Revised on 7/6/15

A/N

This is my second fanfic. Sorry for any mistakes.

xXxXx

Elsa's POV

The purr of the car's engine filled my ears as my mother gently stepped on the gas pedal. It was my eighth birthday and my mother insisted that she take me out for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Oaken's. Though we didn't get the chance to go very often, the owner, Mr. Oaken, was an old friend of my mother and he gave us discounts whenever we came.

"Are we almost there, darling?" My father asked from the passenger seat.

"Yes, we are. Just a little longer."

My father sighed in exasperation and ran a hand through his hair.

My mother glanced over at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, "You know, I'm surprised that you don't know the way by now; we used to bring Elsa to Oaken's all the time when she was younger."

She paused, thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, I'm surprised that she hasn't asked us to buy it for her yet." She joked, eyes flicking to look at me in the rear view mirror. "Don't be getting any ideas, missy," I giggled and ducked my head behind her seat.

"Details, details." My father responded gruffly.

The grin that had taken residence on my face faded slightly as I peeked out at him. He was not the kindest man, but he was my father. My mother had to practically drag him out the door; he never really liked going out for family type things, but she'd always insist that he'd enjoy himself (which to her credit, he usually did).

"Daddy, you know you didn't have to come," I muttered shyly.

My mother glanced at me in the mirror again, frowning slightly. She swivled her head towards the passenger seat and shared a pointed look with my father.

He sighed before shifting in his seat to face me, a small, but genuine, smile on his lips. "Of course I did, Elsa. You know I wouldn't miss your birthday for anything," He reached one of his hands back to me. "We had a great time last year, and I bet it'll be even better this year, kiddo.

I smiled back at him and took his hand.

My mother bent one of her arms around her seat and laid her hand on mine and my father's intertwined ones.

My smile widened immensely to the point that my cheeks were starting to hurt. I opened my mouth, about to tell them how amazingly happy I was that we were all spending time together, when there was a sudden screech of tires and a flash of blinding light.

A sickening crunch was followed by the terrifying screech of metal on metal.

Gravity threw my body forward in a painful lurch and a white hot pain seared throughout my head. My vision blurred and there was a loud ringing in my ears. I felt dizzy as I looked around.

Why is the car upside down?

I raised a shaky hand to me head and felt something sticky and warm along the left side of my head. I moved my hand in front of my eyes and peered through narrowed eyes at the dark, wet substance in my hand. A wave of nausea rolled through my stomach.

It was blood.

My seatbelt was tight around my chest as I heaved uneasily for air.

"M-mommy? Daddy?" I called weakly. I tried to move to see them from the backseat and another wave of pain bowled through my head, making me groan and clench eyes tightly shut.

Vision did not immediately return when I opened my eyes again, but when it did, everything was even blurrier than before.

I felt sick; I was tired. Keeping my eyes open was a demanding struggle.

Over the pounding of my head and the buzzing in my ears, I heard something that faintly resembled sirens. The little I could see was suddenly bathed in red and blue. I could hear what faintly sounded like men shouting.

"Ther- ree people in- re."

"Looks- a hit an- un."

"Hey, kid," A low voice came from the door, causing me to jump. I turned my head to look over and made out the face of a man in the window, realizing the entirety of which was completely shattered, glass everywhere. Panic flared through me. My eyes went wide and my breathing picked up as I strained further against the seatbelt.

"Whoa. Hey, kid, calm down. I'm going to get you out, but I need you to calm down first. Can you do that?" The man's soft smile looked strange because I was looking at him upside down. This man was anything but reassuring.

"You're a cop," I responded, tugging on the tight seatbelt further, starting to hyperventilate.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs. What's your name?"

I took a few shaky deep breaths to slow my breathing before responding, "I'm… I'm…uh… Elsa?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"Hi, Elsa. Don't worry, we'll get you out of here, okay. It looks like you hit your head so we need to get you to the hospital."

