Never There ~ A Jelsa Story~

Twenty Eight; Lost and Found

"Hello? Is this Flee Frost?" I ask into my phone. I've found the number of Flee, so I'm ringing her to confirm that the 18-year-old is Jack's sister. 

"This is me. Who is speaking?"

"I am Elsa. The girl who was looking for a boy's sister? His name is Jack Frost. Does that ring a bell?"

"It does! Can I speak to him?"

"I'm afraid he's not here. It's a long story. But can you tell me yours? Or can your parents?"

Flee sounds like she is whispering. "I haven't told them about you yet, Elsa."

"What? You need to. Can I talk to them? I'll explain it as best I can."

"No! They will be angry, I know it."

I shake my head sadly. Flee doesn't want to participate. "OK, well, if you must know, Jack Frost is very ill, and may die in the next few hours. So if you never want to meet your brother, you're going the right way about it!"

"What? No, not Jack! I'm remembering him more and more by the day. OK, but please don't drop a huge bomb on them. They hate surprises."

"Fine. Pass me over now, Flee." It takes me a while to be handed to the parents, but eventually I am. "I am very sorry to disturb you, sir, but I have an important matter to discuss. I am the husband of a critically ill man, and I have discovered that your daughter could be the sister of him. I say daughter - is she actually your own?"

The man pauses for a minute or so. "Critically ill, you say? OK, it's time the world knew the truth. Well... we have always told Flee that my wife gave birth to her, but she isn't actually related at all. We were on holiday and we saw a child on the roads. She looked as if she wouldn't be able to survive much longer, so we cared for her. We wanted to find her real parents, and we saw the name "Flee Frost" in her coat. We looked on directories for Mr and Mrs Frost, but there was no luck. We changed her surname after some time, because it would be too suspicious if Flee had a different name. She lived with us for 13 years, and she was happy."

"Flee's parents are dead, and they were dead 13 years ago. It's a long tale, but I'll just say that they committed suicide. Flee ran away because of this, and the fact that her brother was also on the verge of death. Jack Frost - that's her brother's name - doesn't know that I've found Flee. Now Jack is ill again, and I believe that if he sees his little sister, he'll want to get better, and therefore he probably will."

"I see. Well, I'm not sure I want my Flee - whether she is actually my own or not - to go alone. There's no guarantee that Jack will improve, and I want to comfort her if it goes wrong."

"That's fine," I tell him, "Jack will want to see who raised his sister anyway."

"When shall we come? Is next week OK?"

I sigh to myself. I want next week to be fine, I really do, but like Flee's "dad" said, there is no guarantee that he'll be alive next week. "You never know, with these things. It's better safe than sorry. Flee would be devastated if her brother died without her saying goodbye."

"Right. That makes sense. Well, it isn't too far away. We'll have to catch a train, I suppose. We both have train passes, so in theory we could go tomorrow. Is he stable enough for that?"

It's better than a week. "He should be OK for tomorrow. Morning?"

"Yes. We'll probably get there at 11am. It's important for Flee to see her brother one last time."

"Mmm, it is. Anyway, I look forward to seeing my husband's little sister soon. I should go now, my boyfriend will be waiting for me."

"Oh, so you are getting a divorce then?" 

"Er... I suppose we will... Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Thank you, Elsa, yes, goodbye!" The phone disconnects and I smile. Jack will be very surprised to see Flee Frost!