An eerie sense of déjà vu blew over Anna, while the ringtone was echoing in her ears. Misty eyes shot open as the girl, barely aware, rose from underneath the sheets. Soft light was crawling on the floor, sneaking its way into the bed and forcing itself into the redheads blinking eyes. She rubbed her palms over the faint blue gems that were her eyes, while the sound grew quieter. A tired yawn echoed across the room, as Anna tried to locate the source. Finally, she found it on the bedside table and managed to answer, with just a few seconds to spare.
"Hello?" Vocal cords struggled to produce the usually beautiful voice this early in the morning.
"Hi, Anna?" An excited voice rang through the phone, something she'd never heard before seemed so familiar.
"Elsa?" It truly was familiar, except for one detail. This was the first time she had actually heard excitement in Elsa's voice. The blonde's usual, calm monotone was now replaced by a positive and beautiful note of anticipation. "Why are you calling?"
"I'm really sorry if I woke you, but I want to show you something." The anticipation in her voice was only getting stronger with each word she spoke.
"Show me what?" Slightly perplexed Anna failed to realize that with every word she heard from Elsa her smile grew wider.
"I can't tell you. You have to see." Fighting back the giggles Elsa was desperately trying to keep calm.
"It's too early Elsa." Struggling with her own laughter, Anna was grasping at straws to stay in the comfort of her bed.
"Please."
"Okay, fine." As stubborn as she was, the redhead simply couldn't bring herself to say "no". Rubbing her eyes with her free palm once again, she moved ever so slightly to get out of the bed. "I'll come by in a few hours."
"Thanks! See you then." Although Anna couldn't see it, she was sure that Elsa was grinning with excitement, and was absolutely right.
After the conversations end another yawn escaped the girls' lungs, as her feet gently landed on the soft carpet. Balance was a small issue, seeing how she had spent the last eight hours flat on her back. That resulted in awkward shuffling and stumbling all the way to the bathroom. Half an hour later or around the third cup of coffee, Anna finally felt ready to get out of the house and venture forth to meet Elsa.
Perhaps more coffee was in order, but she was afraid of becoming even more hyperactive than usual. With that mindset the girl stepped out of the house into the unusually quiet garden. That was her favorite part of the whole house, always full of life, warmth and beauty. Somehow it had become a desert, a desolate and empty, place the plants were all gone, replaced by a thick layer of snow. Yet it still seemed beautiful, true the colorful plants were gone, but they were replaced by the small dunes in the snow, like waves in the ocean it seemed as if the snow was flowing, moving. She couldn't dwell on it for too long before realizing it was time to go.
The streets were also surprisingly empty, was it the cold or the early hours? It didn't really matter to Anna, she was occupied with something else. Something that was rare for her, she had sunken into deep thought, her empty gaze was wandering aimlessly, every footstep dug deeper into the snow, but the thoughts were dominating. What is this, she wants to show me? Whatever it is, she is very excited about it. What if she opens the door half-naked again? What if….. She knew where that particular train of thought was headed and sought to derail it, but the thoughts still lingered in her mind, images of Elsa refused to leave her as they grew stronger. She stopped, feeling unusually warm, and noticed that her cheeks were burning red.
A deep breath, then two and she gathered her thoughts. Blue eyes focused once again started to look around in panic. The street was thankfully deserted, nothing but the whisper of a cold and lonely wind and the subtle dance of the snowflakes on their way to the ground. Anna continued forward, shaky steps leaving imprints in the snow. Slowly, step by step, she moved through the shadows of the tall monoliths that surrounded her. While staring at the ground the redhead saw something peculiar, warm sunlight was spilling onto the street from between two buildings. The alley that they formed was a convenient and tempting shortcut, so she stepped into the light, snowflakes shining like tiny diamonds as the swirled around her. It seemed the buildings provided shelter from the wind, the whispers in Anna's ear went quiet and the poor, little snowflakes plummeted to the floor.
The path was mostly empty, an old cart board box here and there, not much else, except for something very special. Anna's footsteps, although quiet and mellow, caught the attention of a small boy, dressed in a velvet jacket. His little head shot up as he looked down the alley. He saw the most wonderful thing in the world to him, the only person to show him affection coming to him in the light. Big, dark eyes opened wide, as the little beggar pulled himself up from the ground and started running towards the beautiful girl. Scared at first, Anna stopped, staring at the small dark figure that was speeding towards her, but when she realized, who it was, the redhead fell on her knees and threw her arms out. The boy could only run faster and faster, until they collided and she embraced him in a warm hug.
"Hey, little guy. What are you doing here?" A smile took over her face, as she ruffled the boys hair.
"I live here." A little shy, his answer echoed in the alley.