"What about my parents?" I asked, panicking again.

"We'll get them to the hospital to," He smiled at me again. "Everything's going to be alright."

I nodded and my vision flashed black again. I shut my eyes tight and grimaced in pain. When I open them again, the man's smile was gone.

"I'm going to have to break the door open, okay?" I just stared at him. His face disappeared from the window and I looked down at the floor of the car.

There was a sudden loud bang on the door which made my head hurt even more. I shut my eyes and covered my ears with the palms of my hands. There was another loud screech as the door was pulled off of the car entirely.

"Hey Elsa, I'm back. I'm going to take your seat belt off and bring you out of the car." The man explained hurriedly.

I felt one of his hands on my shoulder as the other one went to the bottom of the seat, searching for the buckle. I barley heard the click as I flopped off of the seat from my upside down position and into his arms. The movement sent more blaring pains through my head and my vision turned black yet again. When I could see again, there were patches of black still at the very edge of my line of sight that didn't go away.

The man slowly brought me out of the car. As soon as I was out, he stood and ran with me in his arms toward a nearby ambulance. My eyes fluttered shut. It hurt to keep them open, and every time the man's large boots would clomp against the ground, pain would shoot through my skull, each wave more painful than the last.

Only when I felt myself being set down on something did I open my eyes, but only halfway. I was on some sort of cot thing that was being lifted into the back of the ambulance. I made out the face of a lady that was in the back with me as the ambulance's sirens blared, tires launching the vehicle forward.

"Hey sweetie, I need you to stay with me. Stay awake." The ambulance started moving, sirens blaring.

I groaned again, but the sound came out more like a whine. "My head."

"I know it hurts, sweetie. We're going to make it better, but I need you to stay awake."

My eyelids were heavy. Every time I closed them to blink, opening them was more of a struggle. The ringing in my ears had grown louder and louder.

"I'm losing her!" The nurse yelled into a radio. "Come on sweetheart."

"I'm… sorry." I murmured, eyes closing.

Then there was nothing.

xXxXx

The next morning…

xXxXx

There were white sheets strewn across my body and a low beeping noise filled the room. I tried to move my head to look around the room, but a throbbing pain stopped me. I moved a hand up to my head and felt a thick bandage wrapped tightly around it.

"Good morning," A sweet voice came from my left.

I moved my head toward the voice slowly. A nurse sat typing on a computer a few feet away from me.

I blinked, "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital. You were in a car accident and you hit your head pretty hard."

I furrowed my brow and tried to make sense of what the nurse just told me. "A car accident? No. No, we were just going to dinner. It was my birthday; mommy was taking me to dinner. Daddy didn't want to but she made him come." I was really confused. Why is this lady saying things that aren't true?

"It's okay, dear. You were in an accident and you hit your head so hard you may not be able to remember some things. Can I ask you a few questions to see how much you can remember?"

"Okay," I replied, eyes narrowed in slight suspicion.

"What is your full name?"

"Elsa Emma Winters," I responded with a small nod.

"How old are you?"

"Seven. Wait, no. I'm eight. My birthday was yesterday so I'm eight now." I explained.

"Where were you going last night?"

"Going to a birthday dinner at Oaken's. It's my favorite restaurant."

"Who was with you?"

"Mom and dad." My eyes widened. "Mom and dad! Where are they? Are they okay?"

"Your dad is in a room down the hall. He was knocked out by the airbag in the car but he's going to be okay."

"What about my mom?" My lower lip trembled.

The nurse paused and looked at me sadly. "Your mom, like you, was hit in the head. Only she was hit a lot harder than you were. The EMT's tried everything they could, but after a hit like that, she was gone before they could get her to an ambulance."

"So she's…she's dead?"

The nurse nodded in affirmation. I looked down at my hands which were folded in my lap. Mom's dead…She's gone. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Would you like to see your father?"

"Yes please," I sniffed.

