"This is your order, miss. Thank you."
Elsa Collin smiled at her last customer of her shift. "Hey Kristoff, my shift is up, I have a date with Nate so I'll be home late." She winks at her workmate a.k.a housemate a.k.a best friend forever.
"Okay ice queen, enjoy your night." Kristoff replied with a smirk.
Elsa walked out from the Starbuck through the back door and made her way to her car. She unlocked the door and got in, buckled up her seatbelt and started the engine. But before she can pull out from the parking lot, her phone began buzzing in her pocket. She fished out the gadget and look at the caller ID.
Unknown caller. She read
With a 'hmmm', she hit the answering button.
"Hello?"
"Hi, umm, can I speak to Elsa Collin?" came a woman's voice.
"It's her." Elsa said "May I know who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Belle Austin."
Belle Austin? Who the hell is Belle Austin? Elsa thought, trying to search for that name in her mind. "Emm, well, did we know each other?"
"No. We do not. I have something to tell you. It's about your parents."
Elsa sighs. My parents. Yeah right. "Look, Miss Belle, I don't know what they did this time but I have nothing to do with them. I'm sorry, but I really need to go now. I have somewhere to go and ..."
"Elsa, your parents are dead." Belle's voice cut her off and Elsa fell silent.
What? Dead? How?
"Elsa?" Belle said after few minutes of silence "I know this is hard but ..."
"Anna!" Elsa said suddenly. Like it suddenly hit her that she actually had a little sister and now…
"Huh?"
"Anna? My sister! What about Anna? Is she okay?"
"Yes. Anna is okay. She was not in the car when it happened. But she's shut herself out from everyone." Belle explained with a tone of sadness evident in her voice. "Rapunzel, your cousin, she's here but Anna refused to come out from her room. I'm sorry for calling you, I know you don't want to have anything to do with them but you the only hope we have left."
"I'm coming home right now." Elsa said and hung up. I'm coming home, Anna. She told herself and immediately began to speed her way back towards her parents' home.
Half an hour later
Elsa pulled up in front of a large apartment building. Home sweet home. It has been 4 years since Elsa last stepped into her so called home. She moved out as soon as she reached 18. It had been hard to leave Anna but she had had enough from her parents; abusive parents, to be exact. She felt guilty for leaving Anna, who was thirteen when she left, far too young an age, behind with her parents, especially her parents. She promised to come back for Anna when she had a place and a good job. Now, after 4 years, she had come back.
She takes a deep breath and whispers to herself "You can do this Elsa. Do this for Anna. You owe her that much." She gets out from her car and locks it
"Here goes nothing." She mutters to herself.
Elsa takes the stairs to level 3 and make her way to her parents' apartment, stopping in front of the for a few minutes as if contemplating whether this was a good idea or not before knocking. A few seconds passed by before the door slowly opened and a pair of green eyes look out at her.
"Elsa?" A brown haired woman said, her green eyes lighting up as soon as they saw Elsa.
"Rapunzel, hi!" Elsa replied, giving her a small smile.
Rapunzel pulls her into a hug. Elsa was too shocked to respond to it but before she can react to it, Rapunzel already broke the hug and invited her in.
She follows Rapunzel and she was greeted by 3 pairs of eyes. A woman in a black t-shirt with a pair of black jeans was sitting on the couch. Elsa assumed that this was Belle. Next to her is a man that Elsa never met before. The other one is Eugene, Rapunzel's boyfriend; Elsa had known him since high school.
But the person she longed to meet is not there. "Where's Anna?"
"She's in her room." Rapunzel said "Refusing to talk or come out, as Belle no doubt told you."
"I'll talk to her." Elsa said, although she didn't know what exactly she could say. 4 years had passed since they last talk to each other.
She left the 4 people in the living room and made her way down the corridor to Anna's room. She knows that room too well; heck, she can even find it with closed eyes. It was, or had been their room. Hers and Anna. She reaches the door and stood like a fool outside it, again contemplating whether this was a good idea.
Come on Elsa. Think of something you idiot. She's your sister. She mentally cursed herself.
"Anna?" the name seems so foreign on her tongue "Hey, snowflake, it's me, Elsa."
No response.
"I'm coming in, okay?"
No response still.
"Okay." She turns the knob and slowly pushes open the door. "Anna?" she asked, but was met with a shocking scene.
The room in front of her is empty. "Anna!"
Like a leopard, Elsa ran back to the living room "Anna is gone!" she blurted out to the others.
"What do you mean she's gone?" Belle asks, jumping to her feet; her face is panic-stricken.
"She's not in her room." Elsa said, annoyed. "I'm going out to find her."
"Elsa wait," Rapunzel stops her "We'll come with you. We'll help you find her."
Elsa only nods her head and rushes out. Even though it had been years since she had last seen her sister, she knew exactly where to find her. Anna would always went there if she was sad.
The four of them split up; Belle saying that if they can't find Anna in 2 hours, they'll make police report.
Elsa makes her way to the playground. It's the old playground in the neighbourhood and it's a little old since the kids are now playing at the new playground. Just like she guessed, Anna is there, sitting on the swing, in her usual place, the right side of the swing. Slowly, she went back and forth as if someone invisible was pushing her. Elsa stood there and looked at Anna, her eyes full of sadness but also immense joy.
My sweet baby sister, Anna. I missed you.
Slowly, she walks to the swing and sits on the left side of it. Anna didn't move or look at Elsa, but just kept staring at ground as if unaware of her sister's presence.
"You always know where to find me." She said after a few moments of silence between them.
If Elsa didn't really pay 100% attention to Anna, she must have missed that. "It's your favourite place."
