Chapter 5
Ariel sneaked out of the apartment carefully to try not to wake up Anna at 2 AM that night. She took her bike from the shed and drove all the way to the school. She made a great effort to avoid the security cameras as she entered the backdoor of the university. In case she would trigger an alarm she typed in the password in the entrance. Then she headed for the office in where the different files of each of the school's students were safely locked away.
While locking up the door with a hairpin (something she randomly always had known how to do) a security camera was turning in her direction. She noticed it in the very last minute and threw herself away from it's reach. Oh god! She thought with and excited grin while she felt the adrenaline rush through her blood. I should do this more often, it really makes life a bit more colorful. Once the camera turned away again she preceded to unlock the door and open it carefully. She stepped inside and was nearly caught by another camera but ducked at the last minute. Oh, that was close! Okay now, where are the files for the new students? It was a large room filled with nests of pigeonholes but the redhead soon discovered the system and found the documents on the freshmen. These were sorted alphabetically but then something occurred to her. She didn't know Elsa's last name. Darn!
She was about to give up the search when she heard a sound from the hallway. Quickly she rushed under the desk to hide and saw someone enter the room. Her heart beat fast and she started to regret her decision to break in to the school. But then she heard a familiar whisper, "Ariel? Ariel, are you in here?" It was Anna. The older sister crawled out from her hiding spot and saw the freckled girl standing in the doorway. "Get away from there, Anna!" She hissed. "The cameras will catch a glimpse of you!"
"Oh!" Anna exclaimed and ran towards Ariel. "What are you doing here?!" Ariel asked frustrated that she hadn't been able to leave without her sister's notice. Anna smiled teasingly upon the other redhead. "Well, I could ask you the same question but I think both of us know the answer." Ariel lifted her eyebrows and let her baby sister continue, "You are searching for information about Elsa and I'm going to help you find it!" The older sister sighed defeatedly. She knew better than anyone that if Anna had something on her mind, she wouldn't let go before she got her way. "Okay," Ariel said. "I'm looking for Elsa's file but I don't remember her last name and it's kind of sorted by last names…" She watched in curiosity how Anna's smile grew wider. "It's a good thing that I know it then!" She blinked knowingly at her older sister before she dug into the huge bundle of papers. "Well thats strange," she suddenly said and Ariel grew curious.
"What is it?" She asked. Anna looked up with a confused expression. "I'm sure her last name is Frost, I've heard her say it but I can't find the file with her name on it." Ariel furrowed her eyebrows and started looking herself. "Are you sure?" But neither her effort gave any result. "That is strange indeed," Ariel wondered. It seemed like every time she tried to learn more about this girl everything got even more confusing. "I'm absolutely certain that every student has got a file…"
Anna shrugged, "Maybe someone is interested in keeping this particular document safely hidden someplace else?" Ariel almost couldn't believe that it would be necessary but thought about the idea. "Well, where could that be? And why hide it so thoroughly when these already are? The teachers don't have any access to these documents anyway." You could almost hear the frustration in her voice. Anna tried to calm down her sister, "Well, then we'll just have to look everywhere in this office, it must be somewhere. I'll help you!" Ariel smiled warmly at her sister. She had always admired her determination, loyalty and her ability to make everyone around her fall in love with her.
They kept looking for two hours and Ariel was about to drop it because it seemed hopeless and the cleaning personnel would soon arrive and she wouldn't know how to explain them out of their situation if they got caught. But then suddenly Anna found a secret room in one of the bookshelves. "Uhm… Ariel?"
"Yeah?" Ariel turned around and found Anna standing with a whole stack of papers. "What's that?" Anna shrugged, "Well, it's all different information but apparently they all concern Elsa. Each paper has a picture of her." Why do they have so much information of her? Ariel couldn't help but wonder. "Okay, we can't read all of them now," The tall redhead thought out loud. "But we can copy them… Come on!" She whispered and they headed to the photocopier, carefully maneuvering the security cameras. They made copies of all thirty pages before they put them back in the secret spot, each paper in the right order. "Okay it's half past four now," Ariel informed. "The cleaning staff will be here in any minute now, so lets get out of here." Anna nodded and both of them locked the doors again and went home.
