Anna stared into Elsa's now empty room. The wind blew through the open window, billowing the curtains, creating ruffling sounds. The cold night air flowed through the castle, touching Anna's skin but she barely registered it. She was in shock, unable to move or think. Her mind had become an empty void. Anna felt disconnected from her body. Her mind screamed for her arms to move, for her legs to carry her to Kristoff and fall into his arms. But all she was able to do was keep her chest rising and falling, to keep on breathing.
Her numb body began to convulse. First her hands shook and her heart beat began to quicken. The shaking spread to her arms and then her chest, eventually taking over her whole being.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway followed by a sound. A voice. A man's voice but the words were all jumbled up to Anna.
The sound again and Anna felt two hands touch her arms. She was spun around and stared into the face of a man. His blonde hair twigged a memory in Anna's mind. She knew this man, yet at that moment he was a stranger to her. He spoke again. Only one word which Anna couldn't distinguish.
His voice sounded frantic and she could see the fear in his eyes. This man cared about her. Her feet left the ground as she was swept up by the stranger. She wanted to fight him but couldn't command her body to do so.
Anna felt the floor underneath her legs and her back hit the wall. A little hand touched her leg as its owner, a snowman with a reindeer behind him, spoke to the man. The snowman also sounded worried. Did she know him?
Wait. Snowman. Reindeer. Blonde haired man. Kristoff, her husband. Elsa, her sister, leaving. It was all coming back to her. Anna drew in a gasp of breath. Kristoff placed a hand on her shoulder.
'Anna, are you alright?' he asked, his eyes wide with fright.
'What happened?' Olaf asked and Sven nudged Anna's arm tenderly.
Swallowing, Anna looked into Kristoff's eyes. 'Elsa,' she whispered.
'No, that's Kristoff,' Olaf replied slowly, pronouncing each word clearly and slowly. 'I think she's lost it,' he whispered to Kristoff. 'Let's test.' He turned back to Anna. 'Who am I?' he asked.
'Elsa's gone,' Anna continued, ignoring Olaf.
'Yep, she's definitely lost it,' Olaf stated. 'I'll go find a doctor. Come on Sven,' Olaf grabbed the hem of Kristoff's shirt and began to walk away.
'No Olaf,' Kristoff said, taking hold of the little snowman and lifting him in front of him. 'We don't need a doctor, Anna's fine. And I'm Kristoff. That's Sven,' he pointed to the reindeer.
'Oh yeah,' Olaf replied. 'I forget sometimes,' he admitted.
'Kristoff,' Anna said. All eyes turned to her.
Kristoff moved to sit next to Anna. He took her hand in his. Kristoff looked into Anna's wide, haunted blue eyes. Fear stared back at him.
'Elsa's gone,' Anna repeated.
'What's wrong with her?' Olaf asked.
'She's in shock,' Kristoff told the snowman. 'Anna, what happened?'
Anna opened her mouth to tell Kristoff what she saw but the words wouldn't come out. Instead tears flowed from her eyes, her body convulsed in huge racking sobs.
Kristoff placed his arms around his sobbing wife and pulled her onto his lap. Anna melted into him, bunching up his shirt and soaking it with her tears. He stroked her head soothingly, muttering soft encouragements like 'it's okay' and 'let it go'.
They stayed like that for what felt like years to Anna.
'Anna, you're melting,' Olaf said, touching Anna's skin and puzzling over the fact that his hand came away dry.
Anna sniffed and whipped the tears away from her eyes. She looked at the concerned snowman and smiled sadly.
'Olaf, I'm not melting. I'm crying.' She gave a small laugh.
'Anna,' Kristoff said taking her head in his hands and kissing her forehead tenderly. Sven trotted over to Anna and licked her cheeks, taking away the salty tear stains that coated her skin.
'Thanks Sven.' Anna smiled and patted the reindeer's head.
'Anna, what happened?' Kristoff asked. 'When you didn't return I'd thought something awful had happened to you.'
'Elsa's gone,' Anna replied, that haunted look returning to her face.
'Where's she gone?' Olaf asked.
'I don't know.'
Anna explained tearfully what she'd witnessed. Coming up the stairs and finding Elsa talking to a stranger dressed in a blue hooded jacket before taking his hand and flying away. Re-telling the story, Anna thought it was ridiculous. Elsa couldn't fly, as far as she knew. But what had hurt Anna the most was that Elsa had lied to her again. Didn't she trust her?
'Maybe Elsa was kidnapped,' Kristoff suggested.
'No,' Anna replied. 'She went willingly. She gave him her hand.'
'Maybe Elsa never left,' Olaf suggested. 'Maybe you imagined it. Or maybe she is planning a surprise party for you guys with the stranger!' Olaf exclaimed excitedly.
Anna perked up at Olaf's suggestion. Maybe she had imagined it. After all, she was tired from her trip. Maybe it was her own mind playing tricks on her.
Anna jumped up and rushed into Elsa's room, full of hope, only to be deflated as soon as she set foot in the door. Elsa was gone. The room was left just like Anna remembered it.
'No,' she whispered unable to believe it. 'No, Elsa must be here. She can't be gone.'
Anna felt nothing. She was just an empty shell, void of all emotion. She wanted to cry but had no tears left.
'Maybe Elsa left a note,' Kristoff said, placing a hand cautiously on Anna's shoulder.
Anna pulled away from Kristoff and began rifling through Elsa's belongings, searching for something, anything, that could give her a clue as to where she had gone.
Kristoff shrugged and he, Olaf and Sven joined Anna with her search.
After searching for two hours, and finding nothing, Kristoff was ready to give up. Anna still searched frantically, checking places she'd checked many times before.
'Anna, there's nothing here,' he said trying to convince her to stop.
'No,' Anna replied refusing to give in. 'There must be something.'
'We've been searching for hours,' Kristoff reasoned. 'If there was anything, we'd have found it by now.'
Anna stood still as his words sunk in. She flopped to the floor in defeat. 'You're right,' Anna conceded. 'She's gone.'
Anna rested her head in her hands and Kristoff sat next to his wife. He placed a hand on her back, moving it back and forth comfortingly. Anna leaned into him and he embraced her.
'Hey guys,' Olaf shouted waddling over to the couple, a small piece of parchment clutched in his stick fingers. 'Look what I - ,' he stopped seeing Anna and Kristoff sitting on the ground. 'What happened?'
'Nothing happened,' Kristoff replied. 'There's nothing here.'
'Oh,' Olaf sighed. 'Well I had found this little piece of parchment I thought you should see but I didn't know we'd stopped looking so I'll just get rid of it.' The snowman grasped the note with both hands and ripped it in half.
'No,' Anna shouted just as Olaf tore the parchment. 'Olaf, if you found something, we want to see it.'
'Oh, sorry,' the snowman apologized, shrugging holding the torn parchment. 'It's no use now,' he said and started to throw it away.
Anna rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders.
'Can I see it?' she asked.
'Okay,' Olaf shrugged. 'But it's ruined now. Don't know how useful it will be.'
Anna took the two pieces and examined them. Something was written on them but they'd been scrunched up for so long, the writing had become faint.
Giving Kristoff one of the pieces, they straightened them out the best they could and joined them.
Anna looked at Kristoff as they read the name that was written in Elsa's neat handwriting.
'Jack Frost,' Anna whispered.