A/N I apologize for taking so long to update. Lately school has been extremely demanding, but I have the next week off. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often. I have many plans for this story so please continue reading.
One Month Earlier
Anna was staring longingly at the picture on her desk. Encased in frame adorned in elegant silver snowflakes, the picture showed the happiest time of her life. As Anna stared into the radiant blue eyes of her twin sister's smiling image, she couldn't help herself from imagining where her sister was. It was June 27th: the fifteenth anniversary of her her disappearance. Although Elsa had been declared dead only three years after she went missing, Anna never gave up hope that she was still alive. It was for this reason that she focused on her studies from the tender age of seven and graduated early. Wanting to prevent the abduction of young girls, and discreetly conduct research surrounding her own sister's abduction, Anna joined the Police force. Her team specialized in locating young children that were abducted in the United States of America and later transported internationally. The cases ranged from a disgruntled parent trying to keep their kid from the other parent to international human trafficking rings.
Anna's coworkers had come to expect her distant behavior on the 27th of June. They never knew specifics, but were able to conclude that something tragic must have occurred on that day to make the ordinarily optimistic girl lose her spirit. She never indulged them with her secret, knowing that her research may be considered counterproductive and jeopardize her job.
The international abductions unit was unusually quiet. Usually they had many requests a day, but on that specific day they had none. Since there was nothing to do, the Captain sent everyone home early. Anna however, decided to take advantage of the empty room and conduct some independent research. She went through all the old witness statements for the hundredth time, trying to find some small detail that she may have missed. Several hours later she found that her efforts were futile.
The two witnesses both stated that they had seen a white van pull up behind a young girl with shockingly pale hair. Two or three large men of about six feet exited the van and grabbed her. Elsa had no chance, as she was only seven at the time. The van had no visible identifiers, and the men expertly committed the act. It looked professional from all aspects. Elsa's disappearance was similar to a few others within a close proximity. In prior research, Anna had discovered that Elsa was the first girl, but soon after she went missing, other girls with similar physical characteristics of her sister were also taken. With blond hair and blue eyes, Elsa was stunning, even as a child. With her grace and refinement, she could charm anyone into liking her. Anna had observed every motive that the abductors could possibly have, ranging from Neo-Nazis desiring to create a master Arian race, all the way to a a lunatic who lost their child at a young age and continually replaced them with another. Anna often vanquished the thoughts from her mind, as she could never bear to think of her sister in pain. In fact, she often imagined that Elsa was lying on a beach, having lost her memory, but still living a good life. Anything was better than her sister suffering, even if she forgot about Anna.
Resigned to the fact that there was no new information to be found that day on Elsa's disappearance, Anna headed home for the night. Her two bedroom loft in the middle of town offered her no comport, as she knew that it was always the sisters' dream to live in a big city. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Anna hoped that she would l find Elsa and they could live in the apartment of their dreams together.
That night, Anna fell into a fitful sleep after recounting every small detail she could remember about her loving twin. She found that they were diminishing in both number and clarity, and resolved to find her sister, whether it be dead or alive.