Hello everyone! Thanks for taking your time and checking out this thing I've written. It is my first fanfic ever and it was inspired by reading all those wonderful Frozen fanfics.

You should be warned that I'm not a native English speaker – I'm still learning so if you manage to get through the text and find any errors, feel free to tell me about them. And also, I accept constructive criticism with open arms.

Let's get down to business now.

Prologue

I was cold. So cold.

It was one of the worst winters I had ever experienced. I was generally very fond of snow and cold because in the long lost life I could always wrap myself with warm blankets and sit in front of a warm fire while cuddling with my boyfriend on the sofa. My boyfriend. Kristoff. After fifteen months it still hurt to think about him.

Now I lived differently though. Times had changed. So had my life. I was living by, so called, new era's routine. It basically consisted of walking, sleeping and living with my thoughts and imagination. I would have said eating was a part of routine too if it weren't for the fact that my meals were not as common as I would have wished for them to be. But I didn't complain. At least I lived. There were always ups and downs and in that moment I had just experienced another up. I had found a shelter for the night.

I was staying in an abandoned barn which was a really good thing because I hadn't slept with a roof above my head for almost two weeks. It wasn't much but the walls and wooden floor covered with old and smelly blankets kept me dry which was better than nothing.

This is how I ended up there; I'd been walking for days without seeing any sings of human settlements which could provide some additional food and water or at least a place to sleep without freezing, though I tried to avoid bigger towns and cities because they were usually in gangs' domain. I was staying close to the forest because it was easy to hide in there if I encountered with people who weren't friendly and they, in most cases, weren't.

Sometime in afternoon I spotted a path which led deeper into the forest so I decided to follow it. I ended up in a clearance where a small farm was located. Well, it used to be a farm until whoever occupied it burnt it down and left. Or the owners were burnt with it. The thought sent shivers through my body. It wouldn't be surprising though since the times had changed for worse. These days you could be killed over a pair of shoes. People killed people because no one was there to stop them.

After I checked out the perimeter and made sure there was no living soul around, I made my way to the barn which was left untouched. At least it seemed so. I pushed the gates open and quietly entered. "Hello?" I said out loud and took the gun, which used to belong to my father, from behind my belt. I didn't want to use it. It was for emergency only. I walked around slowly, looking carefully for any signs of movement. Fortunately, there were none. I climbed up the ladder which led to the upper part of the barn. I pulled it up with me so no uninvited guests could share my new haven. This is good, I thought. I was far from the ground that sucks the warmth from your body while sitting or lying. The best part of being high though was the fact that people couldn't see you (it was rubbish if you had to make a quick escape but at least you could hide). Not being seen is one of the key parts of survival. Along with ability to find water, food and start a fire of course.

So, there I was, shivering, looking out of the small window, while the sun was disappearing behind the hills, and thinking about how to spend another lonely evening. The sound my stomach made gave an idea.

I grabbed my backpack, opened it, removing a sleeping bag, and started fiddling among things I carried with me. There were some clothes, a rope, an old music player (which I needed anyway so I took it out), batteries, a flash light, a med kit, plastic bags, two bottles of water and–oh, there they were. I found the cans and I pulled out the first one I laid my fingers on. "Tuna fish, yummy," I exclaimed happily and opened it. A thought about food warmed me up. I took out a fork from the front pocket and started eating. It's almost a royal dinner, Elsa, I thought to myself while chewing slowly to savour the taste of a simple meal. I haven't eaten so well in days because I had to save food. I was lucky to have as much as I did but that didn't mean I could just consume everything in an instant. I had to think rationally about everything.

After scraping every bit of tuna from the can I noticed it was almost completely dark. I turned on the flash light so I could prepare myself for sleep. I untied the shoelaces of my warm combat boots and took them off. The feeling was very pleasant after wearing them for a whole day. Then I took off the double layer of socks so I could wipe them with refreshing tissues. The air was cold against my bare skin so I quickly put the socks back on. Then I unzipped my jacket and the hoodie. I could already feel fingers of cold creeping up my spine but I had to wash myself a bit because I hadn't done it properly since the winter had come. All I could do for my personal hygiene was cleaning myself with the tissues and occasionally some warm water; if there was plenty of it. So I undressed the upper part of the body until only my bra was left and washed myself. It felt good to be a bit cleaner after days of sweating and roaming through mud.

I quickly put the clothes back on, wrapped the blanket around my body and laid down on the unfolded sleeping bag. I took the music player and put the ear buds into my ears and started the music. The familiar sound of my favourite band filled my mind and I turned off the flashlight. After a few songs which made me feel not so alone I turned off the music player too and drifted off into sleep, not knowing that events of the following morning were about to change my new era's routine.

If you're reading this, congrats and thank you.

The following chapters will be longer.