I came up with this idea after drawing Elsa over a background of a dusk I really liked
Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen
Elsa wondered how many steps she had taken from her home to the other end of the city where she lived that, because of its few neighborhoods and a relatively insipid center, seemed like a town condemned to be forgotten while the youth sought a more vital existence in the metropolis that television had planted in their dreams and future. She hated to think about the familiarity that the desolate streets caused her since she had memory and the ability to walk on her own, she had several fond memories of parks for children in which she played with friends whose names she had forgotten and the bars in which she met with teenagers that she dismissed because of a withdrawn and uncharismatic youth, however, those memories were estimable for being the few moments in which she felt happy outside of her home.
The sun was just a few minutes away from concealment while the twenty-one-year-old rocked slowly on one of the playground swings stripped off of any childish activity that was next to the main road where the freight trucks crossed obstreperously, flashing lights of colors that made Elsa think of the Christmas trees in a funny way because it was a nostalgic thought for the countless times her mother had brought her to that park until dinner time approached.
"Maybe I'll order a pizza for tonight. I downloaded a couple of movies that she might like to see with me in the dining room if she gets out of work early. She still hasn't confirmed anything but in any case that's the best thing that I came up with at the moment ... "Elsa chatted with her stepmother through her cell phone. Although her biological mother's marriage ended up failing with Carol, the person she was communicating with at the time, Elsa did not harbor any resentment toward her. It was several years of stability as a couple that her mother had with Carol, and despite not having children by her own before, her stepmother gave her the affection that he would never have found in another person because of the lifestyle that her mother held until she was born. Now she only understood that relationship as a falsehood that only exists to excite children, like Christmas. However, that supposed love that existed in her home lasted until Elsa reached adolescence, and that effort to maintain the happiness of a single child deserved to be recognized with affection according to her emotional judgment. After a pause, the platinum blonde got up from the swing and started walking out of the park, approaching the noisy road that was preventing her from hearing her stepmother as she reached the sidewalk, making her curse again not having bought new headphones after tearing her last ones. "I'm heading home now. It's already late, so I'll talk to you next week about visiting you if Julianne doesn't main having me for dinner twice the same month… Sorry, but I can't get out of my head the feeling that she doesn't like me as much as you think she does, why should she?... Okay, whatever. Say 'Hi' to Emily for me, alright? Okay, bye." Elsa said goodbye and put away her phone thinking about the new family that Carol had formed in a couple of years after leaving her behind and moving to another city.
Julianne, Carol's new wife, never showed hostility towards Elsa for being so close to Carol without being biologically related, but the young woman would swear that if she could read that woman's mind, she would know how justified her 'paranoia' was. Even so, she was willing to take any risk of an extra-family drama to see Emily again, the product of the relationship that her stepmother and Julianne had and, until that moment, remained intact. Elsa did not have the opportunity to be the first of several sisters, and probably will never have, but Emily was the closest thing to it, and she valued that over the supposed displeasure of Julianne. Carol also saw positively the small but special relationship that Elsa had with her three-year-old daughter, so she would not miss the opportunity to invite Elsa to meet with both mother and daughter when possible.
Her mother had not yet responded when she checked her text messages, so she assumed that tonight she would be lonely again, but it was comforting to think that she would have a whole pizza for herself if her mother did not show signs of life that would confirm an early homecoming from the nightclub where she was working.
Something that Elsa found curious when opting for the long way home was how silence took over the road for a moment as there were no more trucks crossing through it, only a couple of cars that gave her the understanding that the world has not disappeared, cars driven by people who would also return to their homes with their families. She was the only person walking on the dark sidewalks vaguely illuminated by orange lights that left a great distance of dusk from pole to pole.
Walking through a neighborhood little known to the young adult, Elsa felt almost lost if not for her GPS, those two-story houses and apartment buildings were more pleasant to see, many of the residences in that part of the city remained for sale or belonged to people who lived in other, more gigantic cities, presumably from another state, and who only came back to vacation from their routine lives that Elsa longed for because perhaps in that way she would find a greater appreciation for what she owned. It was several years since she had put her feet on that sidewalk, when she was still in high school and some friends had invited her to a party at the address of a girl whose name she did not remember and who also came from another state, those schoolmates also left some time after graduation and what only seemed to remain were adults, retired couples who decided to live their last moments in the tranquility of that town and perhaps be buried together in the huge cemetery at the other end of the city.
