Long time no see, huh? I apologise for that. I should really work on being more active in the fanfiction section of the Frozen fandom.
Anyways, with Halloween coming up, I decided to take a Skype chat a friend and I had over a year ago, and spruce it up into an actual story, and thus this fic was born.
It's pretty much... a horror movie, but with Frozen characters. I'm not kidding. This idea came about as more of imagining it as a film than as a story, so if it seems sort of roughly put together at parts, that may be part of it, and, again, I apologise for that.
Some trigger warnings for this fic include character death, mentions of anxiety, anxiety medication, and depression, and it's pretty violent at times, as well. So if any of that puts you off or upsets you, please don't read this. I promise I completely understand. I think that's all I have to say, that I can think of, so without any further ado, please enjoy and Happy Halloween~
"It's just one night in the woods, Els. It'll be fun. You can do that with me. Right?"
It had seemed much easier to agree with Anna when she was giving her that little pout that Elsa had never been able to say no to when they were growing up. But now, she was seriously reconsidering her decision as she stood in the middle of their trio of sleeping bags spread in a circle around their campsite, which seemed to quickly be turning into more of a pond, thanks to the sudden torrential downpour that had hit out of nowhere.
"Do we have to stay out here? It's pouring!" Elsa crossed her arms tightly over her chest, trying desperately to make herself as little as possible, as if the rain might have more trouble thoroughly drenching her.
"Oh, come on, Elsa, don't be such a spoil sport, it's just a little water." Anna looked like she couldn't care less as she twirled around the campsite, soaked braids slapping wetly against her shoulders as she giggled.
"Yes, well, I don't wish to spend the night sopping wet. I'm going back to the truck, where are the keys?"
Anna sighed and stopped her solitary waltzing, turning back to look at her sister, the slightest of frowns replacing her smile. "Kristoff has them."
Elsa turned to Kristoff, who had tried to find some form of shelter beneath a somewhat covered area beneath a tree branch, his dog Sven, and the girls' dog, Olaf, both huddled up next to him, whining and growling at each offending water droplet. With a less-than-thrilled expression, Elsa tiptoed her way through the mud to get to him, thanking her lucky stars that she had at least been smart enough to wear shoes that weren't white. Elsa held her hand out for the keys, and waited as Kristoff dug around in his pocket. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Anna.
"Elsa, please… Just… If it stops raining, please come back out?"
Elsa groaned inwardly as Anna used that damned pout on her once again. She was starting to think her sister had caught on to her inability to deny her when she used it. "We'll see."
Kristoff dropped the keys into her open palm, and offered her a warm smile. Elsa tried her hardest to smile back, but she was almost certain that it came out looking more of a grimace than anything else.
Though she couldn't deny her sister almost anything, it didn't always mean that she was always a fan of the particular activity that they were partaking in, and tonight was turning out to be a prime example. Spending time in the outdoors was one of Elsa's decidedly not favourite things to do, but she had tried her best to come into the trip with an open mind, even going so far as to dress "the part," as Anna had put it, meaning wearing jean shorts, boots, and a long-sleeved flannel shirt.
"Real camper's clothing," Anna had declared.
True, she had grinned and bore it when Anna had informed her that they would be sleeping in nothing but sleeping bags on the cold, dirty ground, much to her horror, and she had smiled and nodded when Kristoff had told them they'd be eating nothing but canned food, trail mix, and beef jerky. But when the inevitable announcement that there would be no cell phone service, or even toilets, came, she had seriously considered the repercussions of jumping out of the moving truck and running for the hills. It seemed that the more she learned what exactly camping and spending time in the great outdoors entailed, the more she found herself becoming less and less thrilled with the idea of spending an entire night there.
But she was trying her best to remain excited, for her sister.
Trudging through the quickly-muddying terrain, Elsa kept her arms wrapped around herself, muttering under her breath about the weather and no decent food, and everything else about the situation that had her wishing she'd just stayed at home. She jammed the key into the lock on the car door perhaps a little too forcefully, resulting in a loud jingling that gave her more of a startle than she was willing to admit, and when she finally got the door open, she all but jumped inside, slamming the door shut behind her.
She sat still for a long while, eyes closed as she let the keys fall to rest on the driver's seat. She was starting to regret acting like a spoiled brat. It was just rain. It wasn't like she had never been stuck in the rain before. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was more along the lines that she wasn't thrilled about being stuck in the rain in an unfamiliar place, in a situation that she wasn't all that excited about in the first place, sans horrible weather. That, and the fact that she felt like an awkward third wheel to Anna and Kristoff. Not that they had done anything to make her feel left out at all. Kristoff had been just as excited as Anna when he had learned she'd be joining them on the trip, and he had assured her he'd make sure they all had a fun time. But still, Elsa felt a bit out of place amongst the two of them, and try as she might, she couldn't shake that feeling of not really belonging there with them.
A round of loud thunder crashing around her made her jump, and she whined softly as she looked down at herself, gauging the damage the downpour had done to her clothing.
"This is so not what I signed up for."
Heaving a sigh, Elsa turned slightly to look out of the back window. It really didn't look so bad. The rain actually looked like it was starting to let up, and Elsa could tell that, once the rainclouds cleared away, it would be a lovely night. They'd even be able to see the full moon, if they managed to find a spot free enough of tree branches and leaves.
"Come on, Elsa. You can do this. This is for Anna. It's just one night. In the woods. In… the pouring rain." She took a long, slow breath. "The rain will let up quickly. It will have to. And Kristoff and Anna will be able to start a fire. And the campsite will dry."
She sighed again, turning her attention to her purse as she dug around for something to at least occupy her until the rain died down enough. That, she decided, was when she'd make a decision about whether or not she'd actually give camping a real try.
Pulling the book she was currently reading out of her purse, she thumbed through it until she found her bookmark, and made herself as comfortable as she could, which was the slightest bit more difficult in wet clothes, curling up and propping her chin in her hand as she allowed herself to get lost in the imaginary world of her novel.
She hadn't been reading for very long when she first heard it.
It was a sound loud enough that she jerked her head up, wary gaze roaming over the windshield and to the passenger door, and it was a sound that was unmistakable: the howling of a wolf.
Tilting her head to the side, Elsa blinked slowly. Surely she had imagined it. There were no wolves or coyotes or anything of that sort around the area. Kristoff had assured her that the campsite was relatively free of wild animals, or at least, the dangerous kinds, as he had so nicely worded it. It was probably, she decided, just Sven or Olaf, riled up after the storm and letting off pent-up energy. She shook her head, and returned to her book, dragging a finger down the page to find her place.
A few minutes later, and it sounded again, decidedly closer than the previous one.
