Arrival
Everybody, it seemed, was in a hurry to get somewhere. Some place other than where they were. Men in bowler hats and suits, which in the morning would have been neatly pressed by hard working wives, now showing crinkles and signs of wear to match their weary faces. Little old ladies wrapped in shawls, making their way home to a crackling fires and pots of tea with cream and sugar.
"All aboard!"
A young woman scurried over to the edge of the platform where the conductor stood, one hand clutching a small carpet bag, the other holding down the tattered straw hat that was in danger of flying right off the owner's head. A pair of lips were clamped around a cardboard railway ticket.
"Eshcushe me ish dish de fife firty fife to Arenshelle shtashion?"
"I'm sorry, miss. Ye gonna have to speak clearer than that so I can hear what yer sayin."
The ticket was mercifully removed by the hand that was no longer attached to runaway items. "Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry sir, but is this the five thirty-five train to Arendelle station?"
"Aye miss that it is. Yer just in time too, dare I say."
"Yes. Thank you." The girl breathed in relief, hitching up her skirts and stepping up into the carriage, just as a harsh whistle sounded and steam billowed out behind her.
The floor beneath her shuddered as she made her way, somewhat unsteadily, through the carriage. So far all of the compartments had been full up of men reading crumpled newspapers and women powdering their noses. Even a family of small children and their rather disgruntled looking parents.
At last she came to one─empty apart from a well-dressed young woman in the corner seat─right down at the end. The door opened with a squeak, as she stepped inside and placed her bag on the overhead rack with as much care as possible. All of her possessions in the world were in there, despite its particularly modest size. The patterns were fading and the corners frayed, the initials A. R. sewn on with thick black cotton near the handle.
Once seated on the cool leather seat beneath her, she removed her hat to reveal copper braids and a face covered with as many freckles as would be impossible to count.
The woman wrinkled her nose from beneath the net that partially covered her face, and narrowed the eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. "You do realise this is first class?"
"Yes I do. I have a first class ticket."
The woman made a noise much like a grunt, and went back to her focus on the window. It was rather rude, actually.
The ticket firmly clasped between her hands was indeed for first class, a luxury she would only have been able to dream of before now. Certainly, this was the first time she had set foot on a locomotive of any kind, first class or not.
She had seen the article in the local paper.
Wanted. Respectable young lady for the position of housemaid, the advertisement had read. Anna was young, being not yet nineteen, and reasoned she was respectable enough. Probably. In any case she wasn't un-respectable.
Unlike her previous jobs, there was no interview. Just a letter telling her that the position was hers and that she should take the train to Arendelle and somebody would pick her up from there. Attached to the envelope, with a shining silver paper-clip, was the ticket.
It did strike her as rather odd, and admittedly, intimidating, but there had been far too much broken crockery and missed wake up times for her to be choosy.
So, here she was.
She sat for the first part of the journey enthralled, watching as what seemed the whole world went by her in a flash─the trees and grass and flowers of the countryside, and all the number of buildings that made up the towns they passed.
After a while the soft lull of the engine caused her eyelids to grow heavy and her head began to droop, finally letting everything drift away.
Occasionally she would become semi-conscious as the train came to a grinding halt at each station they passed, as the passengers exited and were replaced with new faces. Sometimes she would watch them through a haze of tobacco smoke with lazy eyes, and wonder about their lives, and where they were going. Home to a loved one or a cold deserted dwelling. Or whether they were happy.
"Miss…Miss!"
She awoke with a shudder, and groggily assessed her new surroundings. The train was no longer moving and, besides the conductor trying to gain her attention, she was alone in the compartment. It was very nearly dark outside.
"This is the last stop, Miss. Arendelle station."
"Yes, th-thank you." She stood with wobbling knees, collected her bag, and slowly but surely made her way back down the train towards the exit, and jumped down the steps.
There was a man selling newspapers and hot chestnuts, and she could just make out the outline of flower boxes in the windows of the station. It was as if she had stepped right into one of the story books her mother read to her as a child.
She paid for a chestnut and sat down on a wooden bench beneath the pale light cast by the station building, swinging her feet absent-mindedly.
"Are you waiting for somebody, Miss?" A crackling voice came from the side, causing her to jump in her seat.