Anna lets out a heavy sigh. "I know why you left, Elsa. I would do the same when I reach 18. But, now, since mom and dad are gone, I started to think back over it."
Elsa cannot get what Anna's trying to say. She tries to search for her face but Anna's red hair is blocking it from view. "Anna..." she said, trying to get her attention.
"Dad hit me, like every day and mom... she treated me like her slave and never backed me up when dad hit me until I passed out. But, the thing is... every time I got home from school, they'll be there, doing God-knows-what and I don't really feel so alone." She explained tonelessly.
If Elsa felt guilty before, now she felt like she wanted to jump from a 20 story building. Anna has suffered so much, and the worst part was that she was not there to protect her.
"Now, I'm completely alone, back home to an empty and dark space." Anna said, sadly, sniffing loudly.
Elsa was completely speechless but she knows she has to say something. But what exactly?
"Can you promise me something?" Anna asks quietly.
"Anything." Elsa replies, now, gripping the chains tightly and leaning towards her sister.
"Come visit me at the orphanage once in a while, okay?"
Cat's definitely got Elsa's tongue. She forgot how to speak or even how to breathe and just stared at Anna with wide eyes as if she was some kind of ghost or something unimaginable. Anna waits for her to respond but nothing came out so she continues.
"Rapunzel invited me to stay with her, but I said no since she's living with Eugene. I don't want to be a burden to her. Belle always cared for me but I can't stay with her since I'm still underage and she's not a family member."
Belle? Why do you want to stay with her? Elsa thought but brushed it aside and stood up from the swing and knelt down next to her baby sister"Anna, you can stay with ..."
"Anna!"
Elsa looked over her shoulder to see Belle running to the two sisters. Anna finally looked up and when she saw Belle, she immediately got up and, ignoring Elsa, ran to her. Belle catches her halfway and hugs her tightly. "Anna, honey bee, you okay? Why did you get out without telling anyone?"
"I'm so sorry." Anna said as tears began to roll down her face.
"It's okay honey bee. It's okay." Belle softly runs her hand on Anna's hair, trying to calm her down.
Elsa watches the scene with a pang of jealousy in her heart, her eyes narrowing at Belle. She's my sister. Mine! I should be the one who comforts her! She mentally said to herself.
Back at the apartment
Elsa stood at the door of Anna's bedroom, looking over at Belle who was trying to get Anna's to sleep, talking gently to her. After a while, she decided that she can't stand watching the scene and walks to the living room where Rapunzel and the two boys were sitting. Elsa sighed and plonked herself down on a place next to Rapunzel.
"How's Anna?" Eugene asks Elsa.
"Belle is trying to make her sleep." She replied, her voice not hiding the jealousy within it.
Adam, the man whom Elsa had never seen before but had introduced himself to her on the way back, smiled at that.
"Belle really cares for Anna. Sometimes, I'm jealous of her. She gets Belle attention more than me." He jokes.
Rapunzel let out a small laugh "Yeah."
"Hey, Punzie, can I talk to you? Alone?" Elsa asks her cousin.
"Well, we'll be just across the floor if you need us." Adam said and nodded to Eugene, who nodded back and, planting a kiss on Rapunzel head, left with Adam. "Call me if you need anything, blondie." He said to her as he left the apartment, closing the door behind him.
After the two boys walk out, Rapunzel turned to Elsa. "You want to know who Belle is, don't you?"
Elsa slowly nods her head, momentarily glancing back down the corridor to Anna's room.
"Belle lives in the apartment complex across from this one. She's the same age as you and she's Anna's tutor. She's been helping Anna for about 2 years now. She not only helps Anna with her studies, she also supports her in every way. She knows about your parents abusive acts. She told me that one night your dad was so drunk he beat Anna mercilessly and left her dying in the house. Alone."
Elsa feels tears streaming down her face, but she managed to pull herself together and motioned for Rapunzel to continue.
"Belle senses something's wrong since Anna supposed to go to her house for the tutor session. So she comes knocking and no one is answering. She turns the knob and finds that it is open and, peeking inside, she saw Anna's limp body on the floor. She calls for Adam and he rushed Anna to the hospital. She stays in the ICU for 2 weeks and the doctor said if Belle didn't find her when she did, she would have been dead by now. Belle wants to report the case to the police but Anna stopped her, saying that it's her own fault for getting home late. She's late because she is working. At a bookstore and the salary is used to buy food for her parents."
Elsa just shook her head and places a hand across her eyes "Anna. I'm so sorry!" she cries, now crying herself. Tears flow down her face like a waterfall and she looks up at the room, feeling a sense of firm determination run through her.
If there's one thing she will promise it's this: she'll make it up to Anna. She'll make Anna happy. It's all her fault. She should have come back for Anna. She's the big sister and Anna is her baby sister. She needed to protect her baby sister and she had not been here. Well it was time she was!
"Elsa!"
Elsa comes out from her thoughts and looks at Rapunzel "I'm sorry, what?" she said, wiping her eyes dry.
"Belle asked you a question."
Belle? Since when did she get here? Elsa looks at her right, and saw Belle looking at her with curious eyes. "What is the question again?" she asked.
"I said I want to take Anna and live with me. I know I'm not her family member. But you can say to the judge that you'll let her stay with me since you're her sister. If it didn't work, I'll adopt her. I'm 22 and I have work, a place to stay and I promise you, I'll take good care of her." She explained.
Elsa's reply was laconic and firm. "No!"
Rapunzel and Belle look at her like she just murdered someone. What did she just say?
Elsa, however, stayed determined and said firmly and clearly: "She's my sister, so she'll stay with me!"
