The Fall
"Play nice, you two!" Agnar called after Elsa and Anna, who raced by him as he strode through the snow towards the greenhouse. "And Elsa?"
"Yes, papa?" Elsa paused and turned, gazing back towards her father.
"No climbing, okay? It's icy this time of year."
Elsa nodded and smiled, then ran after Anna.
It was wintertime at Arendelle Manor, deep into the month of January and a thick blanket of snow had brought a comforting hush to the evergreens that surrounded the property. On this day, Elsa and Anna - aged nine and seven respectively - were playing in the clearing by the greenhouse, next to the pond and white willow tree.
They were constructing snowmen, laughing as they did so because Elsa's snowman was clearly a snowman while Anna's resembled more of a nondescript mound with two sticks protruding from its sides.
Elsa giggled. "What's yours supposed to be?"
"It's a snowman!" Anna shot back defensively. "Look! It's even got arms!"
"Yeah, but where's its face? It doesn't have a face so how could it be a snowman?" Elsa replied, before falling into a fit of laughter.
"Well, maybe Snuffleupagus would have a face if you didn't hog all the rocks!" Anna said.
"Snuff- you named your snowman Snuffleu-" Elsa couldn't finish before she collapsed in renewed laughter, tears forming in her eyes.
It always made Anna happy to bring joy to her sister. As young as she was, she understood that nothing made her feel as warm as she did when she heard Elsa laugh.
"Yeah! I think Snuffleupagus is a pretty name. Don't you?" Anna had looked down to the pile of snow for a response as Elsa continued to laugh.
By now though, Anna had joined her sister's merriment and they both fell into fits of giggles. After a few more moments, Elsa straightened up and turned to Anna, who was lying on her back. She turned silent then, staring down at Anna with complete adoration as she studied the way the freckles on Anna's cheek seemed to glow cherry-red against the snow. Anna soon noticed her sister's silence and turned her gaze up towards Elsa.
"What did you name your snowman?" Anna asked.
Elsa thought for a moment. "Olaf," she said happily. "His name is Olaf."
"Oooolaf," Anna repeated, testing how the letters rolled off her tongue. "I guess it's a nicer name than Snuffleupagus," she sounded ever so slightly disappointed in herself, which Elsa had noticed.
"You know what's a prettier name than Snuffleupagus?" Elsa asked.
Anna looked up, teal eyes brightening. "What?"
"Anna!" Elsa said, and as if to drive home the point she repeated her name as Anna had with Olaf. "Aaaaanna."
She had always loved her sister's name and its mere utterance could lift her mood.
Anna fell into renewed giggles, suddenly blushing and looking bashful which Elsa used as an opportunity to plant a kiss on her sister's cheek.
"Oh, Elsa! Gross!" Anna hadn't truly meant it, but kissing was always something that filled her with queasiness after she had witnessed her mother and father stealing one from each other occasionally.
Truthfully, she hadn't understood why and would not for some time, but Elsa's kisses never seemed to fill her with that same sensation. Instead they provided warmth and comfort. In response, Anna rose from her position and quickly rolled up a soft ball of snow and hucked it right at Elsa's face. The snowball impacted and fell apart softly, plastering Elsa's face and forming a mute mask. When sapphire eyes opened from behind the expressionless snow mask, Anna could barely contain her glee.
"Who's the snowman now?" Anna asked, rather triumphantly.
A smile had now broken out on Elsa's face, shaking loose the snow that still masked her features. "Oh you… you butthead!" she hurled the worst insult her nine year old mind could muster.
It only seemed to emboldened Anna's resolve as she watched her sister double over in laughter. Before Elsa could prepare a retaliation, Anna had taken off running towards the willow tree. Elsa trailed behind, balling up snow and tossing it at Anna as she gave chase.
"I'm gonna get you for that!" Elsa cried after Anna.
By now, Anna had reached the willow tree, ducking behind its broad trunk as Elsa continued to assault her general direction with snowballs. As Elsa bent down to prepare another snowball, Anna peaked her head out behind the trunk, locked eyes with Elsa, then blew a giant raspberry before hiding again, giggling all the while. Incensed, Elsa closed the gap to the tree, snowball in hand and ready to dunk it right in Anna's face when she rounded the corner and noticed that she wasn't there.