"I thought you lived in that other alley where I first met you."
"There are bad people there, they wanted to hurt me, so I ran away."
"Well, where are your parents, then?" Concern and curiosity were mixing in her voice as she looked deeper into the sad, dark eyes.
"I don't know." He broke eye contact and looked away to hide the tears. "I haven't seen them in a long time."
"Maybe you should go to the police, I can take you there."
"No! I don't want to go there, I want to stay here." A note of fear was woven into his voice.
"But, why?" Confusion was dominating her thoughts.
"I don't want to go! Please, don't take me there!" The boy started to pull away from Anna.
"Calm down! I'm not taking you anywhere, okay. You don't have to go if you don't want to." She grabbed the child's wrists firmly and pulled him back in. She could hear his every breath and heartbeat, fear and panic are truly powerful things. So many questions were popping up in her head, but she was afraid to ask, all she could do was hold him.
After a moment of silence Anna discretely slipped a banknote into the boys' pocket and stood up. Big, grateful eyes looked up at her, as her heart melted. She could see the fear, hiding behind dark shades of black and brown, but as the boy kept looking at her it slowly started to fade away. The sight brought a smile to the redheads face. She ruffled the boys' hair and walked away. He was left alone in his empty alley once again, in the safety of the silence.
Anna was a bit nervous, standing in front of the large, metal door of Elsa's apartment, she couldn't explain why but she was, unbearably so. A shaky fist slowly knocked against the cold steel and she stood back, waiting for the slow creek as usual. Needless to say she was a bit shocked when the door was flung open, Elsa standing on the other side. Tired bloodshot eyes met Anna's and immediately filled with joy.
"Hi, Els-!" Rudely interrupted, as Elsa grabbed her hand and yanked her into the apartment, Anna felt evermore confused. "What are you doing?" A genuine question that was obliviously ignored by Elsa, as she slammed the door shut and grabbed the redheads hand once again.
"Come on!" With an absentminded smile on her face, she led the poor, confused girl through the corridor and into the living room.
Just now Anna noticed that the hand she was holding was wrapped in a bloody bandage, but before she could open her moth to say anything, Elsa took a sharp turn and headed for the kitchen. That got her thinking again. So whatever it is, she wants to show me is in the kitchen. I wonder what it is. Maybe she baked me a cake. No, it couldn't be cake, could it? I don't think it is, but I hope it's chocolate! The thoughts stopped when they did, standing in front of the refrigerator.
Slowly Elsa opened the door and pulled out a beautiful ice sculpture of Anna, playing her violin. She turned around to face the girl and handed it to her. A second or two later the redhead had finally shaken off the confusion and took the small piece. It wasn't more than a foot long, but the ice was crystal clear with, tainted blue and the detail was incredible, she could see the strings on the violin and one or two stray locks of hair. The frozen beauty was nothing short of breathtaking.
"Do you like it?" Elsa was hesitant in her question, but curious.
"I love it. This is beautiful. I didn't know you were into ice sculpting." Words came out of her mouth but her eyes remained fixed on the small object, who's icy touch burned on her skin.
"After what you did yesterday, I felt kind of inspired, so I stood up all night and did this." Awkward, that is the most accurate word to describe Elsa at that point. She never got much recognition for anything she did, so when someone finally told her something nice, she didn't know whether to feel good about It or to question their opinion. On more than one occasion she was lied to for someone else's interests, her trust in people was slowly withering away. Anna however, she would trust Anna to the end of the world.
"You didn't sleep all night?" Finally she tore her gaze from the small statue in her hands and raised a curious eyebrow at Elsa.
"Yea, I couldn't sleep anyway." She blocked a quiet yawn with her bandaged hand.
"Hey, what happened to your wrist?"
"Well, the icepick I use is really sharp and not sleeping can have some effects on concentration. My hand slipped and got slightly impaled on the icepick. It's just a flesh wound, nothing serious."
"Oh." While going through a list of "nice things to comfort people" in her head, she felt a drop of water trailing down her wrist and realized that the small figurine was melting. Somewhat panicked Anna quickly handed the ice sculpture back to Elsa, so she can save it from melting. It rejoined the collection of other crystal figures in the fridge, among which one of a small boy with big eyes stood out.
After another yawn from Elsa, the couple relocated to the couch in the living room. The view was nice as usual, but Anna couldn't bother to notice. She felt humbled to be someone's inspiration. People had given her credit for her talents before, but none of it felt genuine. She wanted to let Elsa know how much it really meant to her, trying to find the right words and not seem like an awkward idiot fro once. Then she felt the blonde's head softly descending onto her shoulder. The lack of sleep had taken its toll on Elsa.
All Anna could do was run delicate finger through the platinum locks and enjoy the view.