Reasonably more on edge, Elsa closed her book, tucking it back into her purse as she looked around once more, straining her eyes to see outside of the truck as the very last lights of sunset began to fade away, leaving darkness in its wake. Eyes not leaving her surroundings, she brought her knees to her chest as she began to dig around in her purse once more, until she found the small flashlight she always left tucked away inside, pulling it out and fumbling to turn it on as she turned to look out of the back window.
The flashlight really wasn't helping at all; it was only making a glare on the window, which, in turn made it harder to see outside than before. She pressed her face against the glass, squinting to try and see if she could see anything.
Once she had deemed the area behind the truck safe, she turned back to the passenger window, shining her flashlight out of it.
She let out a shriek of terror.
And then promptly began to laugh.
It was only her reflection in the side mirror, and nothing more.
Turning her flashlight off as she laughed at how ridiculously she was behaving, she set it on the seat beside her, smoothing a hand over her mussed bangs as she relaxed back against the seat. At least, she noted, it had stopped raining. Perhaps she would give camping another go. As soon as she settled down a bit more, that was.
The truck grew silent once more as she finally stopped giggling, and she had just closed her eyes briefly when she heard the sound of a twig break, just outside of her door.
She whipped her head to look out of it, and, at the same time, something pressed against it, the sound of banging sounding immediately afterwards, echoing around her. It happened so quickly that it was all Elsa could do but shriek in response, and back herself against the driver's side window.
And when something pressed against that window, as well, she shrieked again, crawling to the middle of the front seat and pulling herself into a ball, pressing her face against her knees, her hands folded behind her head as she tried to keep herself as small as possible.
When the banging sound dissolved into the sound of loud, howling laughter, however, Elsa lifted her head just enough to look out of the passenger window, finding her sister leaned against the door, wheezing in a hysterical fit as she tried to keep herself upright. A glance to the driver's side showed Kristoff in a nearly identical position, and Elsa couldn't stop the glare from forming as she looked between the two of them, finding the situation far less amusing than they clearly did.
She folded her arms across her chest, still looking between the two of them, as Anna finally seemed to catch her breath enough so that she could speak.
"Oh, come on, Elsa, it was just a joke! Don't be mad, sis!"
"Yeah, Els. We didn't think it would scare you that badly."
And then the smiles on both of their faces were gone so quickly, it was as though they had never been laughing at all, and, as Elsa lifted a hand to her face, she realised that she had been frightened so badly that she had started crying.
Wiping her face with one arm, she reached over to open the passenger door, and Anna immediately enveloped her in a hug, guilty expression evident on her face.
"I forgot how easily unsettled you get. I'm sorry."
Elsa didn't say anything. She didn't need to. She merely let Anna hug her as she pulled her knees back up to her chest again.
Silence reigned for a few long moments before Anna finally spoke up again, pulling away enough so that she could look at Elsa properly.
"It… It stopped raining… Do you want to come back out there with us? Kristoff managed to start a fire, and he's using it to dry out our sleeping bags. And they're really not as wet as they could have been, so… there's that…?"
Elsa just shrugged in response, gaze falling to her lap as she heard Kristoff coming around to her side of the truck.
"Hey… Elsa, we really didn't mean to scare you, let alone that badly. And if you're out there with us, me and Sven can protect you from anything bad. Okay?"
Elsa stayed silent, considering it for a few moments, before she finally looked up, looking between the both of them before nodding quietly.
She let Anna pull her from the truck, and stood with her as Kristoff dug a few things out of the back of the truck before they began to walk back.
"It'll be okay, Elsa. I mean… We can even make s'mores. Chocolate. Yum, right?"
Elsa nodded vaguely. As much as Anna and Kristoff had spooked her, she still couldn't stop feeling unsettled about the howls she had heard, and she turned to glance over her shoulder, eyes drifting over the wooded area of the truck as she tried to keep herself calm.
The walk back to the campsite was filled with a stifling, somewhat awkward silence, as all three of them were unsure as to where to pick up their conversation from, but as Elsa stepped into a small puddle, making a tiny splash, she cleared her throat quietly, raising her head before she spoke.
"So… Did no one check the weather before we headed out here into the service-less unknown, or…?"
"Of course we checked it, Elsa, we're not… imbeciles, or something!" Anna pouted huffily, crossing her arms defiantly as Elsa laughed softly.
"I didn't say that you were," Elsa remarked softly as she reached up and gently patted Anna's hand, which was rested on her shoulder somewhat protectively. "It was a freak storm. You know how things are in this area. It was over just as quickly as it started. Typical." She wasn't too sure if it really was typical, but the words seemed to soothe Anna a little, and that was what Elsa really wanted, so she left the thought be.
A few moments later, and they had reached their campsite. The girls walked over to sit on a mostly dry log as Kristoff walked over to check on the sleeping bags, setting down the guitar case he had brought back with him from the truck. He poked and prodded at the bags for a few moments, before stoking the fire.
"Give 'em a few more minutes and they'll be good as new. I think."
"That's promising…" Elsa muttered softly to herself, but she smiled up at Kristoff all the same, before turning to her sister and offering her a smile, as well, picking up on how she was still watching her closely, brow furrowed in worry. "I'm okay, Anna." She reached up to take her hand, squeezing it gently and bringing it back down between them. "Promise." Her grin grew as a mischievous glint lit her eyes. "Now… about those s'mores…"
The sisters shared a quiet giggle and Elsa relaxed as Anna visibly relaxed, as well.
"Right. Three s'mores, coming right up." Anna practically bounced up from her seat on the log, and began to dig around in her bag, pulling out a bag of ridiculously oversized marshmallows, a bag of graham crackers, and a large chocolate bar.
As Anna set about making their snack, Elsa remained in her spot on the log, drawing her knees up to her chest once more, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin on top. Try as she might, she still couldn't fully shake the unsettled feeling in her gut.
If they were supposed to be in a safe area of the woods, with no dangerous animals…. Then what had made that sound? Had she truly imagined it, after all, in her upset, anxious mindset? Or had it been real?
She was pulled from her thoughts as Anna brought over the sticky-looking mess that was her s'more, and she smiled weakly, thanking her softly as she took it from her. But for as long as she stared at it, trying to work her mouth to take a bite, she only found herself feeling more and more queasy.
Turning her attention away from the treat for a while, she gazed around the campground as she tried to let her stomach settle a bit. She smiled fondly at Sven and Olaf, who were both alert and at attention as they gazed around from their spot curled up next to Kristoff, who was plucking away at his guitar, the soft song he was playing resounding in the silence around them.
The next half hour passed in much the same manner, Anna eating messily, Elsa alternating between looking at the gooey mess in her hands and looking over her shoulder every so often, and Kristoff providing music in the background.
