Once Upon a December

Chapter 6

Hey, guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter and happy reading!

Elsa began to climb down the building, testing the knots of her rope. The knot's hold was tight, but the old sheet ripped in half, sending her plummeting down into a snow drift.

"Elsa!" some of the children who weren't asleep said as loudly as they could without waking up Gothel. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Elsa said, trying to get out of the snow drift. "I was just a little surprised, is all. Now go back to sleep if you don't want Gothel to find out that you weren't asleep at curfew."

The children nodded and quickly shut the window, leaving Elsa out by herself.

"Serves me right that I put my trust on two gray sheets for a rope," Elsa muttered to herself. "Well, at least there was snow to save my fall. Wouldn't want my journey to end when it hadn't even begun." She looked around her, the silence of the night unsettling her a bit.

Alone. she thought. I'm finally alone and by myself in this world. For the first time.

Stop it, Elsa. she scolded herself. Yes, you'll be by yourself for some time, but once you get to Corona, you'll finally find your place.

She then looked at her current predicament and pushed herself out of the snow. "I just hope that there's no snow in Corona..."

..~..

A glorious bright, cold dawn creeped over the horizon. Elsa stood at the edge of the hill, looking down at the city of Forkjølelse. She looked back to see the old gray orphanage, towering over her. She sighed.

Well. she thought. Here goes nothing.

She stopped herself. "If I'm going to want to make some distance between me and the orphanage," she mused, "I've got to find something that's fast." She looked around and found an old, beat-up bicycle.

"That'll do," she said. Getting on, she tested the tires and gears, checking if they were still intact. Aside from the looks, the bicycle was in good shape.

"Note to self," she said, "After finding my family, buy the children new bicycles." She looked down the hill to Forkjølelse once again. Her palms were starting to sweat and she could feel her heart beat faster with each passing moment.

"Courage, don't fail me now," she whispered to herself. "Heart, don't desert me. There's no turning back now."

She started pedaling the bicycle down the hill, down to the city of Forkjølelse.

..~..

Elsa zoomed on her way, bumping and bouncing downhill as the sun rose and Forkjølelse loomed nearer. Elsa could feel herself giddy with hope, energy, and excitement, as she pedaled her rickety bike toward the city.

"I'm really doing this!" she exclaimed to herself, shouting to the sky. "I'm going to find my home, my family! Nothing can stop me now!

"Just imagine who I really am," she wondered aloud. "I could be anyone, from a peasant, to a baker's daughter, a schoolteacher's kid, maybe even a princess!" she chuckled at the last one. "Like that'll ever happen.

"As long as I find my real family, I don't care."

..~..

She passed through a countryside towards the city. Sights greeted her everywhere. A peasant family stopped in their tracks from the marketplace and waved to her as she passed by. A gypsy troupe performed their jaw-dropping tricks by the side of the road. A very fancy car zoomed by her, most likely carrying someone either royal or important in it.

"I wonder who could be in there," Elsa mused to herself as the car passed by. "Not many politically important people come here to Arendelle anymore. Not since the war.

"It's really changed a lot of things here, I can tell you that," she said as if she were talking to someone, looking around and not seeing anyone outside. Aside from the family and the gypsy troupe, no one dared to go outside in fear of accidentally upsetting the government who now ran the kingdom, and there were a lot of ways one could accidentally insult or question the government. There were no children playing, no adults chatting with their neighbors, even the animals seemed afraid to come out of their burrows and dens.

Elsa shook her head at the lonely sight. "What a pity. Everyone, especially the royal family was affected by this. It's frightening what ten years can do."

Her gloomy thoughts were abruptly halted however as she gasped and skidded her bike to a halt.

"Oh my," she whispered. She didn't know whether to scream, shout, or cry right then and there.

Right in front of her, where her journey would begin, was the city of Forkjølelse.