Aftermath
After she was pushed to the snow, Anna had taken some time to come back to her senses. She was still scared of what could have happened to her if Elsa hadn't been there for her. She had heard Elsa in her way down and once she felt the push that threw her to the ground, she knew she was safe. Rolling in the snow hadn't been pleasant at all at that speed, but any pain she could feel the following morning was worth it. Elsa had saved her.
Anna was getting up, still a little stunned, when she heard Elsa's motor ski getting closer. She knew Kristoff was going to come down from the top of the slope at some point to make sure she was okay. She turned around to face him and explain everything was all right but she saw him pass by. He reduced the speed just enough to ask her if she was fine; once Anna nodded, he continued at full speed towards the edge of the cliff. Anna was not sure what was going on, what had happened that made Kristoff so desperate to reach the edge? She was not sure until she noticed the edge of the cliff was not that far away from where she was. And to her dismay there was no sign of Elsa, 'Oh, no… Oh, no, no, no.' Anna got on her feet, throwing the ski she still got attached to one of her boots to the side, and ran towards the edge. 'This can't be happening,' she thought to herself while she saw Kristoff leaning towards the edge of the cliff, yelling Elsa's name over and over again.
"Elsa! Dear God. Elsa, answer me! Are you all right?!" Kristoff was looking down, yelling as loudly as possible. "I can't see anything! These damn trees! Elsa!"
Anna joined Kristoff at the edge, "Please, tell me you can see her."
Kristoff continued yelling his sister's name not stopping to answer. After a moment, in between yells, Anna was able to hear something; but she couldn't understand anything due to Kristoff. "Shut up! I heard something," said Anna after the third time she overheard something down there.
"What?" it was possible to see how distressed Kristoff was about the whole situation, he was clearly not thinking straight.
"Yes, shut up for a second. I think I heard something!" Anna leaned forward and, as loud and clear as possible, she yelled, "Elsa, are you down there?!"
They were dead silent for a few seconds, the wind was not helping them hear much, but they were able to perceive a mumbled response in the distance. Kristoff's face lightened up a little and decided to talk again, "We can't listen clearly! Try to speak up! Are you okay?"
Anna watched Kristoff's face contort with worry as he waited for an answer. She felt so guilty for everything that was happening, if she hadn't insisted in learning how to ski… If she had paid more attention to her lesson… There were many 'what ifs' that could have prevented the situation they were living, and Anna felt as if she was the main reason everything went wrong that day. But she also knew there was no point in hoping things would have been different, she only hoped for Elsa to be all right. She wanted to see her, hug her and thank her over and over again for what she did. The young woman hadn't known her for long and had risked her life to save her; no doubt Kristoff believed Elsa deserved the world. He had told her so once when they had been talking about his sister in the past.
Kristoff was starting to get impatient with every second they didn't get an answer, "If she doesn't answer I'm climbing down there…" he muttered to himself. But they soon heard a coughing fit and then, "-said I'm fine! But- leg broken!"
They couldn't understand every word Elsa had said, but she had stressed the most important parts for them to hear. They breathed a sigh of relief; the situation was not very promising but at least Elsa was fine enough to answer. They looked at each other. Kristoff saw Anna's guilty face for a second, he knew the girl was probably blaming herself for the accident, but deep down he knew it was his fault. If he had listened to his sister and hadn't insisted in repairing the damn motor ski, this wouldn't have happened. But finding who was guilty was not going to help them right in that moment, he focused once again on the best way to help his sister.
He was about to answer back to Elsa when she continued, she was speaking more clearly, "… head hurts like hell. I think I hit a branch or something. I'm stuck in the snow with a broken leg…" She sounded defeated, Kristoff noticed. He thought for a moment how his sister had probably avoided getting more hurt than they expected her to be, but that didn't mean she was unharmed nor pleased about her situation. Breaking a leg two weeks before the season started was not the best outcome for his sister. She depended on the money the ski lessons provided more than she let the family know.
Anna, on the other hand, was thinking of the best way to proceed. They needed to help Elsa and fast. Dusk was only a couple of hours away, and she didn't trust Kristoff's orientation in the dark. Besides, the sooner they helped Elsa the better it would be for her leg. She just hoped it was a simple fracture and nothing too serious, but she knew it was too much to ask. It was a miracle the girl was conscious after such a fall. After a moment, she heard Kristoff mutter to himself a soft 'damn it'. Apparently, he was lost in his thoughts too.
"I'll go to the cottage and find a rope to help you climb up. I need you to-" Kristoff began answering when his sister interrupted him.