Suddenly, she noticed the movements of a person on one of the illuminated porches by the sidewalk on which she was walking, it was a young woman about her height who had climbed the steps and took a seat in the wooden swing seater next to the entrance of that house. It must have been someone new, Elsa did not know all the young people of the town in any way, but that young woman was a complete stranger before her eyes that she thought have seen at least once all of the young adults of her generation. She could distinguish the braids formed by strands of strawberry blonde hair and deduced that she was some kind of tourist from the southern states, such as Texas or something similar, where the stereotypes of people would have their hair arranged in that way, more for utility and custom, not as her single braid that she admitted to herself as something to be proud of for how well it made her feel when she saw herself in the mirror every morning. Shortly before crossing the porch, Elsa changed her gaze just after that young redhead lifted her eyes from her cell phone to see her come out of her own dark silhouette and be illuminated by the light of the porch. Not wanting to show rudeness in any way, the platinum blonde kept her eyes towards the lifeless houses on the other side of the street, denying her eyes a clear image of that young woman whose eyes focused on her almost artificial hair for what the visitor could judge.
Anna was shocked to see the reflection of light on those strands that ran the length of the head of that lonely girl from her forehead to the back of her head, ending in high points like golden flames. But that was not all for Anna, there was also that braid that she could not distinguish well enough because it was resting on the shoulder opposite to the one on her side, she thought that surely it received a better treatment than both pairs of braids that surrounded her neck and ended next to her bust.
"Hey!" Anna called Elsa rising from the wooden seater and standing in front of the porch's stair. "Excuse me. I'm new here and I would like to know if I could bother you with something. "
"Sorry... Are you talking to me? "Elsa felt like an idiot when she asked that being the only person in the street, but she had to be sure to hide the way she was staring at that young woman.
"Y-yeah, you. You are from this place, are not you? "
"Sure. How can I help you? "
"You see, I need to buy a few things for tonight's dinner but I'm not sure where I can get them without taking all the way down to the supermarket. It's my first time in this town and I couldn't find a local store nearby yet, so... "Anna sniggered.
"I ... I'm sorry, but I don't know this part of the town in detail either. I do not come here very often and the closest I can recommend you should be about ten or more blocks north for what you're looking for… Sorry."
Anna checked her cell phone again to confirm that Elsa was right, she had already seen the address of that place on her GPS, but she was not sure she wanted to go alone that far. "Well, it seems I'm short on options. Are you heading there too? Would you mind coming with me? I mean, if you're not going somewhere else or if you're not in a hurry. "
"No, no, it's okay. It won't bother me at all... Are you sure? It's quite far to walk if you plan to return with full bags. "Elsa explained not wanting to notice the fact that it would be better for that tourist to use the pickup truck in front of the garage of that house.
"That makes sense. I'd better take my mother's truck to make things easier after so much rambling. What do you say, care for a ride?"
"Sure ..."
The redhead came down the front stairs and extended her hand to the platinum blonde. "I'm Anna by the way."
Elsa shook her hand gently and also introduced herself. "I'm Elsa. Nice to meet you, Anna. "
"Nice to meet YOU, Elsa." Anna exclaimed, heading to the driver's door of the massive back painted pickup truck.
"So ... for how many people are you going to cook tonight?" Elsa asked after taking a seat next to Anna.
"We are five. My mothers and my two sisters. A teenager and a little girl, but do not kid yourself, those two eat as much as I do. And I'm sick of ordering junk, once you try everything it all tastes dull." Anna assured with extroverted assurance when she noticed how shy Elsa seemed to be, to which Elsa responded with a slight smile.
It was a strange situation for Elsa to accept the invitation of an unknown person for a ride, but Anna inspired confidence over any rational feeling and that was even stranger, but acceptable on that occasion when she had not received any response from her mother yet.