I got up startled by Anna's voice. She was knocking on my door frantically in the middle of the night. I ran towards it and opened fearing that Elsa's condition had worsened, and I found myself again with her look of guilt and with that lip being cruelly nibbled.

"Anna! What's the matter?! Is Elsa okay?!"
"Yeah, she's resting," she answered tilting her gaze.
"What, then? What do you need?"
"Hm… I thought I should wake you up. It's a bit late."
"Late? What time do you usually get up? It's completely dark!"
"It's eleven in the morning."
"What?"

I looked around in bewilderment. Not a tiny attempt at a beam of light entered through the holes of the shutters, and the hall light was on due to the darkness in the house.

"What are you talking about?"

Anna showed me her mobile and, after withdrawing my attention from the photo of the Northern lights that decorated her screen, I noticed the little clock that proved her right. Without a word, I reached into my pants pocket for my cell phone and checked the time in disbelief.

"Is it really eleven?"

Anna nodded without taking her eyes off mine.

"And… why is there no light? Is it so cloudy?"

Then she shook her head, took my hand, and led me to my bedroom window. Her hand was small and seemed fragile, like Elsa's, but she gave off a heat that had nothing to do with the chilling cold of her sister's. A pleasant chill ran up my arm and traveled to the back of my neck just before she energetically and loudly raised the shutters. At that moment, another much less pleasant chill went through my entire body.

Well yes, it was probably daytime. However, there was no visible way to check it, as an immense layer of snow covered the glass to the brim.

"What the…?"
"The house is buried in snow almost to the first floor. Sorry… I'm afraid your car is down there. Along with the road…"
"Unbelievable…"
"Do you want to see it?"
"Uh… I guess, yeah."

Anna took my hand again and dragged me running up the stairs until we entered what looked like some kind of art studio through which daylight did come in.

"It's still snowing," she said putting her hands to the glass leaving a wide area completely fogged up.
"Wow…"

I couldn't say anything else. In my life, I had seen something so disturbing and beautiful at the same time. The landscape had nothing to do with that of the night before. The thick layer of snow seemed to be waiting for us to come out the window to play in it. The trees in the area were half buried, and the path where I had driven there was not even perceived.

"Sorry. If I hadn't held you yesterday, you wouldn't have been trapped here. I should have thought about it then: this is not the first time that has happened to us."
"It's okay. If you hadn't held me, maybe now I wouldn't be in this world. I may owe you my life."

Surprisingly, Anna replied with a pleased smile at my foolishness and my colors visibly rose again from neck to crown.

"However…" I said trying to divert attention from my face. "I don't know how being trapped with me is going to make you two feel."
"It'll be fun! It's boring always being alone, you know? Plus now that the holidays are coming. Oh, my God! The holidays! The day after tomorrow is Christmas! I have destroyed your Christmas!"

Anna covered her very red face with her hands and let her forehead slam against the window.

"Nooooo… I'm the worst… Now you're going to spend Christmas locked up with a sick geologist and a crazy woman. And we have no gift for you! Fuck…"

I could only burst out laughing.

"Hey, don't worry. I had no plans for Christmas. I always spend them alone. I read a little and go to bed. Nothing very fancy. No feasts, no gifts, no… people. This is already going to be a party compared to usual."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh."
"Sounds sad. No offense…"

I shrugged. Not that I could say it wasn't. All my being was probably a bit sad.

"Alright!" she said jumping up and suddenly regaining energy. "I'm going to make sure this is the best Christmas of your life!"
"Uh… I appreciate it, but there is no need to…"
"It was not a question," she answered filled with determination. "For now I'm going to make breakfast. If you want, you can take a warm shower. You won't find much warmer than that in this house."
"I can help with breakfast."
"No!"
"No?"
"No! I'm going to make sure to make up to you for this mess!"
"Hey, Anna, seriously, you don't have to…"

But I didn't finish the sentence: no one would have heard it anyway. Anna was already running downstairs toward the kitchen.

"I guess I can take a shower…"

I didn't know what to expect during those days, but if I was sure of one thing, it was that Anna was wrong: the shower was not by far the hottest thing in that house at the time.