She gulped, turning her head to see an elderly gentleman, somewhat eccentrically dressed in an old top hat, bottle green coat, and polka dot bowtie, gazing directly into her eyes with his own crinkled ones. "I─" she faltered, but managed to babble on. "Yes. I'm expecting somebody from the Wesselton residence. I'm starting a new job there."
A glaze came over his cat green eyes as he spoke. "The Wesselton house, aye. I'd be careful if I was you. I've seen some strange things happening over there. Very strange things─"
"Come along Harry!" A stout woman roughly his age came up and tugged his arm, and turned to speak to Anna. "He hasn't been bothering you too much has he?"
"N-no, not at all!"
"Miss Rose?" A breathless young man with ash blonde hair and a rugged appearance stopped short in front of her, clearly having hurried from wherever he had come from.
"Yes. Ah, Anna. Anna Rose."
"Right. Kristoff Bjorgman." He held out a calloused hand. "So sorry I'm late. I'm here to take you up to the house."
"That man." She pointed to the couple, now a few feet away from them.
"Oh, best not to take notice of him! He's just a mad old hatter."
Anna kept her attention on the strange old man as he hobbled along, using a cane and the woman's arm for support until they were both out of sight.
"Well, Miss Rose, we should be going. Got a bit of a journey ahead of us still, that we do."
She trailed behind as the man, Kristoff, led them around to the other side of the station, where Anna could see there was a road winding around the back of the building. Being late, there were no cars about, other than one in its solitary position by the roadside. The headlights were shining, illuminating its mustard yellow casing, and showing off the rust that seemed to be spreading up from the wheels. But most of all it looked at her with shining eyes as if, perhaps, it were alive.
Kristoff led them straight towards it, opening the passenger door with a rather hard yank, allowing Anna to climb in, huddling her bag to herself. Once Kristoff had seated himself behind the wheel, he made no hesitance in letting off the brake and attempting to start the vehicle.
"I'd hold on to that hat if I was you!"
"Wait, what?"
The engine seemed to all at once spring to life, and after a couple of jolts and hiccups they were on their way at breakneck speed. Anna took off her hat, allowing her braids to fly behind her, as the wind whipped her face.
It was exhilarating, and she couldn't help but to grin as the air continued to rush past her ears. Anna shut her eyes and let the feeling take her.
"Miss Anna, are you okay? We're approaching the North Mountain just about now."
Mountain?! Anna jolted up in her seat and opened her eyes wide, only to find what seemed to be a hill in front of them. A rather large one admittedly, but most definitely no mountain.
"If you don't mind me asking that is, why 'North Mountain'?"
"I gave it that name, because it's like driving up a mountain, as well as the fact that once we get to the other side, we will be in the northernmost part of the area."
"I see." Made sense; somewhat anyhow.
As they began to climb the 'mountain' the car's speed gradually became slower and slower until all at once it made an ugly belch and shuddered to a stop. There was steam escaping from the bonnet.
Kristoff slammed on the hand brake beside him, and circled round to the front of the car to take a look.
"I thought I fixed it this time," she heard him mutter from under the hood.
"Is this why you were late picking me up?"
"Err…maybe?" He peered up at her, before glancing away, and ran a hand through his fair hair.
"It's okay." She stifled a giggle with her hand. "I won't judge."
"I could get a new one; my employer even offered me one. But me and Sven you see, we've been through a lot-"
"Sven?"
"Oh, right," he cleared his throat. "It's the numberplate, see. S-V-E-N 2-9-6."
"It's quite alright. Besides, this is my first time in a motor car. So, thank you Sven for giving me an unforgettable first experience!" Anna patted the dash in front of her.
"You're welcome, Anna!" came a voice much deeper than Kristoff's own.
Kristoff went crimson, returning to tinker with 'Sven'. Anna once again stifled a giggle and decided to keep quiet. For a moment anyway.
"Mr Bjorgman?"
"Mm?"
"Why is there a carrot in here?"
"Luck."
She didn't push him further.
Kristoff wiped his brow with a rather grubby handkerchief and hopped back inside. This time with a gurgle and a sputter, Sven was on his way once again, and this time they managed to make it all the way up. Just.
As they reached the top of the hill, Anna caught a view of the landscape stretching out before them, and gasped.
"Welcome…to the North."
"It-it's…different?" she whispered.
"I suppose that's one way to describe it. Can't say I haven't heard worse."
