Chapter Two: Anna

She took a breath a knocked.

Knock. Knock. Knock-knock. Knock.

Five knocks. The simple rhythm that she'd claimed since childhood. She used to use it with her sister all the time. A secret knock for forts and clubs. A secret knock to let each other in their rooms late at night when they wanted to sneak around the house after bed time. A secret knock they'd even used when one of them came home late after curfew and needed to be let in. It was their knock. A short, cheery rhythm that was so familiar and so theirs.

It sounded flat now. Just like the rest of the world, with no more life or bustling cities or complete families. It was all dead, the sounds and images falling flat, just like that knock.

"Elsa?" she asked, cautious as she pressed her cheek against the wood of the door. "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me."

She paused, waiting for an answer. Waiting for anything. Any sound or movement that would tell her that her sister was still on the other side of that door. That she didn't just evaporate to leave her alone in this flat world with its dead cities and its dead parents. Silence. Maybe she was alone after all.

"Elsa, please," she started, voice cracking under the weight of the silence coming from the other side of the door. "Just let me in."

"You know I can't do that." Anna froze, relief pounding in her heart at the sound of her sister on the other side of that door. She wasn't alone. Not yet.

"Elsa, please just open the door."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can," Anna pleaded. "It's just some stupid virus—"

"Anna, please. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

Silence. Again. She leaned forward, letting her shoulder rest against the unyielding door. Anna felt the pin-pricks of tears behind her eyes. She couldn't do this. She couldn't handle being alone. She swallowed, trying to keep the sound of tears out of her voice.

"Elsa. It just you and me now. We only have each other. If you shut me out, we won't have anything left."

"I can't," came the response from the other side of the door. "I might get you sick."

Anna turned to let her back rest against the door, letting the weight of everything pull her down to the floor. She could feel her eyes begin to water.

"So what?"

All she got was silence. What a surprise. Anna looked to the ceiling and let out a mirthless laugh at the irony of it all. After all this time. After surviving and not getting sick. After her parents had died, after Elsa had gotten sick. After everything, she was still alive. And after everything, she was going to loose it all, anyways.

"So what if I get sick? So what if I catch the virus? There's nothing left for me."

"Anna, I told Mom and Dad I'd protect you—"

"Mom and Dad are dead, Elsa!" Anna yelled. She didn't know where it had come from. She could feel how stunned her sister was on the other side of the door. She had to take a shaking breath to calm down. It wasn't that she was angry. She was just scared. So, so scared. And so, so alone. Tears burned as they finally overflowed and ran down her face. She continued in a voice barely above a whisper.

"I should know, I was the one that buried them. And I had to do it alone. Without you. Y-You can't just keep shutting everyone out!"

She waited for an answer. All she got was silence. And this time, it was too heavy. Anna broke down. She let her body sag against the door as tears scorched her face. Her chest shuttered with small sobs she couldn't stop. She was loosing it. She was breaking down and she didn't know how to stop it. The other side of the door was still silent. Minutes ticked by as Anna cried quietly outside her sister's door. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. She couldn't tell how many had passed by the time the tears slowed and she could talk again.

"Elsa, please," she whispered, tears still running down her face. "I know you're sick. I know I'm going to loose you, too. But, please. I can't do this alone. Just…let me in."

There was a pause. She wondered if Elsa would answer at all. But then,

"I…I can't, Anna."

Anna closed her eyes and rested her head against the door. She couldn't keep fighting anymore. She didn't have the strength. This was it. Her sister had won. Anna just felt so empty. As if there was nothing left. Nothing left of her. Nothing left of her family. Nothing left of the world. Everything was gone.

"Elsa, what are we gonna do?" she asked, her question heavy as it weighed down on them.

Silence was her only answer.