The silence was broken when Anna cleared her throat, and Elsa looked up briefly, grinning fondly when she saw that her sister now had chocolate smudged on her face and that her hands covered in the sticky residue from the marshmallow, before she turned her attention back to her own snack, feeling the slightest bit guilty that she still had yet to take a bite from it. Not wanting to accidentally make Anna feel like she hadn't appreciated it, she finally worked herself up to take at least a small bite of the treat. She glanced back up to see Anna looking around mischievously, from Kristoff to Elsa, and then back, a devious little grin quickly spreading across her face.
"Ya wanna trade ghost stories?"
Elsa actually looked up then, the wariness that she was already feeling now increasing at the prospect of more things that would only unsettle her further.
Kristoff looked between the two of them, picking up on Elsa's hesitation with ease. "Anna… I don't think that's a good idea…"
"Oh, come on, they're all fake anyways. What's the matter, tough guy, afraid of a story?" She crossed her arms over her chest, smirking tauntingly at him.
"It's not me I'm worried about."
They both turned to Elsa, then, who had taken to nervously twisting the end of her braid between her fingers, gaze fixated steadfastly on her lap. A guilty expression crossed Anna's face as she went over to sit next to her sister, patting her knee soothingly.
"Shit. I'm sorry, Elsa. I won't… bring it up again. Promise."
Elsa merely shrugged in response, her hands shaking as she let go of her braid and instead focused on twisting her hands together in much the same anxious manner. She stayed silent for a long time, and, as she thought more about the events of the night, the more things started to make a little more sense. Anna and Kristoff had been trying to scare her earlier. They must have been the ones who had been howling. There was no murderous animal out for blood, no lost dog, and certainly no trick her mind was playing on her. It had just been them playing a childish trick on her, to try and get a laugh out of it.
Never taking her eyes away from her lap, Elsa finally spoke up, voice quiet. "You know… Speaking of ghost stories… Was it really necessary to howl when you guys were trying to frighten me earlier?"
Anna and Kristoff exchanged looks of confusion, eyebrows furrowed in near identical expressions.
"Howl?" Anna nearly laughed at the idea, but stopped herself, if only because she could tell that her sister didn't seem to think this was any sort of laughing matter.
When Anna continued to hesitate, Kristoff finally spoke in her place. "Elsa, look we wanted to scare you, but we didn't howl."
Elsa finally looked up, then, glancing between the two of them as she tried to gauge their reactions, but the longer she looked at their blank expressions, the more she felt her own confusion give way to slight anger.
"Look, I… I'm not upset if you guys did, but… but at least don't lie to me about it."
Anna's jaw dropped slightly at her sister's accusation, glancing at Kristoff again briefly before looking back at her sister. "Elsa, we aren't lying to you. Why would I lie to you about howling? Kristoff, you didn't howl, did you?"
"Of course not. Did you?"
"No, I didn't."
Elsa suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, wanting more than anything to give her sister and Kristoff the benefit of the doubt. "Well, then… If neither of you did it, who did? You heard it, right?"
Anna and Kristoff's exasperated expressions immediately changed to looks of worry as they both slowly shook their heads. Anna leaned closer, getting in Elsa's line of vision so that she had to look at her.
"Elsa… Elsa, did you take your medicine today?" She reached forward in an attempt to take Elsa's hands, but she jerked them away from her before she could, blinking at her incredulously.
"My me-… This is not about me, this not about me 'hearing things' or making things up. You guys are pulling mean pranks, and if that's how the night is going to be spent, then I want no further part in it."
She stood then, wrapping her arms around herself and storming into the woods, going in the complete opposite direction of the truck. She didn't know where she was going, or what she was going to do. She only knew that she needed some alone time.
"Elsa! …Elsa?! Elsa, please, I'm sorry, just come back, you might get hurt!"
Elsa knew well enough that her sister was being sincere, in both her apology and her concern for Elsa being alone in the woods, but she ignored her. If she went back now, she might snap at Anna and Kristoff again, and she didn't want that. She hadn't really meant to be so mean in the first place. She had only wanted to know the truth.
Clutching her phone tightly, as though it were a security blanket, she walked further into the dark woods, dodging low limbs and bunches of leaves as she went.
Eventually, the faint sounds of Anna calling after her faded completely, and her surroundings grew quiet once again. Pressing the power button on her phone to check the time, she found she had been walking for at least five minutes.
Another thirty seconds later, and she was hit with the painful clarity of the horrible mistake she had made. She was alone, in the middle of unfamiliar woods, with no decent cell service to call anyone, and she was still afraid, and feeling a little hurt from her sister.
Still unwilling to turn back and return to the campsite, though whether from guilt or unwillingness, she couldn't decide, she continued forward, gripping her phone the slightest bit tighter.
She was met with a shock when, after a few more minutes of walking in silence, she stumbled out of the woods and into a large clearing. A small distance away, across a vast sea of overgrown grass, she saw what looked to be some sort of strange, dilapidated old building almost, she mused, resembling some sort of old warehouse. It looked rather out of place; there were no other buildings around anywhere, from what she could see, and woods almost completely surrounded the area.
The slightest shiver ran down her spine, and she found herself looking over her shoulder once again. The silence was almost deafening, the desperate calling from Anna long gone. Had she been paying more attention, she might have realised the silence was so strong because there were no sounds at all, not that of wind in the trees, nor of any animals or even bugs.
Shaking her head slightly, as though she were trying to shake off the unsettled feeling still eating away at her, she glanced back down at her phone briefly, and then up to the building. Taking a deep breath, she headed out toward the field, the hope of finding cell service near the building the only thing pushing her forward.
Wading through the waist-deep grass, it didn't take Elsa long at all to become spooked due to the inability to see anything that might be lurking in the areas around her, and she broke into a sprint. By the time she had made it to the other side, she was panting, from both fear and exertion, and she paused for a few short moments, so that she could catch her breath before she walked the rest of the distance to the building, phone clutched to her chest as she looked around for any signs of life.
She checked her phone again, hoping desperately to see some kind of service displayed in the top corner of the screen, but as she walked around the corner of the building, there was still nothing. Groaning in frustration, she shoved her phone back into her pocket, and took some time to gauge her surroundings better.
The building looked even more decrepit up close than it had from across the clearing. With paint that looked like it had been peeling for decades, and patches of wood showing through holes in the wall, Elsa figured it must have been years since someone had lived there.
Mustering up all the courage she had, Elsa looked around one more time and took a slow, deep breath.
"H-hello?" She spoke far softer than she had meant to, her call a mere whisper on the wind. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Hello?" she called, her voice much firmer, and louder, that time. She waited in silence for a full minute, but there was no response of any sort. If it was even possible, it seemed even quieter than it had before.
She continued to walk down the length of the building, looking for a way to get in, or at the very least, look inside. She came upon a door, knocking on it and waiting for an answer. When nothing happened once again, she tried the handle, only to find it locked, and continued on her way. A little ways down from the door, she came upon a window, reaching from the ground to well above her head on the wall. The glass had long since been broken and removed from the pane, and it was instead boarded up with planks of old, dead wood.