"Huh?" Elsa wondered aloud. She looked around uncertainly, searching for Anna when above her she heard yet another raspberry being blown defiantly.
She looked up and saw that Anna was resting on one of the lower hanging branches of the willow, just a few feet off the ground.
"Catch me if you can, butthead!" Anna returned the insult, before clambering higher up into the tree.
Elsa dropped her snowball and immediately gave pursuit. She scrambled for purchase on the old tree's gnarled trunk and ascended into its upper branches, following Anna. After passing a few more branches, she finally caught up to Anna, who was standing balanced upon a limb that stretched out over the pond. Under normal circumstances, the ascent would not have bothered Elsa but today she found she was uncharacteristically nervous around heights. She suddenly recalled her father's warning when her foot slipped slightly on a patch of ice on the branch.
Anna however, looked unperturbed. Flushed from the climb perhaps, but she still bore a look of defiance as if challenging Elsa to come after her.
"Anna, come back. Papa told us not to climb."
"Nuh uh, you still have to catch me."
"You could fall Anna. Just come back."
"Are you scaaaared Elsa? Too chicken to come and catch me?"
"I'm not scared! I just don't want to fall!"
Anna ignored her and instead began to pantomime a chicken fluttering its wings. Not giving in to her sister's taunts, Elsa tentatively stepped forward, keeping one hand on the trunk for security. Inching forward, she kept her other hand outstretched towards Anna, who danced tauntingly out of her reach. When their fingertips made contact, Elsa made to pull her in when Anna's foot suddenly slipped on the snowy branch and she lost her balance.
Time seemed to slow as Elsa watched Anna struggle to right herself. She teetered off to one side before falling completely. Elsa cried out then, reaching for Anna as she fell, but she was too late.
For a brief moment, Anna had felt weightless as gravity pulled her off the branch and down to the frozen surface of the pond. It wasn't until just before she impacted the surface of the ice that she registered that she had fallen. Worse still, was the look of complete terror etched on Elsa's face who was still up in the tree.
As she struck the ice on her back, the air in her chest was instantly stolen and the sudden pain was immediately numbed when the ice broke, enveloping her in cold water. The impact had left her dazed and breathless, and the water sapped the warmth from her body as she thrashed around underwater. The cold was unlike anything she had ever felt in her life. Anna was chilled to the bone and soaked all the way through her winter clothing. It was then that she had realized her eyes were screwed shut, and when she opened them she saw the opening in the ice above her. Darkness had already crept into the edges of her vision. Her clothing was waterlogged and its weight was dragging her down deeper into the pond. The opening in the ice grew further and further away, feeling as if she were already miles below the surface.
Anna felt her grip on her consciousness slipping, and the last thing she could see before blacking out was Elsa's face staring down at her, frozen in a scream of abject terror.
... ... ...
Meanwhile, Agnar was tending to some herbs while his daughters were building snowmen just outside, and the sound of their rambunctious laughter assured him that nothing was amiss. As a parent, he had learned that silence often spelled something wrong more often then it didn't. While snipping off some basil leaves to be used for dinner that night, Agnar thought to himself that nothing brought him more peace then the sound of his children's laughter, and that he could never grow tired of it.
In the next moment, Agnar learned that if the sounds of laughter meant peace and the sound of silence meant trouble, then he could not appropriately define the feeling that chilled his blood when he heard the sound of one of his daughter's screams of complete and utter terror. For the remainder of his life, he had the good fortune of never hearing that sound again, but he never forgot it.
"Anna!"
Elsa was shocked and completely frozen. The scream that tore from her lungs was completely instinctual and left her throat raw.
One moment she had been reaching out towards Anna, ready to embrace her and lead her down from the tree, and in the next Anna's fingers had slipped from her own and she watched helplessly as Anna fell down through the ice and into the pond. The last thing Elsa saw before she raced down the tree as fast as she could was Anna's red hair fanned out around her face as she sunk into the murky darkness.
Elsa screamed again wordlessly. She raced down to the shore, watching the hole in the ice for a few moments when she remembered that her father was in the greenhouse nearby. Elsa turned and ran, making it halfway before the door burst open and out stepped Agnar.
"Elsa! What's happened?!" Agnar had knelt and cupped his hands around his daughter's face, who was now weeping.