The nurse helped me out of the bed and into the hall. We walked side by side. I reached up and without thinking, grabbed her hand as we walked. She looked down at me and I pulled my hand away sheepishly.

"I'm sorry. I just always walk with my mom this way. Or, used to, I guess,"' I turned my head to look straight down the hall. "We'd hold hands I mean. I guess I just forgot that you're not her and I… and I-"I stopped talking and moved my gaze to my feet.

I felt the nurse reach down and take my hand in hers once more. I looked back up at her, the surprise evident in my teary eyes. "I would love to hold your hand, dear." I gave her a small, watery smile.

About a minute later we stopped outside of a room and the nurse dropped my hand. "He's right in here," She knocked on the door before opening it slightly.

"Thank you, Miss," I replied before walking through the door.

"Such a sweet child." I heard her say before the door closed.

I turned and peered into the dark room. The curtains were drawn and the light from television in the corner was very dim. My father was sitting up in the fluffy hospital bed, an unusual scowl in place.

"Daddy," I said quietly to get his attention as I crossed the room.

"You," He growled at me; I froze on my way to the side of his bed. "You're the reason that your mother is dead!" He yelled.

"Daddy, I-"

"You what? Were you going to say it wasn't your fault? It's all your fault. If she hadn't insisted on taking your sorry ass out to dinner, if it hadn't been your stupid birthday, we wouldn't have gone out. That hooligan wouldn't have run into us. And she. Would. Not. Be. Dead!" He hollered at me.

"No-"

"Oh, yes. It's all true and you know it."

"No I- It's not my fault!" Tears were streaming down my face as I willed him to listen to me.

"It's all your fault you ungrateful little idiot!"

"No-"

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"NO," I gasped as I shot up in my bed. I looked around for a minute, panting ever so slightly before slowly lowering myself onto the backs of my forearms, stomach and arms alike protesting. A wince later, I was laying flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

It was a dream. No, it was a memory. A memory of what had happened ten years ago to an innocent child. She lost her mother physically, and her father emotionally. Who was this poor child? That poor child was yours truly, Elsa Winters. My mother died and my father blamed me. We were never close, but I needed a father then and had to do without. From that day on he stopped acting like my father. He was a stranger, bearing no resemblance to the man I had learned to adore over the course of eight years. Now, all I would get from him was food, a few meager clothes, and a place to sleep at night.

He abandoned me when I needed him the most and I have learned to hate him for that. After that night, I would be punished, beaten, by fist and by belt, for stupid things like bringing home B's from school, or not looking him in the eye when he was talking.

At first I supposed it could have been worse. But who was I kidding? That man wasn't my father anymore.

And my mother…My mother was gone. Gone because I was selfish. Gone because I just had to make that tat night about me.

But, hey, my mind would remind me bitterly, the past was in the past. You can't do anything now.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around at my alarm clock. 4:53. I sighed. I should just get up and get ready for my first day. We recently moved to Arendelle and today would be my first day as a senior at the town's local high school, Arendelle High. As if moving twice a year minimum wasn't bad enough, now I had to integrate myself into a school that had started a month ago.

School starts at 7:30, but I'm not going to get anymore sleep so I might as well get ready now. I gingerly got up (I was sporting several more bruises courtesy of my dear father from the night before) and walked over to the closet. I grabbed my only pair of slightly ripped jeans, a black t-shirt with some band or another's logo, and a black sweatshirt that was too big for me. I swiped a beanie of the floor and pulled it over my head, above my platinum blonde braid.

I quietly made my way out of my room with my plain black backpack slung over one of my shoulders. I quickly brushed my teeth before strolling through the living room and into the kitchen. I grabbed a sandwich out of the fridge and put it in my bag before walking out the door and into the light of the rising sun, on my way to school.

Don't mess today up, Elsa. You only get one first impression so shape yourself into what you want to be for the rest of the year. Get people to leave you alone and stay away from you. Other people don't need your problems… Make today count.