Looking down both sides of the building, she turned back to the window, and pushed at the wood. When it gave slightly, she stood back and studied it for a little longer as she thought out her plan of action. If it really had been years since anyone had been here, would it really matter if she did any damage while trying to get in? It was just a boarded up window, anyways. Though she still felt bad for even considering destruction of property. Finally, she made her decision, taking a deep breath, and bringing her leg up to kick at the rotting wood.
It took three kicks before it splintered and fell away, leaving her access to the interior of the building.
She peeked her head in first, trying to look around, but it was too dark inside.
"Hello?" she tried again, but, to no avail, she still received no response.
She stepped back from the window again, hands fumbling together nervously as she contemplated whether or not it would be a good idea to go inside. Her common sense was screaming at her to just return to the campsite and apologise for her irrational outburst and for running off into the woods, but there was also a small part of her that wanted to explore further, just to see what she could find.
She leaned through the window again, squinting to try and see anything she could in the darkness, and, just as she reached in her pocket to draw her phone out to turn on the flashlight, the sound of another howl made her blood run cold.
She whipped her head around; it had come from somewhere behind her, on the same side of the field that she had just come from.
A few seconds later, and it sounded again, closer this time, and without any further hesitation, Elsa pushed herself through the window and into the building.
Heart pounding, she sprinted farther inside, looking for some sort of room or closet or somewhere that she could hide in, to get away from whatever animal was outside until it left.
Trying door after door, she finally found one that was unlocked, and had just opened it when she heard a low, rumbling growl from the direction she had just come from. With a terrified whimper, she threw herself inside the closet, pressing against the far wall.
Clamping her hands down over her mouth, she realised that, once again, she had been frightened to tears. Staying as still and quiet as she could manage, she listened, trying to gauge where the animal was.
She could see light streaming in underneath the door; she had managed to notice, when she had run inside that much of the roof was missing, leaving plenty of holes and openings in the roof through which moonlight was filtering in, so the building wasn't as dark inside as she had initially thought. But the closed-in space she was currently in was a much different story.
Keeping one hand firmly over her mouth, she fumbled to pull her phone out of her pocket, clumsily turning on the flashlight and shakily getting down on her knees, cheek pressed to the ground as she tried to peek beneath the door to see if she could see the animal.
She barely managed to stifle a terrified yelp when an inhuman foot stepped into her line of vision. It looked, she reasoned, somewhat like a dog's foot, but there was something off about it. It was much too big, far bigger, even, than a wolf or coyote paw. And hadn't Kristoff had said that those weren't even in this area, anyways?
She was ripped from any further investigation when a low, purring growl sounded, causing her to very nearly stop breathing as fear filled every fibre of her being. Trembling violently, with tears still streaming down her cheeks, she waited in tense silence. She had always been a skittish person, but this… this was a completely different sense of terror.
In her anxiety, she shook so hard that her phone clattered to the floor with a bang that felt like it resonated throughout her own body pressed against the floor as the sound echoed against the deteriorating walls. She froze, holding her breath, as she noticed the animal's paws angle towards the door she was hiding behind. She hardly managed to scurry into the space beside the door, fitting herself flat against the wall before the door creaked open, in a movement so agonizingly slow that Elsa was sure she would pass out from fright before it even fully opened.
With both hands pressed against her mouth to stifle her whisper-soft whines, she finally dared to turn her head slightly to the side, and was greeted with the sight of a russet snout peeking past the doorframe. Elsa bit back another muffled whimper as she tried to push herself farther against the walls, willing herself to stay in the shadows as best she could. The task proved a somewhat difficult feat; she was shaking so hard she could hardly control her movements, and her knees were as close to her chest as she could manage, so she could stay as small as possible.
She squeezed her eyes shut when she heard the beast begin to sniff around, and then opened them again when she heard it nudge the phone around, emitting a low, guttural growl as it sniffed at the object. She pressed her lips even tighter together, eyes growing impossibly wider as she watched what could only be described as a fur-covered hand pick up the phone before disappearing from the doorframe and her line of sight. Seconds late, the phone was smashed to pieces as the beast threw it against the wall across from her, and she barely managed to stifle her squeak of terror.
Regaining her composure, if only slightly, she grew still as stone once more as the snout peeked past the edge of the frame again, and the seconds felt like hours as she waited for something to happen, for the beast to notice her, or perhaps leave, or just something. Finally, it seemed to decide that there was nothing further out of the ordinary, after all, and Elsa could hear the sound of nails clicking against the floor as it walked off in what she hoped was the opposite direction.
Elsa remained in her place for a good few minutes, trying to collect herself as best she could and get her mind together enough to decide what her next move was. She could stay here all night, and hope that it didn't come back, or she could risk it and try to run back to the campsite.
Trembling, she pushed herself up, arms coming to wrap around herself as she slowly peeked around the doorframe. There was nothing there, and she sobbed quietly relief. She took another step, standing in the doorway, and peeked back the way she had come from.
Nothing.
She peeked the way she had heard the beast go.
Her heart nearly stopped.
It was several hundred feet down from her, and it stood on its hind legs, hunched over, and going, much to Elsa's relief, in the direction headed away from her. She trembled, watching as it stepped into a patch illuminated by moonlight, and she could see that it was covered in matted, russet-coloured fur, with head resembling some sort of canine. It was tall, taller, even, than most of the people she knew, including Kristoff.
She stayed there for a long time just staring at it, for how long, she wasn't sure, trying to comprehend what she was looking at, and praying that it wouldn't turn around and see her standing there. Taking a deep breath, she finally tore her gaze from the creature, and glanced back down the hall towards the window she had come in through, and then back to the creature.
It was now or never.
She closed her eyes, taking another deep, shaky breath.
And then she ran.
She could hear her footsteps echoing, bouncing off the empty walls as she ran, and she knew she had made a mistake when she heard a fierce growl come from behind her. She screamed, pushing herself as hard as she could. The beast's footsteps were right behind her, and getting closer and closer with every fleeting moment, but she kept her eyes trained on the window.
If I can just get into the field, I can crouch down and hide in the grass until it goes away again.
She had almost reached the window when she became aware of the animalistic panting practically right on top of her, and she shrieked again, nearly tripping on one of the broken planks of wood as she reached the window.
She had climbed halfway through the window when something collided with her, and she screamed as she was pulled back into the building. Before she had a chance to react further, she was flung to the ground hard. She tried to squirm away, reaching for something to help her pull herself away, but as soon as the beast noticed, it merely turned her over, and her back was slammed against the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut as the beast lowered its muzzle closer, sniffing her, and she shrieked again.
Frozen in fear, she whined and whimpered, still struggling in a meager attempt to get out from under the beast, but it had her firmly pinned down, fur-covered hands pressing against her shoulders. She peeked one eye open, and immediately regretted it when she found herself eye to eye with the looming figure above her.
