"Hello."
Sometimes Anna wondered if Elsa was actually in her room or not.
"Hello?"
She never got a reply any more, for all she knew she could just be talking to an empty room.
Elsa was in her room though, alone.
It had been so long since she'd held a conversation with another person, she wondered how different the world outside could be now, compared to how it was before she was locked away. She stared out at the quiet town, watched grand boats come in and out of the harbour and saw the seasons pass by from her bedroom window but she missed being able to experience those things.
Instead she just watched, alone.
"Elsa?"
While Elsa's response (or lack of) to Anna never seemed to change, Anna's methods at trying to get a reaction often did.
Some days she would try to entice her sister out with offers of chocolate or promises of exciting things that they could do together. Other days she would cry and plead, begging Elsa to come out. She'd even tried telling Elsa that she didn't really want her company, in the hopes that some kind of reverse-psychology would occur, forcing Elsa from her room.
"Elsa?"
She'd tried everything from bribery to blackmail (the latter seemed to do nothing apart from making Anna feel guilty) and everything in between; none of her schemes had ever worked, not even close.
"Elsa."
Today was not a day for schemes though. No, today Anna was just frustrated – frustrated and sad and missing her big sister.
"Elsa."
Frustrated Anna was not someone who thought up elaborate plans to trick her sister out of hiding. Frustrated Anna shouted, she yelled. Pounding her fists on the door that stood as impermeable as the greatest of fortresses, Anna screamed out her sister's name. She knew it was a foolish thing to do and was more than a little unlikely to trigger the door to open but still she continued.
"Elsa!"
Inside, Elsa sat against her side of the door, trying her best to block out the desperate cries of her sister.
Conceal. She closed her eyes and pictured a world much warmer than this one.
Don't feel. She imagined being whisked away on a summer breeze to a place where she was no longer cursed. She could almost feel the warmth of the imaginary sun from her mind but it wasn't long before a familiar chill was creeping up her limbs. Her eyes snapped open and she was flung very much back to reality.
She was still in her room but it was now covered in frost.
Anna was still outside and still calling out to Elsa.
For a moment she thought that she heard something – a voice? Elsa's voice? She silenced herself immediately but quickly realised that it was just her own voice, echoing back to her from along the hallway.
Anna's sudden silence gave Elsa a chance to catch her breath. She didn't get the chance to survey any damage she may have done to the room however, as her frost had just reached the fireplace. Her cursed cold was not warmed by fire; in fact, quite the opposite occurred. The chill swept across the hearth, smothering the flames, extinguishing their light.
Elsa was plunged into darkness.
Anna, exhausted, had slumped down against the door, mirroring her sister on the other side. Her throat sore, she remained silent, listening, hoping. Somehow, after all these years she had managed to hold onto hope for even just a whisper.
All Elsa could now see were shadows cast around the room from the Aurora Borealis outside.
As children, the pair had spent many nights finding shapes in the shadows when the sky came alive, much like they would do with clouds in the sky during the day. Anna would create stories of fearless knights and beautiful princesses on magical adventures from the shapes that she saw.
Without her little sister, Elsa struggled to see such beauty in their forms. The shadows flickered across the floor and in Elsa's mind they took up the shapes of the monsters and demons that haunted her. A tear began its decent down her cheek, only making it a few inches from her eye before freezing against her skin.
"The sky's awake." She mouthed soundlessly, afraid to make any noise that Anna might hear.
Anna had no such reason to stay quiet. Once the first tear spilt onto her cheek, she gave up trying to hold them back and allowed the rest to pour freely.
Elsa did not grant herself such luxuries.
Conceal. Swallowing thickly, she forced back her tears.
Don't feel. Screwing her eyes up she tried to imagine herself back somewhere warm, something that was increasingly difficult the louder her sister's sobbing became.
The hallway was filled with an equally loud but altogether different sound from before. Anna's sobs bounced along the long walls, creating a sorrowful echo.
Fed up with the darkness and shadows, Elsa picked herself up and pulled a candle, untouched by her frost, from her vanity. As she attempted to light it with shaking hands she heard her sister speaking words that perfectly echoed her own desires.
"I'm sorry Elsa, I- I just-" Her words were interrupted with quiet sobs. "I know that you're a- you're alone in there and I'm- I'm not- I'm out here. I know I'm not alone bu-but I feel like I am and I don't want to be. I j-just don't feel like I'm really- really living, you know?" She muttered something that Elsa couldn't make out before continuing. "I just want to be able to see you again."
A long silence followed and Elsa wondered if she had finally left. As she made her way towards her bed the silence was broken by a loud hiccup that echoed around outside. "I miss you, Elsa." Anna's hushed words were almost inaudible through the thick wooden door. "I love you."
Finally, Elsa heard the shuffling of footsteps as Anna retreated away from the door, back along the hallway.
When Anna made it back to her own room and saw the lights in the sky and the dancing shadows on the floor, she smiled ruefully to herself.
Once she was certain that Anna was well beyond hearing distance, Elsa spoke the first words she had uttered all day.
"I love you too Anna." She was met with deafening silence.