Where Winter Meets Summer (Rusame Countryhumans)

Trapped in Burning Ice (Russia POV)

I frowned and smoothed out the paper to reveal a scribbled picture of a... I'm not sure, a terribly scraggled lump with teeth? I did not think there was an infant residing in this house but I shrugged it off and pushed open the strangely heavy door with the paper still in hand.

...

The first thing that greeted me was the dank gush of air hitting my face. The room it came from was no better and the floor was littered with small bits of flooring and wallpaper torn from their places. A single flickering light bulb provided the only bit of light to illuminate the sorry excuse of a room where the corners were shrouded with mold, cobwebs and shadow.

A giant wave of repulsion hit me hard as I wrinkled my features, trying to make sense of why there was a place this terrible in this mansion and how the hell this would be a functional bathroom.

Perhaps I had made a mistake? No, I had followed the instruction to the letter and this door was the only one that truly stood out. But in any case, I had no reason to be in here and was about to leave when the door slammed shut behind me, robbing me of the light from the hallway.

"What the fu-," I began, as I slammed my fists on the metal door, demanding to be let out.

A muffled voice that said, "Suck on that, you motherfucker," was the only response I received as I listened, helpless, at the receding footsteps.

I was stuck in this absolute nightmare of a room with nobody but myself to keep myself company.

"Great," I huffed, "This couldn't get any worse."

And so, naturally, the lightbulb chose that moment to explode.

I dropped onto the floor with a tired sigh and hugged my knees to my chest. How stupid of me, to trust so easily. I had let my guard down, lured into a sense of ease by a dumb-

"No," I chided, "Blaming others won't make this any better."

I closed my eyes, sealing away the outside world and repeating the words;

"Someone will find me eventually..."

I didn't know how long I had sat there but when I woke to, it was because of the unmistakable screams that came from down the hall. I jumped to my feet, alarmed at the new panic. What was happening? What was going on?!

"C'mon! Hurry!"

"Run, or we'll die!"

"This place is burning down, get everyone out!"

A fire had started and, by the sound of it, it was spreading quickly. And I was trapped.

"Нет-нет-нет-нет-нет...." I cried as I hammered the door, trying to get somebody's attention- anybody's attention but to no avail. My pulse was rising quickly and a chill of dread raced through my numbing body.

So I will die here tonight?

I let one last strike to the wall to drain what remained of my adrenaline rush, but my fist hit something other than the stone wall.

No. Glass shattered and a button was hit.

Alarms began to blare and with the red light running around the room, I looked at the wall that I punched. There was a button labelled "Emergency release". Then there were the clunks of doors being unlatched and swinging open and unfortunately, my exit was not one of them. It did, however, unlock a hidden door on the opposite side of the wall and as of what was waiting behind it...