Now that she was so close, she could tell that the head was much too large to be a normal wolves' head, and for a fleeting few moments, the term 'werewolf' came to mind, but despite how scared she was, there was no way she could wrap her mind around the idea or bring herself to believe that sort of thing to be real. The eyes were a bright green. She almost expected them to be red or yellow. Demonic eyes to go with whatever nightmarish, demonic creature this seemed to be.
Maybe werewolves were real, after all. What did she know, anyway? She was only a twenty-one year old girl, stuck at home and on medications because her parents thought she had some weird thing that made her crazy. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe this was all in her mind, some concoction her anxiety had dreamed up. Perhaps it was all just a bad dream, and she was back at home, and they hadn't even left for their trip yet.
She was torn from any further thinking on the situation when the beast pushed its nose against her cheek, and she let out a strangled yelp of fear.
It was too close, far too close, and she was far too helpless, and all she knew to do was to cry and hope that it would just kill her and be done with it. But when she felt its tongue trail from her cheek down her shoulder, and saw it bear its teeth in a ferocious, deadly snarl, she became even more frightened than she ever thought she could be and, running on adrenaline alone, she brought one leg up, trying to kick at it.
When it snarled and fell away from her, she realised she must have hit it somewhere that hurt. Knowing that she didn't have much time, she scrambled to push herself to her feet, running past the beast and towards the window, but, in her haste to get out, the sleeve of her shirt caught on a nail sticking out from one of the splintered pieces of wood still hanging from the window, and she cried out, her first thought that the beast had caught her again. Glancing briefly back at the monster, she tugged and tugged at her sleeve, but it refused to yank loose.
She glanced up again, whining when she saw the beast getting back up, and she decided that her safety was more important than her shirt, and with one final tug, and a loud rip, her shirt ended up torn off completely, but she took no notice as she bolted off again, running through the field as fast as she could, desperate to get away from the warehouse and back to the campsite, so she could warn Anna and Kristoff that they had to get out of there, and now.
She was a short distance into the woods when she heard the creature howl again, and she stumbled as she looked back over her shoulder. Finding nothing immediately behind her, she turned forward once more, trying to remember which way she had come from, but all of the trees looked the same, and she didn't have her phone or a compass, or anything on her to help her navigate back to safety.
"Anna! Kristoff!" Her screams for help were spine-tingling, piercingly loud as she stumbled through the woods, arms crossed over herself to try and keep herself covered as she fought against bushes and branches, thorns cutting her arms and face and everything else that had been left bare due to her lack of a shirt.
"Elsa?!"
Her head jerked in the direction of her name, and she redirected herself, going towards her sister's voice.
"Anna. Anna!"
When she caught sight of a blur of red hair in front of her, she threw herself at it, resulting in Anna getting thrown to the ground, but before she could even move, Elsa had curled against her, whimpering and sobbing inconsolably, her words jumbled together so that neither Anna nor Kristoff could understand a word she was saying.
"Elsa. Elsa, Elsa, Elsa, calm down, and tell us what happened. Where's your shirt? What happened to you out there, we were worried sick!"
With slight trouble, Anna got her sister to stand, though she remained inconsolable, curled against her sister and gripping her jacket tightly as they walked the short distance back to the campsite. Seeing the state she was in, Kristoff immediately whipped his jacket off and offered it to Anna, who wrapped it around Elsa as she managed to get her over to a log before setting her back down again. She gestured to him to bring her bag over, and once she had it, she began to dig around in it, looking for the bottle of pills she knew she had brought with her, since she had seen Elsa forget to pack them.
"Come on, Elsa, calm down… Calm down. You need to… to take your medicine, I've got it right here. Come on… That's it." She spoke in a soothing voice, knowing that that was what her sister needed to hear more than anything else right now.
Elsa hardly even fought against her. She was far too scared, and knew she needed to calm down, so she took the medicine that Anna dropped in her palm, and washed them down with a sip from the canteen that she handed her.
"There we go, Elsa. That's it… calm down… Here, lie down for me." She pulled over one of the, now dry, sleeping bags, and got Elsa settled on her side as Kristoff quirked an eyebrow in slight confusion.
"What did you give her?"
"It's just her Xanax. She needed it. She needed to calm down."
Kristoff merely nodded in response, watching the sisters in silence as Anna took to rubbing Elsa's shoulder gently. For a long while, they stayed that way, in complete silence except for the sound of the fire crackling, and the sound of the dogs' tags jingling as they walked about the area. Eventually, Anna noticed that Elsa was looking a little drowsy, as though she was having trouble keeping herself awake, and she patted her arm gently, getting up and walking back over to Kristoff, arms wrapped around herself.
"I'm just… I'm gonna let her rest for a bit, calm down. Do you have, like, a handkerchief or a rag or… something I can wet and put on her forehead?"
He nodded, digging around in his stuff for an unused hanky and handing it to Anna, squeezing her hand gently and offering her a soothing smile before he let her turn back to tend to her sister again.
Anna knelt beside Elsa once again, pouring some water on the cloth before resting it over her forehead. "You're okay now, Elsa. You're safe, that's it… I've got you."
Elsa nodded absentmindedly, arms clutching at the jacket wrapped around her.
Anna gave her a few more minutes to collect herself before she started asking questions.
"Elsa…? What happened? Can you tell me where you went?"
Elsa took a few long breaths, swallowing several times as she tried to clear her mind and sort her thoughts. One of the downsides of taking her medicine was that sometimes she had trouble remembering things and keeping her concentration, even on things that had only happened within the past few hours. Finally, she spoke, looking up at her sister. "Some… building… An old warehouse, or… something. I don't know. I was gonna see if there was service there, so I could call and have some pick me up or something… But…"
"But… what?" Anna prodded gently, rubbing Elsa's shoulder gently.
Elsa closed her eyes, trying her hardest to remember what had happened, but it was still fuzzy. She tried to retrace her steps, mentally going over everything she had done. She had gone to the house… She had gone inside… And then… And then…
Oh.
As everything came back to her, her breathing began to grow shallow, and she clutched at Anna's hand.
Picking up on her panic, Anna squeezed her hand gently, trying to get Elsa to look at her again. "Elsa? Elsa, calm down, ju-"
"No." Elsa shook her head fervently. "No. No, we… we have to leave. We have to go, there…. There's something out here. It… It chased me, it… It's in that building."
Anna's brow furrowed and she shook her head in confusion. "Elsa, you're not making any sense. You need to lie back down, and-"
"No!" Elsa pushed herself out of her sister's grasp, and stood, arms wrapped around herself as she began to pace. "No, that… Remember when I told you I heard howling? It wasn't you, it… God, it wasn't you, and I'm so sorry that I thought it was, but it was… it was it, that thing!"