"An- Anna- she fe- fell," Elsa replied, the words tumbling out of her mouth now. None of them were making any sense but she had been frantically pointing towards the pond as her father held her face.
Agnar tracked his daughter's outstretched hands towards the pond and the hole and he instantly connected the dots. His blood was chilled before, but now it had frozen in his veins completely.
"Get your mother, now! Go!" Agnar yelled as he raced towards the pond.
Without a second thought he leapt in and started breaking up the ice with his fists to reach Anna. To a full grown man, the water reached only to his chest, but to a young girl of Anna's height, she would be swallowed head to toe and then some. It was cold but he did not feel it as adrenaline pumped in his veins. Once, he neared the hole Anna's impact had made and he dived under.
... ... ...
The door to the kitchen burst open, scaring the daylights out of Idunn who was slicing tomatoes.
"Mama! Mama!"
She heard Elsa's voice and was about to scold her for barging in and tracking snow into the kitchen. However, as she rounded the corner, the reprimand in her mind fell away to concern when she saw her eldest daughter in a state of panic.
"Elsa, dear what's the matter?" Idunn knelt and clasped her hands around Elsa's shoulders to try and comfort the girl
Elsa didn't respond but instead, she made a frantic pointing gesture out of the kitchen and towards the pond.
Idunn then straightened up, gazing over her daughter just in time to see her husband emerging from the pond, soaked and shivering and holding Anna's limp body.
"Oh, gott im himmel," Idunn raced out towards the duo.
Agnar looked up from Anna's blue face. "She fell through the ice. She's not breathing," he pressed past, stepping through the kitchen doors and laying Anna's body flat on their breakfast table.
Idunn trailed close behind and cleared some scattered objects off the table as she continued to mutter and curse in German. Elsa was still weeping, standing aside when Anna was brought in, renewing a fresh bout of terror when she saw how pale her sister was. Anna's eyes were closed, her lips were blue, and she was as still as death.
"We need to give her CPR," Agnar rolled up his sleeves, soaked as they were and placed his hands square on Anna's chest and began a series of rapid compressions before placing his ear against her chest and repeating the process.
Idunn stood close by stiff as a board while Elsa stood further out, stepping away until she felt the kitchen counter against her back. Agnar continued his attempts to resuscitate Anna, growing more and more harried as each second passed.
"Be strong, girl, come on! Be strong, Anna!" Agnar pinched Anna's nose with one hand, then opened her mouth with his other as he pressed his own against hers to blow air directly into her lungs.
"Anna, child. Please come back. Come back to mama," Idunn was cooing now to Anna's face which still showed no signs of life.
She was pale as alabaster and cold as ice to the touch. Anna's youthful visage that was full of energy and fervor mere minutes ago was sapped of all her color.
Elsa was growing more manic by the second, she tore her gaze away from the scene on the table and up towards the ceiling. Her breath was rapid and shallow, she was hyperventilating as she struggled to bring her breath back under control.
A miraculous thing happened then, as all became silent when Anna drew in one shaky breath on her own. Agnar and Idunn paused their ministrations and looked towards Anna's face. She drew in a second deeper breath as her eyes fluttered open and she began coughing violently.
"Anna!" Elsa had tried to call, but found her voice had become raw and hoarse from the bouts of screaming she had already done.
In an instant, Anna was surrounded by her family, all declaring their relief for their daughter saved. She was groggy, coughing up water, confused and frightfully cold she realized. Anna shivered, and it was then that Idunn noticed the state of dress of her daughter and her husband.
"Come, we need to get you out of those wet clothes and into warm sheets immediately." Idunn began before they noticed that their house servants Kai and Gerda had entered the kitchen.
"Forgive us, but we heard the commotion and we came as fast as we could. What's happened here, is Anna well?" Kai said.
"Kai, get some dry blankets and bring them up to Anna's room, then start a fire. We need the room as warm as possible," Agnar ordered.
"At once, sir," Kai nodded quickly. He spun on his heel with the speed one could not expect from a man his age.
"Gerda, contact the physician. Tell him to get here immediately," Agnar continued.
"Right away, sir." Gerda turned and also departed.
