Frozen Together Chapter 4
Knock, knock, knock. "Elsa, it's me. We need to talk."
No answer.
"Elsa, that thing that happened yesterday, with the ice and the rug... was that something you did somehow?"
"Anna, I'm begging you, let it go, and go away! Please!"
"It's not happening, Elsa. I don't know what your secret is, but it's coming out, little by little. I'm bound to figure it out eventually. Why don't you just tell me and get it over with?"
There was a long pause.
"You just won't take 'no' for an answer, will you, Anna?"
Anna hugged herself. She was about to win this stubbornness contest! She'd always known she would. But when she saw the unknown prize that she was about to win, would she like it?
The door lock clicked.
She waited for the door to open, but nothing happened. At last, with a strange mix of jubilation and fear, she reached for the handle and pushed it down. The door opened smoothly and quietly. She pushed it about halfway open; she figured her sister was behind it, and she didn't want to squash her against the wall if she flung the door open with her usual exuberance.
She stepped in. The rest of the room looked just like the small portion she'd seen when she brought Elsa her lunch – comfortable, but impersonal. The bed was neatly made. The doors of the armoire were closed, with no bits of clothing sticking out, unlike the way her own armoire usually looked. But she put all thoughts of furniture out of her mind when the door silently swung shut behind her.
Elsa was a little taller than her. She'd always been taller, because she was three years older, so Anna wasn't dismayed by that. Her blonde hair was tightly wrapped in braids around her head, very much like the way their mother used to wear it. Her clothing looked comfortable and well-made, but not extravagant or showy (or stylish). In spite of being confined to her room for most of her life, she'd kept herself in good shape. It was a trifle odd that she wore gloves indoors, but Anna wasn't about to mention that. She just stared at her for what seemed like several minutes.
"There," her sister finally said. "You've seen me. Are you satisfied?"
"Elsa... you're beautiful!" Anna burst out. It was no lie, except for her eyes. Her eyes were wide, blue, expressive, and... dead.
"You turned out pretty cute yourself," Elsa replied quietly, without making eye contact.
Anna chuckled self-consciously. "I used to hear that a lot from my imaginary friends, until they all stopped visiting," she said. She hoped Elsa might smile at that, but she got no response.
"Elsa, what happened to you? You used to be so vibrant, so... alive!" She took a step toward her.
Elsa shrank back in pure terror. "No! Don't come any closer!" She held up a hand to ward her sister off, then pulled the hand back as though she'd almost touched something evil.
"Elsa, what –" Anna suddenly stopped. Snow had started falling.
Snow. Was falling. In Elsa's room.
Anna looked at some of the flakes as they landed on her sleeve. They looked like real snowflakes, and they melted like snowflakes do. She caught one in the palm of her hand; it was cold like a snowflake. They weren't something that was falling off the ceiling. They were just... appearing in mid-air, and falling all around them. They began circling the room as a light breeze began to blow.
Elsa had hidden her face in her hands, and was sobbing, "Please, no! Please, no!"
Anna took several steps back. She didn't want to upset her sister, and she was desperately confused. What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? Her tutors had never covered the appropriate royal protocol for what to do when it started snowing in someone's room. Or maybe they had, and she just hadn't been paying attention, like with so many other lessons she was supposed to learn.
"Anna, you need to go! Please! Hurry!" Elsa cried. Anna nodded reluctantly and reached for the door handle, which was covered in frost. She pushed on the handle nervously, not wanting her hand to get stuck to it. It didn't move. The latch was frozen solid.
"I can't get out!" she exclaimed. The snow was falling harder, the wind was picking up, and it was getting noticeably colder. "Elsa, what's happening?" she begged.
"Not again! Please! I'm scared!" Her sister was cowering in the corner; her eyes were wild with abject terror.
"Think happy thoughts, Elsa!" Anna cried. It was all she could think of.
"I don't know any!" her sister shouted back over the roar of the wind. Anna had to squint to keep the whirling snowflakes from hurting her eyes.
Snowflakes...
"Do you want to build a snowman?" she called.
"What?!" Elsa exclaimed.
"A snowman! Like the ones we used to make when we were little!" Anna pointed to the floor near the window, where the snow was quickly covering the floor. "We can build it right here!" Why not do something crazy – the situation itself was crazy!
She hoped Elsa might start rolling a snowball for the snowman's body. What she got was something else entirely. Her sister took off her glove, stretched out her left hand, and twirled her pointer finger. A spray of snowflakes shot out of her hand, coalesced in the air near the window, and formed a tiny whirlpool of snow. The whirlpool thickened into a ball, then two balls, then three. As Elsa focused on what she was doing, the snow in the rest of the room began to slacken. The wind subsided slightly.
Anna stared, open-mouthed, at the scene unfolding in front of her. Elsa gestured, and the three balls suddenly rolled on top of each other, forming a rudimentary snowman. The wildness had left her eyes. She was completely intent on what she was creating.
"Don't forget the mouth!" Anna burst out. "With the big, goofy front teeth!" Elsa wiggled her finger, and the top ball distended into a face that Anna hadn't seen in years. Memories flooded back. She recognized that snowman! Elsa had recreated their childhood memory down to the smallest detail, just by waving her hand. The snowstorm in the room continued to abate until it was almost gone.
Anna's ears were recovering from the roaring of the wind in the enclosed room. She stepped over to the snowman. It seemed tiny. No doubt it was the same size as the snowmen they'd played with as small children, but she was a lot taller now.
Elsa hesitantly took a step toward her, keeping the snowman between herself and her sister. They made eye contact for a moment before Elsa looked down again.
"What was his name?" Anna asked quietly.
"Whose name?" Elsa replied.
"The snowman's name," Anna said. "We always called him the same name every time we made him."
Elsa stretched her mind back to happier days, almost forgotten. "Olaf," she said hesitantly; then, more firmly, "We always called him Olaf." She bent down so her head was almost at eye level with it and said, "Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"
Anna giggled at the memory. When Elsa straightened, Anna looked her sister in the eye and took a step toward her. Elsa turned as if to flee back to the corner.
"Elsa, please..." she said, and stopped. Her sister froze, then relaxed, just a little. Anna reached out and touched her on the arm, as gently as she could.
"I like warm hugs, too," she said softly.
Elsa hesitated. Then they flung their arms around each other and had a long, long, wonderful cry together. The snow was still falling in the room, but it was just a light dusting now. After a few seconds, Anna didn't even notice it.
It seemed like hours before they finally pulled away from each other. Elsa's hair was disheveled from the strange indoor storm, and the small amount of makeup she wore was badly smeared from crying. Anna thought she'd never seen such a beautiful sight in her life. "So, what happens next?" she asked quietly.
They heard the distant striking of the grandfather clock in the library downstairs. "You should go, before Gerda gets here with my lunch," Elsa said, a bit nervously.
"Can we try this again tomorrow?" Anna asked hopefully.
"I... I don't know," Elsa replied. "Please, you need to go."
"Elsa, you can't just –"
"Anna, please! Maybe tomorrow, but not today." She stepped away and made as if to hide in the corner again.
"All right," Anna said softly. "Maybe tomorrow." She reluctantly stepped outside. The door closed. She heard the lock click. She was alone in the hall again, as though nothing had even happened between them.
She pressed her cheek against the door. "Thank you for the snowman, Elsa." There was no answer.