"No" they heard Elsa say. "It'll be too difficult; the cliff is too high. The snow saved me, but I hit a buried rock with my leg. I can't move it."
"That's what I imagined," Anna heard Kristoff say to himself. He turned to her and said, "she may be right. We can see the top of the trees, it must be at least a 12-metre fall from here."
Anna opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows in surprise, she hadn't really thought of the height. At that moment, she remembered Elsa telling her, earlier that day, about the cliff and how dangerous it was. The older girl had mentioned not trusting the amount of snow at the bottom but thank goodness she had been mistaken. Anna believed it was a miracle.
"How can we help you?" said Kristoff to Elsa, after noticing that climbing the cliff was going to be too difficult, especially for someone with a broken leg. The last thing he wanted was hurting her more.
There was a moment of silence, Kristoff knew his sister was thinking, trying to find a solution. "Go back to the cabin," Elsa began saying, the girl's voice was hoarse from yelling. And Kristoff knew she was making an effort to explain everything as easily as possible. "When you are coming out of the woods, from the path that leads directly to the cottage's glade, you'll be facing South; turn left towards the East, you'll see the forest is thicker in that direction," another pause, he made sure to remember everything that she was explaining in order to avoid a second explanation. "Still in the glade, walk along the line of trees at your left. You'll see the earth rising behind the trees. Don't get into the forest until you see the cliff's wall behind the trees."
After they were sure she had finished, Anna asked, "So… if you recommend that route, it means you are not far away from your cottage, right?" She wanted to make sure she understood the directions just in case Kristoff needed help remembering them.
"About a twenty-minute walk. Again, I can't move, so you'll have to find me" came the tired reply.
"We'll find you, don't worry," Kristoff said as he began to get up. "Try to stay conscious, okay? I'll need you to answer if I can't find you." Kristoff began walking towards the motor ski and said, "C'mon, Anna. We need to hurry."
She saw him climb the motor ski and she too rushed towards the vehicle. She climbed behind him, making a mental note to return for the ski equipment once they made sure Elsa was okay. They didn't say anything to each other at first, it was not until they were close to the glade that Kristoff turned to Anna and explained what she needed to do. He asked her to rush to the cottage once they were at the glade, and look in Elsa's wardrobe, his sister kept a first aid kit there. He wanted her to pick that up, together with some money and the important documents from their bags. He asked her to take those things to the truck and get it ready for when he returned with Elsa.
Kristoff knew his sister was probably more hurt than she had let them know and wanted to make sure they didn't waste time once he brought Elsa back to the cottage. He also wanted to make sure Anna didn't see the place where Elsa had fallen. He was not completely sure where and how his sister had landed, but he wanted to avoid certain questions, just in case. Kristoff stopped the motor ski once the cottage could be seen and asked Anna to climb down and wait for him in the cottage, "If I don't return in two hours, go and find Oaken. He'll be able to help you find us."
Anna nodded and saw him disappear in the direction Elsa had told them. Anna could see how worried he was for Elsa, she was too. And so, she hurried in order to complete all the things she had to do in time. She knew it would take some time for Kristoff to find Elsa and dig her out, but still she wanted to make sure everything was ready sooner than later.
Kristoff drove at fast speed for a few minutes and then started to go slower, paying attention to the cliff wall behind the trees. For what Elsa had explained, he believed he ought to see the highest part of the cliff before stopping and entering the forest. Once he saw he was in the correct place, he stopped the vehicle and got off. He was silent for a few seconds. It was a shot in the dark, since Elsa couldn't move, but he still tried to listen for some movement. When he heard nothing, he walked into the forest making sure he was going in the direction of the cliff's wall. It was logical to think the girl had fallen close to it. After a five- or seven-minute walk, he heard someone cursing in the distance and he hurried in the direction of the sound. He was getting closer and closer to the cliff wall when he found her. He saw a giant pile of snow close to the rock wall, broken pine tree branches were scattered over the pile, together with some ski equipment; in the top of it all was Elsa, buried a little over the waist level. She was trying to dig herself out of the snow, but every movement seemed to hurt. She closed her eyes from time to time, and breathed deeply. She didn't hear Kristoff until he called her name, "Elsa! Are you okay?"
She had her eyes closed when he spoke, she opened them and raised her head. Her lips raising a little. She sighed in relief, "Thank God you arrived. I swear I was losing my mind here. My right leg hurts like hell and the left one is already numbed."