Finally, Agnar turned to Idunn and visibly relaxed. "Get Anna settled, I need to go have a change myself," he said then glanced over to where Elsa was standing. He waited until they were alone, then fixed Elsa with a hard stare as he crossed his arms. "Elsa, what did I say about climbing?"
"You… you said no climbing," Elsa muttered shamefully and avoided her father's gaze.
"Elsa, look at me," Agnar knelt down so that he was at eye level with his eldest daughter. "You're supposed to watch over her. You're Anna's big sister," he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her firmly in the eye. "You have a responsibility to her. What would have happened if we weren't there? Hmm?"
"I- I... I don't..." Elsa stammered and trailed off, unable to formulate a response.
With that, Agnar sighed then turned and strode out of the kitchen. Now alone, Elsa took a moment to absorb her father's words and the events of what had had just transpired.
It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault, Elsa thought to herself, as she slid down and clutched her knees to her chest. Tears were stinging her eyes again and she began to sob quietly.
... ... ...
The next few hours passed in a daze for Anna. She was sitting up in her bed, wrapped in several blankets and shivering. Her mother had stripped Anna from her wet and freezing clothing, which came apart like stiff cardboard due to the layer of rime that had coated it. Once she was dried off and deposited into some dry pajamas, Idunn laid her daughter gently into bed and covered her with extra blankets that Kai had dutifully provided. Once she was satisfied that Anna was no longer in danger from hypothermia, Idunn turned to stoke the fire in the hearth that Kai had started earlier. It was then that Agnar returned, also dressed in a clean pair of slacks and a woolen jumper with the family physician in tow.
Doctor Iverrson had been the family physician for decades, having helped to deliver Elsa and Anna himself. He was a kind man, but seemed to suffer from a condition of perpetually cold hands, which Anna had never liked.
"My, my, what has happened to you dear. You look pale as a ghost," Iverrson said.
"She fell into our pond, I think she may have lost consciousness for a few minutes," Agnar answered. "We had to revive her with CPR."
"That is troubling," Iverrson stepped up to and knelt beside Anna. "Anna, can you remember what happened?" he asked gently.
"I was up in the tree… and then I fell," Anna mumbled ashamedly.
"And what were you doing in the tree?"
"Just climbing. I didn't go very high."
"Ah, I see. Well, everything will be okay now, Anna. I promise," Iverrson smiled kindly.
He first took her temperature, and observed that while it was slightly below the average of 35 degrees Celsius, her core temperature shouldn't be cause for concern as she continued to gradually warm up. By this point, Anna had ceased shivering and some color was returning to her skin. Next, Iverrson observed the state of her extremities, noting that her hands and feet were still quite rosy.
"Anna, can you tell me if you feel this?" Iverrson asked as he gently poked Anna's fingers and toes with the tip of his pen.
"Yeah," Anna nodded her head glumly.
"Good. We can also rule out any potential nerve damage she might have sustained from frostbite," Iverrson noted. Next, he shined a penlight into each of Anna's eyes as he checked for any signs of internal head trauma. "Pupils are dilating normally. Anna, are you feeling any dizziness at all? Are you drowsy?"
"Not really. And I guess I'm a little sleepy," Anna yawned loudly.
"That's okay, I'm almost finished here," Iverrson then turned to Agnar and Idunn. "I believe I can also rule out any head trauma she may have suffered from her fall. If it's a concussion, it's extremely mild so I wouldn't worry about it. As for hypothermia, the worst has passed. It was a good thing you found her when you did. The condition of a girl her size would be much worse if she had stayed in that water for much longer. At any rate, Anna will have some bruising from her fall, but it shouldn't be any cause for alarm. I advise bed rest and warm fluids for the rest of the day. When her skin feels warm to the touch you may peel back some of the covers, but as it stands, Anna should no longer be in any danger."
Agnar and Idunn both released a simultaneous sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Karl," Agnar said as he clasped a hand on the doctor's shoulder.
"Think nothing of it," Iverrson nodded graciously. "If her condition changes, do not hesitate to contact me."
"We will. Thank you again," Agnar replied as he began to lead the doctor out of the room.
Once they had departed, Anna took a proper glance around the room and noticed that Elsa was not present. "Mama?" she croaked.
"Yes darling? What is it?" Idunn said as she sat on the bed next to Anna and gripped her small hand.