"Gosh, what a rush!" Anna exclaimed excitedly when they were back in the apartment. Ariel yawned exhausted. "Yeah, I guess we could say that it was a night for the books," she chuckled lightly before turning serious. "But it's best that we keep this to ourselves." When Anna looked at her confused she explained, "There's something wrong about this town. I don't know whether it's only the teachers of the school or all the citizens but whenever I try to convey my concern for Elsa, or just talk about her in generally, it's like people get scared. I can see it in their eyes, the fright. And then they remind me that Elsa is an adult and we really shouldn't pry in her private life before moving on quickly on another topic. It just isn't right…" She stopped talking when she saw Anna's goofy smile. "What?!" Ariel exclaimed confused. Anna wiggled her eyebrows as she teased, "Someone can't get their mind of this girl huh?"
"What?" Ariel exasperated though her blush exposed her. "Didn't you hear what I just said? Something is wrong!" She sighed frustrated when Anna only laughed at her enthusiasm. "Okay sis, I know you love mysteries but this has like come an obsession for you, and I bet it has to do with a certain platinum blonde that pulls your strings." Ariel face palmed herself in irritation and without a word she left her, still amused, baby sister to go and get a few hours of sleep.
Oh no! Elsa thought anxiously as she woke up. It's saturday, which means no school. I'm stuck here the whole day… She didn't dare wait for Derek to wake up before she got up and made breakfast. Her wrist still hurt from the little surprise she came home to the day before. She got tears in her eyes as a flashback haunted her mind:
Elsa went home from school disheartened because she had had to turn down Ariel's offer of the most wonderful weekend that she could ever dream of. But her sadness quickly turned into horror as she realized that Derek was home already. That was never a good sign. She froze outside the door for what seemed like an eternity and was about to run away. But then she remembered the last time she had tried that solution, and what she has received as punishment for it, and dropped the thought to enter the house, her whole body trembling. She hobbled into the hall and hung up her worn out jacket before she was met with a stern voice. "Elsa get in here! I have a surprise for you!" He yelled and he didn't sound pleased at all. Reluctantly, she limped through the kitchen and into her room. She saw her stepfather working with something which hung from the ceiling. Elsa took a better look and realized it was a massive iron hook. She gulped and her breathing stopped. This couldn't be any good. "So," he smiled satisfied and gathered his tools in his box before pulling a rope from it. "I was bored and I thought I would prepare a little game for us." Elsa took an unconscious step back with trembling legs and he immediately saw it as an attempt to escape so he grabbed her wrists and pulled the gloves away, revealing hideous cutting marks, which didn't originate from self harm, and tied the rope around both of them. All she could do was, weep, sob, plead, and watch as he wiggled the rope around the hook and started pulling her up. He paused as she stood on her toes and said with a smirk, "Oh come on Elsa, don't you wanna play with me?" Tears streamed through her eyes as she desperately shook her head and hoped he would understand for once in his life. But he didn't. His smile only grew wider and he started pulling again until she dangled over the floor. Her wrists burned terribly and she screamed in pain. But no one heard her. Only the man who was laughing at her desperate movements was there, in the room and abled to hear her agony.
He had let her hang there until his football game finished and then he pulled her down so quickly that she had fallen on her already weak legs and collapsed on the wooden floor. Elsa squeezed her eyes together as she tried desperately to think of something else. The only nice thought she could find was about Ariel. She really wanted me to go with her on this trip! Don't be stupid, she pitied you because you are such sad wreck to watch. And she is your teacher! How could you ever believe that she would want to be with someone like you? Elsa felt her gut twist in pain and a tear escaped her eye. Think of something else, think of something else! She flipped a pancake on the frying pan as her mind went crazy. Think of something else, think of something else! Another voice appeared in her head and she fell to the ground and her mind got hijacked by nasty memories from nasty episodes.