Her smile was honest, Kristoff noticed, but her face still contorted with pain from time to time; no doubt, Elsa was really hurt. His sister had a high tolerance to pain; he had learnt that a few months after he had met her in the orphanage for the first time. She felt pain, of course, but she had taught herself how to tolerate it and how to hide it from other people. "C'mon. Let me help you," he climbed the pile of snow and once he was close enough to help her, he noticed dried blood in the left side of her head. "You are bleeding…" he said to her as he got closer to the wound to look at it.
In an unconscious action Elsa grabbed her left arm, which had a deep gash, it was still bleeding, "Yes, I think I hit it against one of the branches. It really hurts."
He watched her cover the cut in her arm and grimaced, he hadn't even noticed it before. "I was talking about your head," he said as he stood up. He looked around and paid attention to the branches on the ground, and then the ones above their heads. He calculated the distance from where he was standing to the top of the cliff. He had been right; the fall must have been of 13 meters at least. The pile of snow where he stood was at 3 metres above the ground level and he noticed it was taller than the rest of the piles in the forest. Kristoff bent, to look at his sister in the eye, and said "I have to say, you were really lucky. You fell into the only pile of snow that could stop you…" he raised his right eyebrow, waiting for a confirmation of some kind.
Elsa ignored his brother's remark, "Help me out, please. I was not as lucky as you think, under the pile of snow there is a big rock. I hit it with my right leg, I'm pretty sure its broken."
Kristoff felt bad for teasing his sister in that situation and chose to finally help her. He asked Elsa to raise her arms, his main idea was to pull her out of the snow but he was surprised by his sister's denial, "Better dig me out of here. I'm not sure…" the girl doubted for some seconds before giving a simple explanation, "It's about my leg." He watched as Elsa began digging around her torso, encouraging his brother to do the same in the process.
"I'm worried, Elsa. Are you sure it's that bad?" he was not used to seeing Elsa displaying pain or concern so easily.
"Yes, you idiot. Just help me out of here. Everything hurts and I'm already freaking out that'll have to go to the hospital. Let's not make more damage to the damn leg than necessary." Elsa watched Kristoff with pleading eyes.
Kristoff knew this whole situation was coming; with a broken leg a visit to the hospital was imminent, and that meant doctors and drugs… Kristoff heaved a sigh, he knew his sister was going to freak out. He just had to be there for her and help her the best way he could; and he had to make sure he called Gerda too, the woman was the only person who could help Elsa calm down sometimes. The fact that their adoptive mother was a nurse had been a miracle for Elsa since the beginning. But right at that moment, he had to concentrate and help Elsa out of there, his intention was to be out of the forest as soon as possible after all.
In the cottage, Anna was doing everything Kristoff had asked her to do as fast as possible. She didn't want to waste time and then delay Elsa's trip to the hospital. She took their things and documents to the vehicle first, it took her some time to find Elsa's papers but she succeeded and put them together with their things. She felt bad for disarranging everything in the older girl's room, but she knew it was necessary.
For some reason, Kristoff had asked her to put some blankets in the back of the truck. She was too stressed to think why exactly he wanted them, but she put them at the back anyway. After she made sure she had completed her task correctly, she run into Elsa's room once again and started searching for the first aid kit, she found it sooner than she had imagined and then chose to look for an extra jacket for Elsa. The girl was buried in snow; obviously, she was going to be freezing the second she returned with Kristoff. The last thing she wanted was for Elsa to catch a cold, or worse a pneumonia; the broken leg was already a big problem. Anna hoped to all Gods above that the girl was all right, but she knew it was too much to ask. It was a real miracle that she was alive, she still couldn't believe how lucky she had been. After searching for a while, Anna realised the only snow jacket Elsa owned was the one she was currently wearing. Even though she thought it was strange, she went directly to the guest room and picked one the jackets Elsa rented to her students. Once she made sure she had everything they needed, she picked some bottles of water and loaded those things in the truck too. She called Sven to follow her and wait with her outside for the siblings to return. The poor dog had sensed something was not right. He was alert and acting more nervous than Anna had ever seen him. The animal was surely aware of her own nervous state.
After waiting outside for a few minutes, it started to snow. She didn't remember the weather changing so suddenly the previous days; but dusk was just a few minutes away and the wind was picking up steadily. She loved snow, but she was cursing it, and their bad luck, that day. Driving at fast speed in drizzling snow was not going to be safe at all.