"Where's Elsa?"
... ... ...
Elsa was still curled in on herself on the kitchen floor, shaking softly from her tears when her mother entered.
"Elsa? What's wrong dear?" Idunn knelt next to her eldest daughter and with one hand, she gently pried loose the arms that were wrapped up over Elsa's head. When she loosened them enough she ran her hand through her daughter's blonde hair. "Elsa, look at me."
The sight that greeted Idunn was a piteous thing. Elsa's round, sapphire eyes were ringed with tears and her naturally pale skin was flushed with red from her turbulent emotions running through her.
"It was my fault mama," Elsa managed, her voice barely a whisper.
"What?" Idunn frowned. "What do you mean Elsa?"
"Sh- she was standing on the bra- branch when she fell, and I could- I couldn- I couldn't catch her. And I was supposed to catch her, and I didn't and it's all my fault. It's all my fault," Elsa was speaking faster now that her emotions were rearing up again.
Idunn shushed her and pulled her into a soft embrace. "It's not your fault Elsa, you couldn't have known it would happen," she said as she gently rocked Elsa side to side in a soothing motion. "Anna is okay now. She isn't hurt and it wasn't your fault."
"Bu- but- papa said… said it was my… my… "
"Shh, never mind what your father said. He didn't mean it. He was just worried about your sister," Idunn said firmly as she pulled back to look Elsa in the face. "Anna is fine, you'll see. She asked for you, you know? Don't you want to see Anna?"
Elsa sniffed and nodded glumly.
Idunn smiled reassuringly as started to dry her tears with a handkerchief. "Come then, let's fix you and your sister a cup of hot chocolate and we can go see her," she said as she strode over to the cabinet to fetch two mugs.
"Okay," Elsa said in a small voice as she stood and went over to help her mother.
Yet, nothing would shake the doubt and guilt that had begun to take hold in her heart and her mind. Elsa knew that deep down, nothing could change the feeling that she had failed her sister. Anna had nearly died, and to Elsa, it was all her fault. It would haunt her for many years afterward.
... ... ...
Idunn and Elsa stepped into Anna's room to find Agnar kneeling next to her and adjusting some of the covers.
"Ah, just what the doctor ordered," Agnar said as he spotted the tray holding two mugs of steaming hot chocolate that Elsa was holding.
Elsa set down the tray on the nightstand next to Anna's bed, then took a step back. She was suddenly overcome with a sense of uncertainty as to what to do next.
Idunn turned to Agnar then and spoke in his ear. "Let's give them some privacy now, dear."
Agnar nodded, and before they both stepped out of the room they smiled warmly to their children.
"Hey, you got any more of those for m-." Agnar began as he walked out before he was cut off when Idunn shut the door quietly behind them.
Silence filled the room now, and Elsa observed that Anna was looking much better than she had before.
"Hi," Elsa said softly.
"Hi? Hi, me?" Anna asked. She looked around the room and realized that they were now alone.
Ordinarily, Elsa would find her sister's awkwardness endearing, but at the moment she felt nervously stiff around Anna. She felt as if she didn't deserve to be in her loving sister's presence.
"I… I bought you some hot chocolate," Elsa gestured towards the tray on the nightstand. "Yours is the one with extra marshmallows."
Anna brightened immediately. "Oh, I love hot chocolate. Thanks Elsa, you're the best big sister ever!" she said as she reached over to her mug.
The words stung like ice in her heart. Elsa clammed up then, and looked away nervously.
"Aren't you gonna have yours?" Anna asked innocently.
"Oh... yeah," Elsa muttered as she took her own mug and carefully settled in across the bed from her.
Anna hummed happily as she sipped away at her mug. Elsa merely stared into hers, intently studying the velvety brown liquid in her mug.
Unknown to Anna, despite the physical distance between the two at that moment, a deep rift had begun to form between her and Elsa. When she looked up and saw Elsa staring down at her mug in concentration, Anna surmised that it was because she didn't have enough marshmallows in hers and innocently fished out a few from her own and dropped them into Elsa's hot chocolate, giggling as she did so.
Elsa nearly choked at the simple gesture and looked away. The two sisters settled into a silence as they drank their hot chocolate. For Anna, it was comfortable. For Elsa, it was suffocating.
