Disclaimer: Frozen doesn't belong to me.
Story arc: She can never forget. But it isn't like she hasn't tried everything she could do. When a new disaster threatens the lives around them, Elsa may just get her elusive chance.
1.
She winces as a drop of blood appears on her finger and falls onto the slice of apple she had just cut. The red fluid manages to stain the fruit and she turns her eyes away in disgust.
Hissing as she inspects the clean incised flesh, she doesn't haste as she makes her way to the sink and runs cold water down to nullify any entry of pathogens. Distractedly she hopes that she does get tetanus, and mind you, in the condition she is living in, shell be surprised if she doesn't.
Though again, that's a wasted death wish because she remembers taking her tetanus shot a year back when she had freshly entered university.
The cut has stopped bleeding and now leaves a sharp sting, synchronous to the blood pumping its way to the finger, a reminder of being human. The thought makes her feel funny.
She almost wretches when she sees a half-eaten hamburger- a foul rancid smell reaching her hypersensitive nose. That was probably Kristoff's doing and she makes a mental note to yell at the burly blonde about hygiene. Then again, she muses looking through the other non-rotten stuff, the entire apartment screamed non-hygienic.
She slams the cabinet door hurriedly, her metaphorical mental cogs turning rapidly as her eyes flit from one place to the other thinking of possible resting places for the first aid box.
A rapid search in the living room resulted in more upheaval and fewer discoveries and she groaned, regretting the times she had put off organizing essentials for more unimportant stuff.
It only served to remind her how she had changed in the last three years she had been living on her own. Even when she was a parasite, leeching off her parents' money, she had never been proper.
Sure, her room had been way cleaner than what she could accomplish now if she ever decided to put her mind I to it; she never saw the point though. All those etiquette lessons had taken a dive off a very steep cliff when she had left everything and everyone behind.
Her sister however, was meticulously tidy: the very proof of her parents' efforts and expectations. She was the straight A student, seemingly following in her elder sisters footsteps, but oh so much better than what Elsa ever was.
The many differences between her and her sister never ceased to baffle her. However, the one that stood out was the way the other was so cheery; she was the only kind of summer Elsa ever loved.
A small smile unknowingly spreads over her lips as the thought of Anna's cheery demeanor passes through her head.
If Anna were here..
She squashed that thought as fast as it had come, curling her injured hands into fists and rejoicing at the way the pain grounded her again.
It wasn't wise to keep thinking about something when there was a possibility that doing so would drive you crazy. If only she would have not cheated her conscious so often.
The stolen time in the peaceful as well as haggard wee hours of morning spent thinking about what could have been and what would have been if they were never related made her tingle with warmth. The scenarios she imagined were different. But it always followed the same premise. And it always ended with her running around the whole block to clear her mind.
Now she breathed in deeply. Forcing herself to relax and let the thoughts wash right out of her. If that yoga crap were any good then she'd be guaranteed a free mind and soul by the end of her breathing exercise.
When she did open her eyes minutes later she found herself tired; Olaf was purring I'm her lap and her phone was flashing its notification light at her.
Scratching the cat lazily she reached over to check her messages.
There was none. Just a couple of missed calls from Kriss.
She typed him a message and hit send. Within minutes, her phone buzzed and Olaf mewled in response.
"Yeah, Olaf that's Kristoff. He's probably lost somewhere and doesn't know how to get back home."
Her message however read: Hey. I'm coming over. There's some government bullshit over here. They are closing the area.
She rolled her eyes and snorted. Kristoff was probably drunk or plain high.
She told him to try getting a first aid kit if he could and a couple of ready to make eatables. She hoped the guy wouldn't get thrown out of the supermarket for being a little crazed.
In the meanwhile, she didn't have anything to do. Her stomach gave another rumble and she wished the guy would hurry and get the food.
The TV sat opposite her; an old model that at the most managed to play a DVD if connected to a player. Unfortunately, she couldn't afford the latter and had to make do with cable.
The cable guy had cut her connection two days back since she hadn't paid for the last two months yet. She blamed it on the job at Starbuck she was recently fired from. Add to that her meager savings for rent and the tuition funds that were rapidly dwindling and she would be out of house, med school and left with nothing.
Nothing except Olaf. That little ball of fur was about as sweet and as much of a companion as Elsa could ask for. Also it helped that he was an amazing shrink and wouldn't jibe her or prod her unnecessarily unless she said something mean.
And he liked to cuddle. Again, she refrained from thinking about someone else who liked to cuddle and she pulled Olaf up and Nuzzled into his fur, chuckling at the mewl she received for interrupting the cat's sleep.
A frantic knocking at her door saw her depositing Olaf into his pillow and making her way through the narrow hallway to the door.
She winced as another bout of knocking made the door shake, the hinges seemingly very frail. She made a mental note to remind the landlady that she needed a proper door. After all the locality wasn't one that housed many decent people. To be frank, she knew that most people here made a substantial amount of their earnings on trading illegal narcotics.
"Kris. What's the rush?"
She took the bags from him as he shut the door behind him, following her as she walked to the kitchen.
"Christ, Elsa you should've seen them!"
He was out of breath and a quick look at his face and his pupils told her he wasn't high.
"Calm down, K. Just take a few deep breaths and tell me."
She popped the ham and the bacon in the fridge and left the cheez-its on the platform. She wasn't going to open any cabinet ever again.
As she pulled out the large first aid kit, she chanced a glance at the burly man.
"Hey. Are you alright?"
He nodded. "I wasn't high or drunk Elsa I swear. There were police and the feds everywhere."
"Really?"She crossed her arms across her chest. "Drug raids?"
He shook his head. "Nah, they weren't raiding anything, but they did call those CDC guys into the basement down at Wesley Hall."
"The CDC? That's a stretch. What now, there's an outbreak of something?"
He looked more excited now than frantic. Elsa knew the guy loved microbes more than anything (not considering his mongrel Sven) and had been reminded that every time the blonde had one-upped her in microbiology tests.
"Yup. They say it's a virus strain. Possibly a sub species of Orthomyxoviruses. And there's been something on the news that it's spreading fast."
Elsa sighed. "Great another influenza epidemic."
Kristoff snorted. "Doesn't look like that though, Els. Justin told me his dad had said something about the virus causing a rabies like syndrome."
Justin's dad worked in the CDC. Elsa never liked that guy, despite how much he tried to make himself more appeasing to her. Suck-up is what came to mind whenever that guy even entered her thoughts.
"Really?"Her voice was dry. Kris groaned when she turned and popped open a soda.
"Really, Els?"
"Well any other instructions to the general public?" she drawled as she followed the pouting man into her living room. Olaf curled into her lap again as she sat on the sofa and Kristoff sprawled into the lazy bag to her right.
"Well no. The Arendelle Uni just sent a mass email about safety precautions. You know," he paused as he shook off his shoes. "The whole staying away from crowds, limiting social contact, contacting help lines if certain symptoms are seen and blah blah.."
She nodded distractedly allowing the taste of the soda to wash away the bitter taste that filled her mouth as her phone showed two emails.
One was from Arendelle Uni. She didn't bother opening it when she knew what it would say.
The other was from her family's lawyer.
Her finger hovered over the email for a moment before she again reopened the email she had read ten times for the past one week or so.
She just hoped that when the lawyer arrived with her Father's last wish, she would have the strength to face the one person she had vowed to never face again.
Then again, she couldn't wait to do so.