Almost forty-five minutes after she had sat outside to wait for them, Sven heard something in the distance and began running in the direction of an approaching motor ski. She hurried after him to meet Kristoff. When Kristoff reached the truck and stopped the vehicle, Anna was able to see her sister-in-law lying in the motor ski seat; her legs hung at the back. Anna looked at them and paled at what she saw, Elsa's right leg was in terrible shape. A precarious, blooded bandage covered it from the knee to the ankle, courtesy of Kristoff's undershirt. Anna could see the odd shape the leg had behind the bandage. No doubt her tibia and fibula were broken and poking to the side, behind the bandages a disturbing protuberance could be seen. Anna checked the rest of her body and saw the leg was not Elsa's only concern; she had dried blood in the left side of the head and she was holding her left arm, covering a deep gash which, luckily, had stopped bleeding too. Elsa looked pale and sick, she was more focused in her breathing than anything else. Her eyes were tightly closed and her teeth were clenched. 'If only I had been more careful' Anna thought as guilt washed over her once again, her eyes moistened. She took a deep breath and turned towards Kristoff, "The truck's ready."
"Thank you…" he looked at his sister and said, "She is getting worse." The man got off the vehicle and put a hand over Elsa's forehead moving the disarrayed bangs from her eyes, "she was not this bad when I found her, but the second I moved her, the pain took over her body."
Anna saw the concern in her boyfriend's eyes and decided to start moving. Elsa needed to get to the hospital and the weather was not going to make things easier for them, "We need to go now. As I said, everything is ready," opening the truck's door, she took a small case out. "Here is the first aid kit you asked for."
The man nodded and went to the back of the truck. He arranged the blankets Anna had put there earlier and made a makeshift stretcher for Elsa.
Anna saw him arrange the blankets and couldn't believe her boyfriend's idea, "you are kidding, right? She will freeze back there!"
Kristoff sighed, he didn't have time to argue about that kind of things, he chose to explain simply his decision, "she won't. Besides, she needs to have her leg stretched. It'll be too painful to go in the front seat."
Anna thought about it for a moment, but soon remembered Gerda was an emergency room nurse. Obviously, everything the Bjorgmans knew about first aid came from her. It didn't mean she didn't feel bad for Elsa, "Okay, you may be right. But I'm going in the back of the truck with her. Sven will go with you."
Kristoff seemed to think about it for a moment and then nodded. Elsa was going to need someone to check on her back there. Anna's idea was going to be useful. "Go and find another warm jacket for you. It's snowing. I'll put Elsa in the back."
"Right! Be right back." She put the first aid kit near the makeshift bed and ran inside the house.
When she returned, she saw Kristoff helping Elsa getting comfortable, he was squatting in the back of the truck next to her. Both of them were having a discussion, even in pain, brother and sister were able to start an argument. Anna could hear Elsa's protests and Kristoff's frustrated sighs from the distance, but she was not sure what they were arguing about. Her boyfriend seemed to agree with Elsa by the time she reached the truck.
"Fine! I'll do it! But you know I hate this."
"Hate what?" Anna asked. She had felt a little relieved when she heard them arguing, she had thought that maybe Elsa was not in such a bad shape after all; but when she saw the siblings' faces, she knew the discussion was real and Elsa looked even worse with her eyes opened. "Elsa, how are you feeling?"
Elsa looked at her and groaned, "not really good." Then, she turned to Kristoff and said, "please, you know I need it. And it'll help me tolerate the pain."
"What will?"
"Elsa wants a sedative," explained Kristoff to Anna. He opened the first aid case and took a syringe. He prepared it and asked Elsa to show him her good arm.
"Wait, a sedative?! Are you guys sure?" Anna didn't know anything about medicine but she was not sure about it.
Elsa blinked slowly and looked at her reassuringly. The pain was visible in her eyes and she looked more tired than before, but she managed a small smile. "It'll be fine. I'm used to it."
"There, all done," said Kristoff taking the needle off her arm. "Anna, climb here and help Elsa with the minor wounds if you can. I'll try to go as fast as possible but considering it's snowing and it's already dark, I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to go."
Anna did as told and sat beside Elsa, resting her own back in the truck cab. She covered Elsa with the jacket she had gotten earlier, before they arrived, for her. She zipped her own jacket and told Kristoff she was ready to go. He nodded and told her, "she'll began to fall asleep before we get there for sure. Don't worry. Just make sure her leg is steady."
"…Okay."
Kristoff watched them for a second before telling Sven to climb in the truck next to him.
Once they were moving, Anna began healing Elsa's head and arm wounds as best as possible. Obviously, the doctors were going to attend those wounds too but she wanted to help Elsa in any way she could. She owed her so much, if it hadn't been for her sister-in-law, she would had been the one stretched in the back of the truck, cursing under her breath. When she finished, she decided to speak with Elsa, at least to distract the older girl from the pain she was certainly feeling.