Anna stood, as well, watching her sister worriedly. "Elsa, you're not making any sense." She turned to look at Kristoff, who was standing a short way off, watching the two sisters argue. "Kristoff, maybe we should take her home, or… or maybe to the ER. Something happened to her out there." She looked back to her sister. "Elsa. Elsa, you're not thinking clearly, you know how your medicine makes you-"
"No, Anna. I'm thinking perfectly clearly. There was something in that building. It was not human. And it was after me." She had burst into tears again, by now, and was shaking and trembling. She turned to Kristoff, eyes wide as she watched him. "Kristoff, you believe me… don't you?"
Kristoff stepped forward then, reaching out to her with hands held up in mock-surrender. "Elsa… Maybe Anna's right… Maybe you need to go to the hospital, so someone can check you out, and-"
He was interrupted by a sound Elsa had heard far too much in one night, and it was, once again, far too close for her comfort. She screamed weakly, wrapping her arms tightly around herself as the two dogs barked, on full alert now.
"Please. Please, we have to go. Please… Please, it's after me…" Elsa trailed off incoherently, gripping Anna's arm tightly and watching Kristoff as he turned to look in the direction of the howl.
"Anna, take your sister back to the truck. Lock it, and don't open it until you see me."
Anna stared at him incredulously. "Kristoff, what about-"
"Now, Anna. If there's a wolf out here, I don't want you getting hurt." Anna opened her mouth to argue, but another howl sounded, even closer than previously, and Elsa tugged on her arm, pulling her towards the truck.
"Annapleasewehavetogoplease!" Elsa's words were a jumbled mess as she pulled at her sister more. It took a few tugs before Anna finally turned and went after her sister, tripping on a root and nearly falling over, but Elsa was pulling her so quickly that she managed to stay upright.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Anna dug her heels into the ground and looked back over her shoulder. "Sven! Olaf! Come here, guys! Come on, come on, come on!"
The dogs arrived shortly after Anna called them, and by the time they reached the truck, they were hot on their heels.
Elsa swung the passenger door open and all but threw Anna in in her haste to get them to safety. "Come on, come on, come on, get in, get in!"
"I'm trying! Olaf, Sven, here, boys!" She patted the seat, and both dogs hopped in, jumping over the front seat and curling up in the back, ears perked as they looked around.
As soon as the dogs were in, Elsa jumped in, slamming the door behind her and pushing the lock down. "Anna, get the other door, hurry, hurry!"
Anna slid over, fumbling to get the lock pushed in properly. "Okay, okay, it's in!"
The car fell silent, then, save for Anna and Elsa's pants as they caught their breath. Anna turned to look out of the back window, trying to spot Kristoff, while Elsa sat with her arms wrapped around herself, one hand rubbing at her neck, where the beast had licked her.
"Elsa, you have to tell me what is going on, and no lies this time."
Elsa looked up to see Anna facing her now, hands folded nervously in her lap, and gaze flickering over to the back window every few seconds. "I told you. Whatever it is, it's… it's not human. And it's after me. At least, I think it is… It…" She broke down into terrified sobs again, her hand moving to tug at her necklace. She had forgotten she was wearing it, it had been tucked underneath her shirt, but now she was clutching it tightly. It was a snowflake that her sister had gotten for her when she had turned eighteen, and she had worn it almost every day since. It brought her comfort. "Anna, the… the way it looked at me… I-I… I can't… I don't…" She struggled to find words. "Anna, it looked at me like it wanted to eat me, or… or worse… It… kept sniffing at me, and licking me… Anna, I'm so scared… I-I don't want to die. I don't want to die."
Anna couldn't even begin to comprehend her sister's fear, but she wrapped her arms around her as she, once again, dissolved into tears.
"Elsa… Elsa, nothing is going to eat you. Nothing's going to happen, you aren't going to die. A wolf wouldn't eat a person, anyways."
Elsa shook her head, gripping Anna's shoulders as she pulled back to look at her, breath coming in shaky pants. "Anna… Anna, it's n-not a wolf. And it's not human… I…" She swallowed hard. "I think it's a-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, they heard a yell from somewhere behind the truck.
"Kristoff!" Anna turned back to look out the back window, eyes wide with terror. "Elsa, that was Kristoff, something's wrong! We have to help him!" She reached for the door, but Elsa grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"No! No, we can't go out there, Anna, please!"
"Elsa! I'm not leaving Kristoff out there alone with whatever it is you're going on about."
"Anna-"
Another scream echoed around them, and Anna turned back to the window.
"Elsa, I'm not leaving him out there alone."
And before Elsa could say anything more, Anna had opened the driver's side door and was running back towards the campsite.
"Anna, no!" Despite her own terror, Elsa ran after her. She couldn't let anything happen to her baby sister, no matter how frightened she was. She hadn't gone more than a few feet before she nearly ran into Anna, who had stopped in her tracks suddenly. "Anna! Anna, you… Anna?" She took a better look at her sister, whose hands were over her mouth and eyes were filled with tears. She followed her gaze, and uttered a quiet whine as she took in a scene before them.
It was Kristoff.
At least… most of him.
From what Elsa could tell, he was missing a large chunk from his neck and shoulder, and he wasn't moving.
"Kristoff…" Anna murmured, finally regaining motion in her legs and running to him.
"Anna, no, don't, it's not safe, please!" Elsa whined softly, but Anna had already flung herself to her knees beside him, hands still pressed to her mouth. Elsa bit her lip and looked around nervously, hands wringing together anxiously.
"Kristoff…?" Anna's eyes filled with tears, and she trembled, and she moved forward, as if to touch him or shake him awake, but she stopped herself, hands hovering awkwardly halfway between him and herself, as though she was unsure whether or not she should do anything at all. "Kristoff, no… No!"
Elsa watched sadly as Anna broke down, shoulders quaking with sobs as she held her face in her hands, and she took a step towards her, mouth working to try and find the words to comfort her, but she could find none. She swallowed hard. "Anna… Anna, I'm… I'm so sorry, but… but we have to go, we're not safe, we… It's still out here, we…"
"No. No, I'm not leaving without him. I-I can't… we can't… I… he…"
She was cut off by a loud growl coming from somewhere behind them, and Elsa shrieked, lurching forward and clutching at Anna's arms.
"Anna. Anna, please, we have to go, please, PLEASE!" She pulled Anna up, and she didn't resist that time. Going back towards the truck was out of the question, since that would mean going back towards the beast, so Elsa pulled her forward, running back through the campsite and in the direction she had gone before, headed straight for the building.
If she had been able to hide there once, surely there would be other places to hide, as well.
"Anna. Anna, I know you're upset, but you have to run faster. You can do it, come on." She pulled her along faster, making her own legs move as fast as she could. Once they had finally broken out of the woods and into the clearing, Elsa ran even harder. "Come on… Come on, Anna, we're almost to the building, just a little farther."
