package itself was pretty small.
Gently, Canada pulled on the string to untie it, and pushed away some of the paper.
When he saw what it was, he gasped.
It was a very intricate masquerade mask, white with golden designs like vines all around it.
Or, more specifically, it was America's masquerade mask.
Canada smiled, and he hugged the mask close to his chest.
'Don't worry Ame, I won't let you down.'
YOU ARE READING
The Masquerade
Fanfiction"Leave." It was a simple word, spoken softly but with fury. "You are dismissed." As I turned to leave, Father grabbed his tea cup, and clenched it. Father never mistreated his tea cups. I had made him mad. No, the emotion was more than mad. It w...
