Chapter VI

A hand stroking my hair gently woke me up from a warm and comfortable sleep. I chuckled at the thought that I had been sleeping a lot lately though I didn't mind it at all.

"What's funny?" Anna's voice travelled from behind me. My mind, still clouded with grogginess, prevented me from remembering the smaller girl's body wrapping my own so when I turned around to face her my hand brushed skin of her stomach.

"Nothing, I just realized I've become such a sleepyhead," I mumbled, my eyes still closed.

Anna laughed at my answer. "I guess you're feeling better now?"

"Yes, I am, thank you." And then the memories from a few hours before flooded my mind. Anna's excitement when she dragged me to show the landscape covered with a thick white blanket, us building a snowman and getting into a snow fight, me almost kissing Anna, oh gods, I almost kissed her … And then the moment which prevented me from doing so, the chase, cold that caused so much pain and then Anna saving my life.

I opened my eyes and my gaze was captured in those beautiful teal eyes. I gulped and started apologizing. "Anna … I'm so sorry, it was stupid of me to run after that guy like that, I should have thought things through but I was scared for you and now they know about this place."

"You were scared for me?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Damn, I said it out loud, didn't I? "Well, um, yes … Yes, I was because I care about you, Anna …" my voice trailed off as I was anxiously waiting for her response. What she did next though was not an expected action.

Anna leaned closer to me with one quick glance at my eyes and pressed her soft lips to mine. Holy shit, she's kissing me! She's kissing me! … Don't just lay there like a dumbass, do something! This was one of the rare occasions where my brain would actually say something useful. And it was one of the rare occasions where I would listen to it. So I kissed her back, tentatively at first, too scared that my emotions would erupt like a long sleeping volcano but when her lips started to move faster I responded with same eagerness. She stroked my hair and her hand slid on the back of my head and pulled me even closer. I lifted my shaking arm to wrap it around her waist but when I made contact with her bare skin I yanked it back and broke the kiss.

"Elsa?"

I was blushing furiously. I lifted the blanket that was still covering us just to get a confirmation of my presumptions. The realization threw me out of Anna's embrace and I landed flatly on the floor next to our improvised bed. "You–you're naked," I said and with that I blushed even more.

"Oh, right, though I have my bra and panties on …" it was her who was blushing now. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out. It's just I didn't know what to do anymore … You were freezing and the fire and blankets weren't enough," she explained with a shy smile on her lips.

"That's alright, you … Just caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting that," I said and started pulling myself back onto the mattress. "I guess we're even now."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Well, I saved your life, you saved mine. And I can't even express how grateful I am."

"I would do it all again. Including the naked part," she said and we started laughing. I laid down beside her so our faces were very close. "I really like you, Elsa."

A huge grin stretched across my face. "I really like you too, Anna." I cradled her cheek and ran a thumb across her freckled skin. Once again she leaned closer and captured my lips with hers for the second time. This time I didn't hesitate and returned the kiss immediately. We kissed faster this time, rougher, and when Anna's tongue licked my lips, asking for a permission to enter my mouth, I parted them as it was the most natural thing to do. Our tongues danced, played and explored as we deepened the kiss. A quiet moan escaped my throat when Anna's hand slid down my back and touched a sliver of exposed skin above the waistband of my pants. I felt her smile against my lips and just when she started to pull up my shirt a loud growl escaped her stomach. She pulled herself away and started blinking at me with the most innocent eyes I had ever seen until I couldn't resist it anymore and burst into an uncontrollable laughter. "I guess–I guess you stomach–has other ideas!" She joined me and soon we were rolling around in laughter and clutching our bellies.

"I'm sorry but–but I haven't had my breakfast yet," she said breathlessly as we calmed a bit.

"C'mon, let's get you something to eat," I said and pulled her up. "And some clothes," I added when the blanket slid of her almost completely exposed body.

"For how long have I been asleep?" I asked while Anna was pulling on her clothes.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's past midday," she answered, trying not to fall as she struggled to put a sock on her foot while standing on one leg. "I guess we'll have a lunch today."

"I don't mind having a lunch," I said happily.

"Okay, I'll get some meat and you can warm some soup since the fire is already on."

I wanted to say something about the fire being lit during the daytime but it didn't really matter anymore; it was snowing so you had to stand really close to the house to see the smoke rolling out of the chimney.

I heard Anna opening the hatch and leaving the room, murmuring a song I think I recognized. I just couldn't get it out of my head how adorable, beautiful and full of life she was. It was impossible not to love her. And I couldn't believe she actually cared for me, the lost and shy girl, too.

With the happy thoughts swimming around in my mind I automatically opened the storage and grabbed a can of soup from the shelf. I tore off the seal and poured the content into a metal pot which was hanging above the fire place and started stirring. Then I heard footsteps descending the stairs. Without turning around I said: "Hey, Anna, I've been think–"

"Elsa …"

The way she said my name sent a cold shiver through my spine.

"Anna, what's wrong?" I asked while turning around. I stopped dead in my tracks. Anna was slowly approaching me. But she wasn't alone; two men were holding her hostage as she entered the room. A guy behind her was gripping her arm and held a knife at her throat. The other one was standing in shadows so I couldn't get a good look at his face.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here," said a voice from the shadows, which I thought for a moment sounded familiar.

