Frozen Together Chapter 3
Knock, knock, knock. "Elsa? It's me. Anna."
No answer.
"I'm sorry I stole a look into your room. I promise I won't do it again."
No answer.
Anna crossed her arms. "I know you can hear me, and I'm not leaving until I hear you say something!"
"Fine," her sister's voice said at last. "Go away!"
What was she going to do about that?
"All right," she answered softly. "But I'll be back."
o
Knock, knock, knock. "I'm back."
No answer.
"Can't you at least talk to me?"
No answer.
"Do you want to build a snowman?"
Anna thought she was going to get ignored again. But as she listened in the silence, she could hear soft breathing, just on the other side of the door. She listened extra-hard for any kind of clue she might hear.
"Anna, you don't know what I'd give..."
The voice was quiet, but Anna nearly jumped. It was the first non-hostile thing Elsa had said to her in thirteen years, aside from that whispered "Yes, I do" on the day their parents were buried. That had been in response to the same question about snowmen. Was there something special about snowmen, or snow in general?
"Elsa, I don't know what you're going through," Anna said, trying to keep control of her voice, "but I'd give anything if you'd let me help you!"
"You can't help." Elsa's voice was flat and final, devoid of hope.
"At least I could keep you company."
"No, you can't do that either."
"Well, there has to be something!" she burst out.
"Anna... the best thing you can do for me is stay away, so I don't have to worry about you."
"Elsa, I worry about you, no matter where I am. You're my sister! I know you're hurting. Elsa... I'm hurting, too, because I miss you so much. Please!"
"Anna, there's nothing you can do for me. Mother and Father couldn't find a way to help, and you can't, either. Please go."
Anna could hear the pain in her sister's voice. She desperately wanted to hold Elsa's hand, or let her cry on her shoulder. She couldn't even imagine what her sister looked like, after all these years! On an impulse, she dropped to her hands and knees and tried to look under the door. Even if all she could see was her sister's shoes, at least that would be a start!
She couldn't see anything, except a narrow view of the far wall. She knew Elsa had to be standing right next to the door. Obviously, she knew what Anna was trying to do, and was hiding even the sight of her shoes from her.
Suddenly she heard a strange sound, like a faint rattling mixed with the tinkling of tiny bells. At the same time, she felt her hands and knees grow cold. She tried to stand up... and found that she couldn't. The hall carpet around the door had suddenly frozen solid, and she was stuck to it.
Her skirt came free fairly easily, although it left some fibers behind when it separated from the rug. Her hands... not so much. She couldn't work them free without pain, so she tried breathing on the carpet to warm it up. It might take her a while.
"Anna? Are you still there? Are you all right?"
"Yes, but, uhh... I'm stuck."
"Oh, no! Anna, I'm so sorry!" She heard someone throw herself on a bed, sobbing.
"Elsa, I'm okay! I'm just frozen to the floor somehow. I'm not hurt!"
No answer.
"Okay, we're back to that again." She breathed on the rug a few more times. "I think I'll be free in a few minutes. Then, will you talk to me some more?"
No answer.
It took her about ten minutes to thaw the rug enough that she could pull free without hurting herself. It was her lucky day; none of the servants came up to the hall and found her on her hands and knees in front of her sister's door. Elsa refused to make another sound. Anna finally retreated to the powder room, where she soaked her ice-cold hands in warm water for half an hour. She didn't seem to have suffered any lasting harm, so she used that half hour to think.
What could possibly have made that one section of the rug freeze, as quickly as that, in the middle of the palace? She didn't come up with any answers. But as she replayed the scene in her mind, one detail gave her a chill.
Elsa hadn't said, "Ow, I'm stuck!" or, "What just happened?" She'd said, "I'm so sorry!" That three-word sentence screamed three inescapable facts at Anna. One, the freezing was something Elsa had caused. Two, it didn't take her by surprise. Three, it didn't affect her, just Anna.
Those clues certainly didn't solve the mystery. They only deepened it. But they might be good conversation-starters the next time she knocked on her sister's door.