"What is that?!"
Elsa whipped her head around to see Anna looking over her shoulder, screaming in absolute terror. The beast was at the edge of the woods on its hind legs, and looking right at them.
"Anna, faster, now!" Elsa continued to pull her along, breath coming in ragged pants as she came up to the window she had passed through earlier, pushing Anna in front of her. Once they were both inside, she grabbed her arm and kept running. "Come, just keep going. Don't look back, Anna, just keep moving." She led them past the closet she had hid in previously, aiming for the end of the hall.
When she found it to be a dead end, she looked around frantically, terrified pants wracking her body as she tried to find somewhere else they could go. Finally, she spotted a door nearby, just as she heard the sound of the creature shoving its way inside the building. Glancing up, she saw that it was running at full speed straight towards them. She pulled the door open and shoved Anna in front of her before following after her, slamming the door shut behind her. She nearly fell when she moved forward and almost missed a step downward. The doors had led to a staircase, and Anna was already halfway down.
"Elsa, hurry, hurry!"
The muffled growl behind her was enough to startle Elsa into moving, taking two or three steps at a time as she descended the stairs as quickly as possible. When they reached the end of the staircase, they found themselves in some sort of basement, filled with old furniture and tables, all covered with dusty and dirty sheets. Elsa glanced over her shoulder, hoping they still had time before they were found.
"Anna, get underneath one of those tables. Make sure the sheet covers you, quickly!"
Anna nodded and was already on the floor by the time Elsa found somewhere for herself to hide. They had both just stopped moving when the door above them slammed open, and Elsa could hear the creature grunting as it ran down the stairs and entered the room they were in. Both girls sat curled up in tight little balls, hands over their mouths and breathing as quietly as they could. Both girls tensed as they heard the beast prowling closer, and, from what Elsa could see of the shadow against the sheet, it was on all fours now.
The sound of something being knocked over abruptly startled her, and she pressed her hands to her mouth harder still. Risking a peek underneath the edge of the sheet, she watched in horror as the beast knocked over one of the sheet-covered tables, and, with a sinking feeling in her gut, she realised that he was still looking for them, and that they weren't nearly as safe as she had hoped they would be. She glanced over to where she left Anna, just beside her, and saw that she was peeking out from under her sheet, as well.
Elsa put a finger to her lips, and raised a hand to gesture for Anna to try and scurry over to where she was, but just then, the table Anna was under was thrown to the side, and Anna screamed, backing away from the monster.
"Anna, no!" Elsa's scream was drowned out by the sound of Anna's screams as the monster growled, pouncing on top of her and sniffing at her. Time seemed to slow for Elsa as she watched in terror, her heart pounding as she willed the monster to just leave her sister alone, to leave them both alone, and just let them go.
"Elsa! Elsa, run, run!"
"Anna, I c-"
"RUN!"
Before anything else could be said, Anna was screaming again as the creature, with one snap of its jaws, bit into her neck, and Elsa was left with a smattering of blood across her face as her eyes grew wide, a strangled scream caught in her throat. "Anna!"
"El-sa… R-run!"
It was the last coherent thing she said before another scream tore from her throat as the beast bit down again, and Elsa squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch any longer as she shook harder.
Elsa's hands trembled as she pushed herself up and crawled out from her hiding face, lunging toward the stairs, only she didn't take into the account the blood that had already begun to pool near her, and she fell forward, unable to catch herself as she landed face-first in the thick, sticky liquid with a yelp. She jerked her head up when she heard the beast's movements stop, and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw that it was staring at her now, her sister completely forgotten.
With a terrified gasp, she pushed herself back up, running towards the staircase. Hearing a snap somewhere behind her, she realised, with a sickening twist of her stomach, that she had just heard the sound of Anna's neck being broken. Unwilling to look back, she continued to run up the stairs, vision blurred with tears and chest heaving with pants and sobs.
If I can just get back to the truck, I can leave and go back home. I'll be safe again. I just have to make it to the truck.
She had only made it halfway up the stairs when she felt, more than heard, the sound of the beast running up them behind her, and she ran even harder, pushing through the door and slamming it shut behind her with a grunt. In a spur-of-the-moment, rather poorly thought-out decision, she pressed herself against the door, aiming to somehow keep it from getting in the same room with her.
She didn't take into account the fact that it meant she had to stay there. Nor did she take into account how much stronger it was than her, so when it rammed against the door, she was immediately sent flying backwards, her head cracking against the floor painfully. Slowly, she brought a hand up to her head, feeling gently. In her haze, she was vaguely aware that she was bleeding, but all other observations were put on hold when she looked up and found the creature's face right in front of her again.
Elsa screamed, struggling to try and scoot back, but she was far too dizzy and the movement, along with the screaming, left her lightheaded and breathless, and with a quiet sigh, she collapsed against the floor.
She swam in and out of consciousness for a few long minutes.
The first time she opened her eyes, she was being dragged by her legs. She blindly reached out to try and grab ahold of something, anything that she might be able to use as leverage to pull herself out of the beast's grip. But when she found something to hold on to, there was a slight tug of war between her and the monster. When the beast dropped her legs, she tried to drowsily pull herself away, but the beast gripped her arm, loosening her grip until she let go with a terrified whine. It pulled her to her feet, but when it became clear that she could hardly stand on her own, let alone walk, it picked her up. She tried to fight against it, tried to hit it or kick it, but she had already used up what little energy she had regained, and her eyes rolled back in her head again as she fell limp again.
The next time she opened her eyes, she was still being carried by the beast. She was facing the ceiling, or rather, she would have been, if its snout hadn't been in the way. She tried again, weakly, to squirm out of its grip, glancing down at the floor to gauge how far the fall would be, but when the beast looked down at her with a snarl, she froze. A few seconds later, and she was unconscious again.
The third and final time she regained consciousness was just after she had been tossed to the floor as though she were nothing but a ragdoll. She groaned softly, her hand moving to the back of her head again, and she moved to sit up, but just as she did, the beast crouched over her again, pushing her back to the floor with enough force that she was left whining in fear. She trembled as the beast took to sniffing her again, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
The long claws on its hands were digging into her shoulders painfully, almost hard enough to draw blood, and Elsa could smell the metallic scent of what had to be her sister's blood on its breath as it nudged at her, and she sobbed, trying to bury her face against her shoulder, but just as she moved, the beast nudged its nose against the side of her face, pushing her head to the side as it sniffed more. She sobbed harder, falling still as it sniffed farther down, trailing down the entire length of her body, claws moving to dig into her forearms as it moved.
