I woke up with the most KILLER headache... throbbing and aching and a really sore back... I doubted it was a hangover... I hadn't been out binge drinking since Freshman year college... and where the hell was I anyway... I peeked my eyes open in the glinting sunlight and got the fuzzy yet unmistakable view of a forest... well lots of trees anyway... I managed to pry my eyes fully open and frantically tried to piece together my last memory... My name is Amelia...I remembered coming home after graduation...Carly breaking up with me... hugging Dad and Nancy... and then my blood froze cold and I forced my bruised body up as fast as I could and began screaming... my last memory was taking Rosa out for ice cream.
"ROSA!ROSA! ROOSAAAAAA! MUNCHKIN! ROSA!" I screamed as I frantically searched the woods running around like a madwoman. I finally realized it would make more sense to search in a circular pattern like a spiral... that's what the cops do right? so I circled back screaming myself hoarse. as I came around my second wider circle I saw a small lump and rushed over stumbling over a large root and cursing myself for wasting as much time as I did waking up and stumbling around. I called her name normal volume now as I shook her body gently and checked her pulse praying she would wake up. She was warm, breathing, and had a strong pulse and I thanked god and whatever else was out there to thank. seeing nothing wrong other than a few nasty looking scrapes and bruises which matched mine I shook her more vigorously and called her name louder... She began to stir...
"ROSA! Wake up! You gotta wake up munchkin! Come on! WAKE UP!" I said as she turned away from me and groaned. "Munchkin You're going to miss DISNEYLAND!" I tried and it seemed to work as she turned back to me and sleepily opened her eyes... I hugged her close to me and she squirmed but damned if I was going to let her go anytime soon... I had been crying for a while now but my tears were still coming strong now from relief.
"Whatsa Matter?! Get off me!" she muttered as her scrawny arms tried to squirm away from me and then resigned to getting the life hugged out of her for another minute... I let her go and then her eyes widened as she took in me and the forest and her face had the most adorable confused expression... "What's going on Aim?" She asked as puzzled as I was.
"I have NO idea munchkin... last thing I remember is you ordering a scoop of fudge and Oreo ice cream with rainbow sprinkles. But don't worry... It'll be okay... We're going to find our way back home." I said taking in more of my environment now that I wasn't in absolute crisis mode. I was glad Rosa didn't seem too frightened... but she was still young and had no idea about now cruel the world could be. I took my hand and stuck it into my leather jacket pocket and took out my phone. There was no cell or internet signal and no gps information at all... And as I looked around I noticed the trees were weird... like not as weird as when I went to study abroad in Beijing... that had been a crazy experience arbor wise... but the point is they were kind of different than I was used to. I stood up and gave the kid an arm. I took in a deep breath when she put her tiny hand in my oversized ones... the responsibility weighing down on me like an anchor... and pretended that I knew what I was doing as I picked a direction at random and strode forth as I looked for a way out of this goddamned forest.
"Okay Munchkin... it may take a while to get home... but we're together... okay?" She looked up at me with that look of utter trust and love and devotion that only kids have... and nodded.
We walked for what seemed to be miles and were both lagging before we came to a stream... it seemed fresh and clean and so we drank eagerly and then pressed on because the sun was already past the midpoint... wait... me and Rose were missing a day... I frowned. We had more time to find shelter before dark but the missing time was troubling. We made slow time as we were both tired and bruised and Rose was 8. After another mile or so we found a dirt path that had two LARGE ruts deeply entrenched in it... making me pause... Wagons? Who used wagons? I went in the direction that was closest to the direction we had already been traveling thinking it didn't make sense to backtrack. Also the other direction seemed to lead closer to an already way too close for comfort mountain range. This was just too bizarre. The sun was just starting to think about peeking behind some mountains behind us for the night when I heard a wagon approaching from behind us.
I turned around and waved and it started to slow. As they pulled up I saw it was young strong looking blonde man in a sled pulled by a reindeer... I decided to not think that the day couldn't get weirder since it seemed determined to prove me wrong. He hopped out of the sled and had a friendly smile as he saw the kid.
"Thanks for stopping... " I smiled trying to get over the weirdness. "I'm Aim... And this is Rosa... We got lost and are trying to find the nearest town."
"You guys looked like you could use a hand. I'm going to Arendelle which is only another half hour. Maybe forty five minutes with you guys though... You can do that right Sven?" The blonde man addressed the reindeer with enthusiasm and the reindeer appeared to respond to him... snorting and stamping and nodding. "Okay... hop on in... I'm Kristoff by the way!"
"Thanks..." I replied still puzzled over the whole situation but grateful for his help.
We went in and I have him a weird look but Rose just had these big wide eyes as she followed me and we squeezed into the small sled. I was trying to figure out where the hell we were when I felt Rose tugging on my sleeve. I turned and bent down as she motioned she wanted to whisper to me... why it was so urgent I didn't know but I bent just the same.
"HE'S KRISTOFF!" She whispered as only a child can whisper... really loudly... her eyes wide with some sort of baccanalic delight.
"Yeah... He said that..." I replied back softly... still not getting it...
"FROZEN! He's KRISTOFF! He has a sled and a reindeer named SVEN?!" She said with the "Duh" too heavily implied in her voice to be needed to be spoken... My eyes widened as I got her point... that was weird... but maybe the guy who was named Kristoff had just saw the movie and changed his reindeer's name to Sven for kicks... "Could be coincidence... Let's get more data before we make any assumptions Munchkin..." I whispered back... "Better to be sure." and not get her heart broken by reality.
"We're going to ARENDELLE! I don't know WHY people say college makes you smart... you're dumber than I remember..." She muttered but still didn't let me rain on her Disney parade as she turned towards Kristoff with the look of adoration. I sighed, trying to come up with a rational explanation... but you know the simplest explanation would be that we somehow got stuck in a Disney movie...