Prologue

Once upon a time, there were two houses. One stood tall and grand, spilling out to the property's edge. The other barely stood, seemingly sagging from the shame of being compared to the house next door. The smaller stood in the middle of a wide expanse of property, nearly a quarter mile from the road. Both were nearly twenty minutes by car from any form of civilization. At the bottom of their shared driveway (paved, courtesy of the residents in the larger house), stood two lonely mailboxes, reading "Summers" and "Winters."

"Haha, your last name is Winters? That's funny, mine is Summers!"

Two young girls sat on the lawn in front of the little house, bundled up against the cold and looking at the sky, waiting for snow. The older had platinum blonde hair, nearly white, while the younger's was a beautiful shade of red.

"It means we're dustbinned to be together!" the younger giggled, lying on her back with her arms stretched out.

"Destined, you mean," the older girl corrected, smiling.

"That's what I said!"

"That would be nice," the older girl sighed, lying back and using the younger girl's arm as a pillow.

"It's true! I'll make it happen! We'll be together forever!" the younger girl looked at her friend and gasped as the first snowflake landed on her cheek. "It's snowing!" she squealed, shooting up to her feet. "You wanna make a snowman?"

The older girl nodded before hearing a loud voice that made her cringe and look back towards her house.

"Elsa Winters! You get back inside right this instant! You'll catch a cold out there!"

"Sorry," Elsa said quickly, breathlessly. "I have to go. Maybe when the snow sticks, and we actually have the materials to build a snowman." She placed a hand on the younger girl's cheek, just for a moment, before turning and running back to her house.

"See you later, Anna!" she shouted.

Anna waved at Elsa as the older girl ran back to her house. She stood outside for a long while, watching the snow fall and hoping for a glimpse of Elsa through the bedroom window on the second story.

While the snow was falling steadily, it still took hours for enough to pile up. It was nearly dark when Anna decided that there was enough snow for snowman-making. Seeing Elsa in her bedroom, Anna threw snowballs at the window in an attempt to catch the older girl's attention.

Elsa opened the window. Success!

"There's enough snow! Do you wanna build a snowman?" Anna shouted.

Elsa smiled and shut the window, and Anna could see her throwing on her winter coat. Barely able to contain her excitement, Anna ran to the property line that she was not allowed to cross. The front door to the big house opened slowly, and Elsa tiptoed out before gently shutting the door behind her and running down the steps. Together, the girls giggled and started building their snowman, careful to keep on Anna's side of the property line.

"What do you do up in your room all day?" Anna asked as they lifted the middle of the snowman onto the bottom.

"I study," Elsa said. "For school. You're old enough for school, right?"

"Mama's homeschooling me," Anna said glumly. "She's worried the other kids'll be mean, cause I'm special."

Elsa brought a hand to her mouth, gasping. "Oh, Anna, you're not –"

"Thank you, Elsa," Anna said quickly. "As long as I have you, I'll be okay."

As if on cue, the loud, grating voice sounded again. "Elsa Delle Winters!"

Elsa visibly cringed, her shoulders reaching up to her ears. "I'm sorry Anna," she said softly. "I have to go. I don't know when she'll let me out again."

"I'll finish Olaf!" Anna said, smiling. "I'll make sure he faces your window!"

"Good night, Anna," Elsa said, a sad smile on her face.

"Good night, Elsa!" Anna was once again calling after Elsa as the older girl ran back home.

When Anna was sufficiently pleased with how Olaf turned out, she patted him on the head and made sure he was waving at Elsa's window before going back inside to spend the rest of the evening with her family.

Elsa didn't come outside the next day, nor the day after that. Anna was becoming impatient. On the third day, she scrutinized the tree that grew next to Elsa's house. There were a few branches that butted up against the house near Elsa's window. If she could climb up there and tap on Elsa's window, maybe they could talk! What a great idea!

Without getting her mother's permission (which she never would have gotten and she knew it), Anna crossed the property line and began climbing the tree. It was slippery and covered in snow, but Anna fought her way through it, determined to see Elsa before the day was out.

Tap tap tap-tap tap

Elsa jumped at the sound of knocking on her window. Looking out, she saw Anna's smiling face and panic washed over her. Did the girl know how dangerous that was? She ran to the window, pulling it open and reaching for Anna's hand. She couldn't quite reach, and as Anna stretched to reach Elsa's hand, she lost her grip. Elsa watched her fall, unable to move until the girl hit the ground.

"ANNA!"