"Wh-what do you w-want from me?" she whimpered, hands trembling as she pressed them flat against the floor, waiting for the right moment to try and push away as soon as she was given the chance. "W-Why do you need me? Why did you kill my f-friend? W-why did you kill my sister, why?" She sobbed again as she tried to push away, but the beast was back to holding her shoulders firmly against the ground. "Wh-what could I p-possibly g-give you?" She was hardly intelligible through her whimpers and whines and sobs, and she wasn't sure that she even expected an answer, but she was willing to try anything if it meant a chance of getting away. She held her breath, trembling when the beast returned to nudging its nose against her neck and shoulder again. "P-please… J-just leave me al-lone… Please…" she whimpered again, still struggling to try and get out from under it, but it was far too heavy, and she was far too weak in comparison.
In a sudden movement, the beast bared its teeth, and she screamed as, with a snap of its jaw, it bit at the jacket covering her shoulder. With one pull, the fabric was ripped, leaving the bare skin of her neck and shoulder exposed.
"Please!" she cried again, twisting and turning, now desperately trying to get away from the beast. She had had it with the game-playing. She wanted it to just get it over with and kill her and be done with it, or let her go, which was seeming the more unlikely option. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, bracing herself for whatever came next, but the only sound she was greeted with was a growl.
No.
It hadn't been a growl.
It had talked.
It had spoken to her, but she had been too scared to properly hear or try to understand what it had said. She looked up at the beast, eyes wide and full of frightened tears. If she could talk to it, she could reason with it, and get it to let her go.
"Pl-please… Please just let me go, please… Please… I don't want to die, please, please." Any other day, she would have thought she sounded pathetic, begging for her life when there were so many times she had romanced the idea of taking it away herself. "Please… I can't… I'm… please just let me go…" she whimpered, closing her eyes again as she cried. "Wh-what could you possibly want from m-me?"
The beast spoke again, then, and this time it was clear enough that she could understand, despite how lowly it was growled, and that she wasn't looking at it. Perhaps it was because the beast's snout was close enough to her ear that there was no room for misinterpreting what it had said.
"Mine."
The only thing Elsa understood out of that single word was that it must be intending to bite her, and she screamed as the beast pulled back, teeth bared and snarling once more. She didn't even have time to close her eyes as it lunged forward, and it wasn't even a half-inch away from her throat when it whined, pulling back and swatting at its nose.
Elsa, who had already scrunched her face and buried it against her other shoulder in fear, slowly opened her eyes, watching as it continued to swat and snort. Instinctively, she reached for her neck, checking for a wound, but instead she felt the cold metal of her necklace.
Of course.
Anna had said it was sterling silver. Wasn't there some myth about werewolves and silver?
With a shaky breath, she jerked the necklace from around her neck with a trembling hand, struggling to hold it tightly in hands that were shaking too hard, and still slippery with her sister's blood. With a scream, she dug the pendant into the beast's paw on her shoulder, and it snarled, jerking its paw away. Elsa looked down at the necklace, and then back up at the beast before she started swinging at it.
She sliced and hit blindly, trying to cause any damage that she could. She managed to get herself out from underneath its grip, and she lunged herself forward, digging the snowflake into its skin again and again, landing blow after blow. "You k-killed my friend… Y-you k-killed my s-sister… Fuck you!" She continued her assault even as the beast roared and thrashed, trying to throw her off, but she was determined, unwilling to let it deter her. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" She screamed the words over and over, like a mantra as she dug the snowflake into wherever she could reach, its face, its shoulder, its arms.
She wasn't sure how long she continued to stab it, long after it had died, for when she finally stopped, the beast was long past moving, and it lay in a heap. She stared at it for a long while before she slowly realised that it didn't look so much like a beast anymore.
It looked like a normal, ordinary man, not much older than she herself was. His red hair was matted with blood, the once bright green eyes she had noticed before, now clouded over, one gouged out, by her own doing. His clothes were torn, hanging off of him in pieces, and they, too, were smeared with dark streaks of drying blood.
Elsa threw herself away from him, curling into a ball as she screamed and cried and broke down into sobs, the reality of the night's events crashing down on her hard. She sat there, for how long, she wasn't sure, just curled up into a broken ball of a human being. When she finally did lift her head from her knees, she realised that the light shining in from the hole in the ceiling was brighter, dawn-coloured.
She wiped at her face, now not only covered in her sister's blood, but her own and the beast's… the man's, as well. She stood on shaky legs, one hand pressed to the back of her head as she looked around silently.
It was almost like an afterthought that she decided to run back down the hall, down the stairs and back into the basement. It wasn't that she thought her sister might have survived. She had heard everything. But she just needed the closure. She took one shaky step towards her sister. Another. And then she fell to her knees, clutching at her sister's limp form.
"A-Anna… An-na… Anna, I'm so sorry it's all my fault… I couldn't protect you, it's all m-my fault…"
She stayed like that for a long while, crouched over her sister, cradling her and rocking her back and forth, face buried in her hair and tears streaming down stained cheeks. She found herself wondering why it couldn't have been her instead. Anna was her responsibility. She was her older sister. She wasn't supposed to let anything happen to her ever. And now she had died for her. She had paid the ultimate price because she hadn't been able to protect her. And it was a hurt that could be described by no words.
It was a good while before she managed to collect herself enough to lay her sister back down, pushing herself back to her feet, and wiping at the blood and tears staining her face. She walked back up the stairs, sobs still shaking her body, and didn't look back. She remained in a daze, of sorts, as she kept walking, past the remains of her phone, past the bloodied body of the manbeast that had killed her friends, her family, and back into the field of grass.
In the slight chill of the morning air, she pulled what was left of Kristoff's jacket closer around her, fresh tears springing at the thought of him giving up his life for her, too.
When she made it back to the campsite, she could barely bring herself to gather her sister's and Kristoff's things and head back to the truck. She was careful to avert her gaze from the body she knew was on the other side of the smoldering fire. She knew that if she looked, she'd only feel more remorse. She told herself that she'd come back for him, and Anna, too. With police, or… someone who would believe her and wouldn't think that she had gone mad.
She tossed the bags into the truck, and slid in, closing and locking the door behind her. Leaning her head against the steering wheel for support, she finally allowed herself to break down again in the safety of the truck. She sobbed and trembled and cursed and wept, for the loss of her loved ones, for the loss of happiness, for everything that had happened.
She was pulled from her reveling, and screamed when she felt a wet nose nudge against her thigh, but when she looked over and saw that it was only Olaf, looking at her with a tilted head, she sighed heavily, burying her face in his white fur.
"O-olaf… Olaf… Sven…" She turned to see the bigger dog sitting in the backseat, hearing the thump of his tail against the back window as his tail wagged. "L-let's go home buddies…"
She grabbed the keys from where she had left them on the dashboard on the passenger's side, fumbling to start the truck and switch gears so she could drive, trembling and shaking as she kept her eyes on the dirt road in front of her.
"L-let's go h-home…"