A Spark full of Hope (War or Love 3)

Chapter 3: A new face

My brother takes my arm and takes me to the part of our hiding place where all the blankets and books are. "You're finally going to sleep now.", my brother says. "But then I'll be plagued by nightmares again!", I say. He commands me: "Sleep now! You keep telling me to sleep and you stay awake for days until you have dreams or pass out. Just sleep!" "I have to take care of you!", I speak again. "If you lie down and don't sleep until I get back, you can stay awake, but you must try to sleep.", he says. "Good!", comes from me before lying down and mumbling into the slightly itchy blanket.

I intend to stay awake, but even when I'm lying down, I'm overwhelmed by tiredness. I'm shaken awake. "Sister there is someone out there!", my brother whispers in panic. When I open my eyes I see that everything is brighter than before. Maybe I fell asleep after all? I slowly stand up and ask my brother: "What about our food?" "I already hid it, took the apple.", he informs me. I go towards the exit. I hear the panting of whoever is in our hiding place. I walk closer to the one and yell: "Get out!" She flinches violently before getting up from her sitting position.

"Please allow me to sleep here for one night.", the woman begs. "Why should I?! You're only here to steal from me.", I assume. Why else would she be here? She says: "I didn't even know anyone was here. I just need somewhere to stay for the night and then I'll be gone." "For that I need to know some information so that I can allow you to stay here for one night.", I demand her. The woman replies: "You can get any information you want from me." "Why do you want to stay here and not at an inn?", I ask first. "I've been hunted all over Europe for three years.", she replies.

I ask: "What's your name?" "Estonia... and I know that because of the 'ia' at the end of my name, it sounds like I have a country. But I've never had one and I'm completely against Britain.", replies the woman. I ask her last: "The destroyed house nearby belonged to who??" "No idea! How should I know?", she replies. I allow her: "Well you can stay for one night, but when the sun comes up I want you gone." "Thank you very much!", Estonia thanks happily. I mean: "You're welcome! By the way, why have you been hunted through Europe for three years?" "Someone whose ass I rescued from my father almost ten years ago helped me escape.

Because we were treated horribly and absolutely inhumanely. I didn't quite understand what they did to him, but he also seemed to have been treated as terribly as any of us prisoners.", says Estonia. The name is starting to sound familiar to me. I know her name from somewhere. "What are you actually doing here and not with your family or some relative and living in a house?", the woman asks me. I answer: "The destroyed house nearby was the house where I lived with my family. But they all disappeared and I was all alone, so I hid here."

"That's not nice to hear. What's your name?", she asks me. "I don't want to say it.", I reply. She says: "Okay." I then sneak back to where my little brother is hiding. I grab a match and light a candle with it before I grab Mom's book and see if I can find someone called "Estonia". Libertasland asks me: "What's going on?" "She's staying for the night and she doesn't seem to be a threat.", I answer. "I'm still scared.", my brother says. I tell him: "I can understand that." I skim through the first chapters and eventually find the part about Estonia.

She eventually came and helped save mom from dad who was drunk. Are they really the same? Wait a minute! If it is one and the same Estonia and mama helped her three years ago, then mama is alive! "Little brother! I might have proof that mama is alive!", I say enthusiastically. He just looks at me confused. I grab mama's book and the candle and go to the room at the entrance. I put the candle in the middle of the room. Estonia puts an arm in front of her face to block the light from showing her face. "You said you saved someone from someone.

Is the one you saved a Countryhuman called Third Reich and the one you saved from Soviet Union?", I ask her. She takes her hand off her face so I can lightly see her flag. She looks at me in shock and whispers: "H-How do you know that?" I hand her the book. "My mama wrote it in the book.", I tell her. She takes it and I open a page for her before I approach the candle. When she's finished, I open another page for her, where mama writes about how angry he was with dad for getting him pregnant. Estonia seems to be getting more and more shocked by the story.

Then I flip to the passage in the book where he writes about me as a baby. I spread my wings a little while she reads it. Then she looks at me and asks: "Who is your mother?" I say: "The book is written from mama's perspective." "Are your parents Third Reich and my father Soviet Union?", she finally asks. "Yes!", I answer. "T-That... I_I... How?", she tries to say something, stuttering and confused. "I'm GEAU or Galan Eurasian Union in the long version. My brother Libertasland is hiding under the blankets and you are our half sister Estonia.", I say happily before hugging her. She sits there in shock for a moment before hugging me back.

We hug for a while before she asks: "Why do you seem so grown up to me when you're nine years old?" "I don't know, I grow faster than normal people or Countryhumans and my brother is the same. He's four years old and looks more like eight.", I answer her, "Did mama really save you three years ago?" "Yes, he did. And if you really are his biological children, then I also understand why he was brought to the place where I was.", says my sister. "Why? What's there?", I ask worried. She says: "We hardly got anything to eat or drink.

We were forced to have children there against our will, which they take away from us. I'm trying to explain it in a kind of superficial way because what happened there is more than just inhuman and horrible." "I hope mama came out too.", I hope. "I hope all the Countryhumans and humans out there came out.", comes from her. "Humans and other Countryhumans are there too?", I ask. "Yes, until then I'm through your mother, the first one to make it out alive, but he was also very close to escape.", Estonia answers me.

I can hear my stomach growling because I haven't eaten in days. "You sound pretty hungry.", she says. I ask her: "Do you want to eat too?" "I'd love to!", replies my half sister. I immediately start walking through the tunnels until I get to our food camp. I get the soup and two wooden spoons that I found years ago. I come back with everything and put it down. "I'll get my brother.", I inform her before I go to my little brother. "Libertas get up and come with me, there's soup.", I tell him while helping him up. He and I go to Estonia, but when he sees her he hides behind me.

"Little brother, may I introduce one of your half sisters? This is Estonia.", I inform him. He's too scared. I sit down to Estonia. "You must be very shy.", Estonia says to Libertasland. "Yeah, he's always scared of everyone but me.", I told her. She says: "In such a dangerous world, I can understand that very well." I open the container with the tomato soup inside and give it a spoon. "Guten Appetit! (Bon appétit!)", we wish each other. I give my little brother the second spoonful of soup and give him over two thirds of the spoonfuls of soup because he's younger than me and I don't want his hunger torment him as much as it does me.

Then we take Estonia to our sleeping place. I have to watch over them again, so they go to sleep and I try to stay awake as best I can, but eventually I fall over from tiredness and fall asleep.

I hear someone knocking on the door of our house. I look down from the stairs, but papa and all my siblings go to the door and open it. My siblings run but they disappear into the walls while papa gets grabbed by the multi tentacled black monster at the door and is pulled towards the monster. I run to mama and papa's room. Libertasland crawls towards me and holds me by my legs while mama tries to run to us but the ground opens up beneath him and he falls into the seemingly infinite black hole which doubles on it so there are two that one looks broken but bigger than the other one.

"Please, sister, help me!", calls Libertasland, who appears to be being pulled into the not so big hole. I hold onto the door frame and yell: "Hold on tight!" Then I see the monster in the hallway that Papa has drawn into himself coming toward me. If I let go I could save myself from the monster, but I will lose my brother for that, but I won't do that. The monster jumps at me with its red glowing eyes.

I wake up sweating in my own clothes on the hard stone floor. I know from the darkness that it's still night. But I feel someone moving next to me. I see my little brother lying on a blanket as he snuggles up to me. I lie down in a better position and snuggle up to my little brother before grabbing my jacket and lay over both of us so he can't get too cold. Maybe, now we know where mama was three years ago. Maybe we can free him that way and then try to find the rest of the family together.