"Elsa…" she tentatively called.
"Mmm?" came the soft answer, Elsa had her eyes closed, but no longer tightly shut. The sedative was taking effect.
"Thank you so, so much for what you did for me. I feel terrible, if it hadn't been for my stupidity this wouldn't have happened and I-" Anna's eyed burned, she felt terrible. The guilt hadn't disappeared and she knew her apology was not going to help Elsa at all.
"Hey, hey… It's all right. I was responsible for your safety. I was your instructor." Elsa didn't open her eyes, but her answer felt real. She was conscious enough to understand what Anna was talking about, and she didn't blame her.
"No, it was not. I should have listened to you. It's my fault you are hurting like this." Tears streamed down Anna's cheeks as she stroked the older girl's hair. She felt awful and wanted to make Elsa feel better, she felt useless.
Elsa opened her eyes to look at Anna. Her eyes didn't focus as much as she wanted them to, but she was able to see the girl crying. She smiled and tried to reassure the girl, "It's not your fault. I should have noticed the slope was not safe enough yet."
"No, it was my fault really… or Kristoff's. But not yours. You should be angry with us…" She said as she raised her head to watch how the snow gradually stopped falling, at least the weather was helping them a little. Anna was surprised to hear Elsa laugh a little and looked back down towards her.
"I won't argue with you if you want to blame Kristoff." She laughed a little harder.
Anna chuckled, even in pain Elsa was up to bedevil her brother if possible. She dried her tears as they stayed in silence for a few minutes. After some time, Anna decided to ask, "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit," came the short answer, "but sleepy…" she added closing her eyes.
"Try to sleep. We are only halfway there…" She caressed Elsa's' hair to sooth her once again. The sedative was clearly taking effect and it was taking a lot of effort for her to stay awake.
"Anna...?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you… could you and Kristoff be there when I wake up?" she finished apprehensively.
Anna felt Elsa tense and saw her open her eyes once again. She looked really nervous about her answer, which was weird. She smiled at her and answered, "Don't worry about that. Of course, we'll be there."
The young woman was silent for a minute and then she confessed, "I'm terrified of hospitals…"
Raising her eyebrows, Anna watched Elsa close her eyes and fall into a deep slumber. She was shocked by the Elsa's confession. Even though fear of hospitals was not something strange, Anna was surprised Elsa had chosen to open up like that to her. She knew from Kristoff's stories that Elsa didn't like to show vulnerability to others. She didn't socialize much and she hated opening up to strangers. Maybe it was the drug talking, or maybe she had earned Elsa's trust… If it was true she had earned her trust, Anna would promise to keep that trust. In Anna's opinion, Elsa needed a friend in her life, other than her brother, and she was going to be that friend if she let her.
By the time they reached the hospital Elsa was out cold. Anna was a little concerned, but Kristoff had told her not to worry. Elsa had assured her too she was used to it, for some reason. The whole sedative situation was weird in her opinion. Why Elsa had it and why she was used to it… She made a mental note to ask Kristoff about it. She didn't want to pry too much but she was concerned for Elsa's well-being.
Kristoff parked the truck as close to the main entrance as possible and ran inside to ask for help, the man didn't want to compromise his sister's leg further by moving her on his own. A few minutes later a couple of male nurses came out and disappeared into the hospital with Elsa.
Kristoff arranged everything he was going to need inside the hospital and helped Anna climb down the back of the truck, "Grab these and go inside, please. I'm going to park the truck somewhere safe and let Sven get comfortable in the makeshift bed at the back."
"Okay… Do you want me to call someone?"
"No, that's fine. Once I'm sure everything is ready for Elsa's care, I'll call mum." Kristoff got on the truck and left. Leaving Anna alone for a few minutes, who decided to go into the waiting room. After some time, a nurse approached her to explain Elsa was going to need surgery, and to ask about the sedated state the young woman entered the hospital. She quickly explained the situation and asked them to wait for Elsa's brother since he was the only one who could give them the answers they needed. Anna looked at her watched, it was already 7:30 p.m. and she knew the night was going to be a long one. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened in just a few hours, she hoped Kristoff returned soon and could arrange everything for his sister. Sadly, there was nothing else she could do but wait…
A/N- I hope you had enjoyed this second chapter. As I said before, I have everything planned. I cannot promise an update schedule but I plan to finish this story.
Feel free to point out any mistake you can find, it helps me improve my vocabulary and my grammar.
And please leave a review if you are interested in the story. I write for myself mainly, but I'd like to know if people are interested or like it.
Wish you all a good 2019!