"Let her go or I swear I'll make you suffer for laying your fucking hands on her," I snared angrily at the guy with the knife, ignoring the other one. Anna whimpered as he tightened the grip and I almost couldn't resist from jumping at him and stabbing that knife into his guts. I was angry, frustrated and afraid at the same time because I didn't know what to do.

"Psht, we aren't here to negotiate, Elsa, so you don't give orders here," said the guy who was standing in the darkness.

"What do you want then? Food? Water? We have it, you can take, just, please, don't hurt her," I said with a more human tone now.

"Oh, Elsa, we aren't here for that too," he continued. I stared at the faceless man, confusion reflecting in my eyes. "Don't you see? I'm here for you." And with that he stepped out of the shadow. The light gave a face to the man who for unknown reason wanted me. But when I recognized him, I knew why.

This isn't possible. This can't be possible. A tall man with a chestnut beard was grinning at me with a hideous smile.

He was dead. I killed him. I saw him die. The man I saw dying because of me was standing now beside Anna running a finger across her cheek. The man I stopped from doing a horrible thing to the girl I loved was now touching her skin again. Silent tears were now running down Anna's cheeks.

"Don't touch her!" I growled and made a step towards him. I was seeing red now. This isn't fucking happening.

"You know, Elsa, when you try to kill someone, always double check, you know … Just to be sure," his fingers stopped on her chin and then he dropped his arm to his side.

I didn't even care anymore how he survived a bullet to his head; all that mattered was saving Anna from this psycho. "What the hell do you want?" I couldn't hide my anger.

"I've already told you," he answered in a calm tone and suddenly he was standing just a few centimetres from my face. "I want you."

"Okay, take me, but leave her alone," I said while trying to match the calmness of his voice.

"Elsa, no!" Anna cried, struggling with her captor. He pressed the knife deeper into her skin and whispered something into her ear.

The red-bearded man chuckled. "You have a really bad memory, Elsa. I told you I'm not here to negotiate. The girl is coming with us too," he said in a serious voice that didn't allow and objections.

"Hans?" it was the guy with the knife who spoke now.

Hans merely nodded once without looking at him as if he was giving him a signal for something. Then he raised his knife and hit the back of Anna's head with the hilt of his weapon and she fell unconscious.

"Ann–hmpf …" Before I could let out the cry, Hans muffled my voice with his hand and with one swift move turned me around so my back was facing him. And then something hard hit the back of my head and I fell into an endless darkness.

x

Days grew darker as if the sky knew something bad was happening. Air was thick with anxiety and melancholy and even birds seemed to sing their songs differently – sad tones were intertwined with the summer melodies.

More and more often I found Kristoff staring absently into distant nothing. Every single time I tried to get close to him he would just sigh and excuse himself. It hurt me a lot. His distance was like cancer spreading deeper into my body with each passed day. No matter how hard I tried to comfort him he refused any kind of affection.

Kristoff I knew was slowly leaving. I could still remember the first time we met. It was at the national swimming championship. I was a competitor and he was there supporting his best friend Sven who was on the same team as I. I knew Sven well, he was a quiet but kind person, just like I was, so we had been friends ever since I joined the team.

Kristoff approached us to wish Sven good luck. Then Sven introduced us and I immediately felt a connection being established between us. He was new in town so I offered myself to give him a tour and he happily accepted it. We had been inseparable since then. We hung out at school, went home together and played games together. He always let me win at least twice a day even though I told him not to do it because I wanted a victory to be deserved. He was always positive, optimistic about everything and he smiled a lot. And I loved his smile so it was hard seeing him like this now, broken and without any strength to fight.

"People are angry and scared, they started rioting," I heard my dad talking to mum. "Authorities won't start evacuations because the virus is spreading uncontrollably now and there's no way to keep sick people under observation. There are just too many of them."

"But can't they see that that isn't a solution?" mum asked. "People being so close together will only make it worse."

"They are desperate …" he sighed. "They know we have close to zero chances to survive. And when people see no escape from things that hurt them they fight back. They start anarchy. Even army is failing to contain peace."

I coughed quietly to let them know about my presence in the room. "Oh, honey, I didn't know you were standing there," my mum said when she noticed I was leaning at the wall in the kitchen.

"Shouldn't we prepare ourselves or something?" I asked.

"We did what we could, Elsa, we have enough food for a year and we aren't completely defenceless. I've bought some weapons in case things get bad here."

I nodded even though I didn't know what to think anymore. The only reason I kept myself from falling apart was my boyfriend but he was now a stranger, his thoughts distant and unreachable and what was going to happen to me if this stranger was gone?


Hi, it's me again. First of all, thank you all for leaving a review and following/favouring my story. I still can't believe you actually like it. Second of all ... Actually, there's no second of all. There's just getting straight to the business. So, I'm starting with the second semester tomorrow which means *sobs quietly* I won't have much time for writing since the schedule is a bitch this time. Damn, and I just got the hang of it. Anyway, I promise I will update as regularly as possible. Meanwhile, stay cool. :)