There was no grass or shrubbery to be seen and bare rocks and boulders lined the side of the road. What trees that were there were either dead, or barely hanging on to what little signs of life they had. Starkly different in comparison to Arendelle and the south. She could have sworn there was a chill in the air that wasn't there before, as she pulled her coat tighter around herself.
"Sure, it is worse in the morning light of course. Stretches out like this right to the horizon."
It was essentially a miserable sight, and if Anna had not been such a positive soul, she may have been more discouraged by it.
"Maybe I can get used to it. Maybe, it's a good different?"
"I'm a gardener by trade Miss Anna, not much good when it comes to my job I fear."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise. You weren't to know."
An awkward silence followed, as Anna took her focus back to the scenery. However there was not much to go in the way of that, so she went to studying her twiddling thumbs.
Anna could never keep quiet for too long, and questions were the best way to get a conversation going, so she asked one.
"Can you tell me something about the family? Who lives in the house?"
"Well, there's Duke Wesselton, his daughter Idunn and her husband Agdar, and then there's their children, Elsa and Olaf."
"And how old are the children?"
"Miss Elsa's near twenty-two now, but the wee lad's just six. You'll see him around for sure, he's a funny little thing. As for Elsa, let's just say you won't be seeing much of her. That goes for the others as well; they tend to keep themselves to themselves."
"Oh."
"It serves me quite alright. I stick to my gardening and no one interferes, and that's fine by me."
"But surely no one really wants to be alone."
"Oh, you would be surprised Miss Anna, there are plenty of reasons why people wish to be alone."
The pair were once again silent, and the only sound that could be heard was the now steady chug of Sven's engine.
The temperature continued to drop as they continued on, and Anna thought that it must have been getting very late.
At last they rounded a bend in the road, and up in front of them loomed a building which Anna assumed would have to be the residence of the Wesselton family. All sinister and overpowering, yet awe inspiring. Overly gigantic and just plain big. All she could make of it in the dark anyhow.
Like a castle perhaps, Anna thought to herself.
Soon they were entering opened cast iron gates, on either side of which brick columns stood, a sinister gargoyle leering down at them from each. Anna shivered, not sure whether it was from the cold.
Kristoff took them right round to the back of the house where he brought Sven to a stop, and gave Anna instructions to knock on the door they were now in front of.
"Someone will meet you there, I have to continue on with Sven. See you later, Miss Anna!"
"Bye, and thank you!" she called out to him as he drove away and couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips when Sven made some sort of jerking movement. She was almost sad to see him go, as she was left alone outside the eerie building.
Teeth chattering, she flexed her fingers now stiff and sore from the cold, before rapping on the wooden door.
It opened almost straight away by a well-built middle aged man, sporting a butler's uniform and an uninviting frown upon his face.
"I'm Miss Anna Rose the new maid."
Anna thought she heard footsteps nearing them, before a woman, also middle aged and well built, appeared behind him. "Hello dear, you must be Anna. Come in, come in out of this cold. I'm Gerda, and this is my husband Kai." She made a gesture towards the man, before furiously beckoning for Anna to enter.
Gerda led them down a short passage way, before entering a small but comfortable looking back kitchen, complete with a roaring fire.
Kai stepped forward. "May I take your bag and coat? The hat as well. That thing looks dirty to me, I can take it to burn it in the fire─"
"No!" She hugged it towards herself. "I-I mean I'd rather hold onto it sir."
"Kai, really!" She looked at Anna with a soft, almost pitying look in her eyes. "Sorry dear, look. I can see that thing means something to you, so I suggest you take it up to your room and leave it there alright? Just don't let the master see you with it."
"Thank you, I am ever so grateful!" Anna gushed, giving a low curtsy.
"No need to use such formalities with me, dear. We don't have enough of us to worry about them types 'o things round here," she explained, handing Anna a lamp. "You best get yourself to bed, young lady. Early start tomorrow. Kai will show you to your room. On you go now."
Once in the dark emptiness of her new room, Anna let her thoughts flow freely and for the first time that day felt truly alone.
She was cold. There was no fire and the grate was bare, Kai having explained the master of the house gave the servants provisions for a fire in the kitchen only. She buried herself under her thin blanket, huddling her arms around her freezing body, as she hid her face in the pillow and wept.