"Elsa, Elsa? Where are you?" The voice was horrifying calm. An eight year old Elsa pulled the duvet over her head as she heard the footsteps getting louder and louder until they reached her doorstep. The little girl trembled when the door opened with a long creak. She could suddenly smell a very strong scent, which stung in her eyes, coming from the person who, was now within her reach. The little platinum blonde hugged her little red teddybear tighter and squeezed her eyes shot when she felt the covers being pulled off her. "There you are," his husky voice spoke. She flinched when she felt his rough hand on her bare leg. "Elsa, I know you're not sleeping…" His intense words made her breath hitch and she knew she had revealed herself, but nonetheless she kept laying still like her mother had told her to. She even kept still when he started pulling up her nightgown exposing her legs, thighs and then stomach. She didn't know whether she was frozen in fear or just following her mother's advise but she didn't even move when his hand landed on her thigh. But with his next move she couldn't hold it back anymore because she started to scream, kick and hit out at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fought hard to try and get out of his grasp. It was the first time she had felt his rough fist against her eye. The punch was so hard that it had brought her out of consciousness a few seconds and when the little girl started to sense again she immediately felt the absence of her clothes. She squeezed her eyes shot once more but couldn't help but let out her sobs. Then as if God had heard her prayers she heard a familiar voice exclaim in horror, "DEREK, GET OFF HER!" The hands immediately moved away from her lower stomach and a sound of a punch echoed in the room followed by the sound of someone leaving the room. But she didn't dare doing anything but lay still while sobbing. She didn't dare to hope that the hands wouldn't return or that the fists wouldn't hit her again. A period of time which seemed to last an eternity she felt a new pair of hands grab her and lift her in for an embrace. These weren't rough and cold like the previous pair, but warm, soft and familiar. The person began rocking her while she hummed softly. "M-mommy?" She squeaked with a tearful voice. Her mother only kissed her forehead and kept on rocking her in the most comforting way. "Shh…" She whispered. "I'm here, Elsa. I'm here… And I will never let him touch you again, don't worry, my sweet girl. As long as I live I swear he will never touch you again." The little girl broke into sobs once more, letting out all her pain and fears, but didn't notice that her mother was doing so too.
"Elsa!" A furious voice sent her back to reality again. She had been lying in foetal position on the floor sobbing and now Derek was standing over her with a fuming frying pan in his hand. She could smell something burnt and realized that she had left the pancakes. "Do you have any idea what you have just done?!" The raging stepfather spat at her. Elsa looked up her eyes wide in fear. It had been a long time since her mother had been there to protect her from the black haired man. "I-I''m s-sorry, I-I'll make some new ones," her voice trembled by the memory which had just haunted her mind. She stood up and was about to reach out for the frying pan when launched it alt her, striking her hands hard. She yelped painfully at the dreadful sensation of burning metal against her skin and fluttered her hand to try and ease the pain. She was just getting prepared for another beating when he grabbed the top of her T- shirt and pulled her closer. "You are not burning one single pancake again, do you understand?!" Elsa nodded instantly and he shoved her away before he went to his armchair and turned on the TV. It must be my lucky day, Elsa thought bitterly before she turned on the cold water from the tap and held her stinging hand under it.
"I'm going to Bergen this afternoon and I won't be home until tomorrow," Derek growled while they ate breakfast. At first Elsa thought that she'd imagined him saying it. But then the words finally started to sink in. He was leaving. He was actually leaving. She tried desperately to hold back her excitement when she responded, "Okay…" He narrowed his eyes and looked suspiciously at her for a long time before he finally looked down. "But you know what will happen if I should return home and you won't be here, I suppose?" Elsa shivered. "Y-yes! I'm not going anywhere, I swear!" She panicked and tried desperately to get his mind somewhere else. "What would you like for dinner when you return?" He sent her a glare, "Can't you think by yourself just once in your entire life?! I trust that you know what I want." Elsa nodded quickly and turned her gaze down once more. Ten minutes passed before Derek finished his meal and went to his bedroom to pack his things.
"If anything is in disorder when I get back, the consequences will be severe!" He threatened and Elsa felt a shiver through her spine. She nodded shortly before he sent a last glare and then started the car to leave the house. When she was absolutely sure she was out of sight from the outside world she went to the telephone and dialed Anna.