Anna Was Running
Written by Nerdboy83
Note: I do not own Frozen. It goes to Disney.
"Anna…" was all Anna could hear as she ran. The mere sound of the voice saying it was enough to engage her fight or flight response; a primal instinct to run from danger. Instead of fighting, she chose to run. It wasn't a hard decision for her to make. In fact, it was quite easy, seeing as how she had seen the grin before her older sister even had the chance to run at her. An involuntary response in her central nervous system. An evolutionary sense of self-preservation. Self-preservation and fear.
She ran as fast as she could. Her royal slippers hit the floor in an insane melody, click clacks resounding into the air and bouncing off of the walls. The sounds were amplified by the length of the hallway. She could have sworn that she heard her own footsteps echo in front of her from the darkness ahead.
Maybe it was a mental illusion or a natural phenomenon but it didn't matter to her frenzied brain as she fled. Her mind was overwhelmed by fear and horror and trauma and her thoughts were firing from her synapses in frantic bursts. They zoomed into existence in a thick, lightning-quick soup. Mental energy was lowered by the brain, put on reserve, and physical energy was placed on red alert. It wasn't important to her to think about what just happened. All that mattered was to flee.
To escape.
The thing was that her energy was starting to drain. To weaken after running for so long. The pain was inscrutable; stinging her nerves and releasing fire through her legs. Her feet were blistered from running from the cold, the winter cold. The unnatural cold. The ice. The snow. The whatever-it-was that Elsa had in her that made the cold happen. It could have been magic.
But most magic doesn't drive your sister crazy with whispering ice and all magic most definitely doesn't lead to your sister killing your parents with ice sickles.
The ice was what had driven her away from Elsa. From the blood stained ice sickles that had been lodged through their parents' chests and heads. The frozen blood that seeped from the gaps, the gashes along their legs, the slashes across their faces and necks. The stilled expressions of horror and pain that were still on their faces when she left her room to investigate the screaming. She could see their bodies lying on the ground with Elsa standing over them facing away from her. When she asked her what had happened, her voice shaking all the while, her sister simply uttered a giggle and turned around to face her. When she saw the smile on her face, she screamed and bolted away.
The smile had been wide, crazed. Mad.
Tears streaming down her face, Anna continued to run. Her breaths came out in rapid bursts; gasps from physical exertion. The pain in her legs was unbearable now. But she couldn't stop. She just couldn't stop or else Elsa would get her. Goosebumps rose from the exposed flesh of her arms and legs that her white nightgown failed to cover. It was cold. Really, really cold. Ice was beginning to form on the walls and on the floor. She could see the translucency reflecting her own sweating face. Her own wide blue eyes stared back at her. Red hair followed forth behind her. Flowing in the supernatural wind that had suddenly formed. The cold always came with her presence.
She knew as soon as she heard that familiar voice echo behind her, singing her name while giggles broke through, that Elsa was right behind her.
"Anna….. Let's build a snowman…." was all Anna could hear as she ran.