"Okay, bitches, you got five minutes. Make them count."
Anna heard the guard's words and clenched her jaw, bracing herself for the forceful gust of cold water she was anticipating from the moldy shower head above her, so she was almost stupefied when warm liquid rained down on her body instead.
Sure, it was only lukewarm at best, but given that she was in a prison run by a woman with a certain affection for ice, she'd take it without complaining too much. It almost made the experience of washing herself around thirty or so other fully naked women more bearable.
Almost.
The aroma coming from her companions wasn't exactly a pleasant one (which she supposed made sense, given that they were only allowed to do this once a week), coming close to overwhelming the entire shower area (not to mention Anna's nose) with a distinct scent of musk, and the bar of soap she clumsily picked up from a slim shelf felt course and rough as she scrubbed it under her armpits.
The girls, however, were behaving as though they were at a pricey spa. They were used to this lifestyle, after all, and they were all chatting casually as they cleaned up. Anna had no objections to that. Far better for them to talk among themselves than to bother her with more of her overly curious nonsense, as she wasn't in the mood for a conversation with anyone right now.
Not that she was able to hear herself think for long, of course, as Giselle made the effort to find her in the forest of breasts, eager to talk with Anna (as always).
"Oh, I love bathing day! It has to be one of my seven favorite days of the week!"
"I suppose it could be worse," Anna murmured, hoping Giselle would slip on the floor and break her back or something. "The soap doesn't smell like bubble gum, but I guess I should be grateful it's not covered in cobwebs."
"Oh, you're so funny," Giselle cooed, her voice echoing slightly, making her sound still louder. "Being a murderer must so glamorous around here. Everyone doing what you say, bowing before you whenever you walk past their cells. It's like being a movie star!"
"Yeah, I think you might be slightly mistaken there on certain details..."
Giselle let out a giggle which sounded more like a hiccup than an actual laugh.
"So humble! I would be honored to share a cell with you and serve your every need..."
"Well, for better or for worse, I already have a roommate, but thanks for the offer."
She actually found herself missing Rapunzel, who was absent due to having a morning work assignment in the kitchen, which meant that Giselle apparently decided to give herself the privilege of being her unofficial "shower buddy." Unfortunately, her so-called fangirl had barely kept her mouth closed for so much as five seconds once she began talking, and even the noise of the running water wasn't enough drown out the constant grinding of her vocal cords in Anna's eardrums.
"So you doing anything fun today?"
"I'm being forced to visit the slammer shrink this afternoon, so you know, my day should be a total blast."
"I already told you Dr. Felix is a very smart man." She lifted her right leg up and leaned it against the grimy wall, maintaining her balance as she merrily scrubbed shampoo onto its hairs (Rapunzel hadn't been joking about none of the inmates being allowed razors). "Thanks to him, I was able to figure out why I'm in prison."
"I thought that was because you didn't quite grasp the meaning of a locked door."
"Oh, no, not that, you little scamp you!" She was continuing to rub her leg with such gusto that she nearly splashed Anna's face with suds in the process. "That's simply the action I committed which lead to me being arrested which lead to me being locked up. But it's not the reason I'm in prison."
Anna feigned a yawn as she dully washed her armpits with some pink soap from a nearby railing.
"Do keep talking, I'm simply dying to know where you're going with this."
"It was divine intervention," Giselle announced, switching her position and getting to work on her other leg. "It's the reason I was born. I was meant to end up here. We all were. Before it happens."
"Of course that's what this is about." In her annoyance she fumbled and lost possession of her bar. "You're one of those 'enlightened' people who's convinced the end of the world is coming, and wants us all to find religion before it's too late, correct?"
Giselle sprayed spit on Anna, cackling at her with bewildered amusement.
"You really are so funny!" She chortled, getting back onto both her feet and giving Anna a heavy pat on the shoulder. "The end of the world? Please. Like anyone would be excited about that, right?"
She turned around and bent over to wash her bottom, which was a perfectly normal thing to do in the middle of a morning talk.
"What I'm talking about is a mystery to me," she explained as she took care of her left cheek. "All I know is that something is going to happen, and when the time comes, I will be informed accordingly so I can prepare."
"Uh-huh. Informed by who exactly?"
"Oh, you would have to find the truth as I have in order to understand the answer to that question." She turned her head and looked up at Anna, her eyes glinting slightly. "But rest assured, I'm already working on recruiting some loyal members while there's still time."
"Loyal members? God, this sounds like some sort of cult. How the hell did you get all of this from a therapy session?"
"I told you. Dr. Felix is very smart. He might not know it, but he was meant to council me. Before I spoke with him, I was merely Giselle, a humble girl with no history who decided to earn her fortune at the hands of people who left their back windows unlocked at night. But after I spoke with him, I became 'Sunshine,' a beacon of hope for everyone here. My joyful nature is crucial to getting us new recruits."
"'Us'? Don't you think you're being a little forward there? You make it sound like we're married."
"Oh, you! You could have anyone you like for your prison life! I may have the light, but I know I'm not worthy of you. No one is! Well, except for another killer, I guess."
The water started to slowly die down. Anna already felt bad that she had wasted most of her precious shower time speaking with someone who might've been certifiably insane.
"Well, this was all very intriguing, and I'd love to do it again sometime, but it looks like I have to go. I can at least be happy that I'm going to have a fresh pair of pants with no pee stains on them now."
"Oh, I'm so glad that we're getting along!" The naked woman leaned forward and nearly tackled her to the ground with a bear hug. "You're very important in all of this, you know."
"I'm sure I am." Anna wondered if her eyes would ever wear out their ability to roll.
"Until next time then! You should know you'll have a role to play when the blood spills."
"Yes, thanks for that. Wait, what?"
"When the blood spills." She leaned herself forward to whisper into Anna's ear. "Death will be coming to Frozen Heart before long, and he won't be arriving during visiting hours. He will be here to stay. That's why it's so great that we're friends! I like to be on the winning side. By the way, I think you dropped the soap."
She snorted as she grabbed a towel from a rack and wrapped it around herself, leaving wet footprints on the floor as she left. But Anna just stood there, nude and close to dumbstruck, wondering if Giselle was as ditsy as she seemed or if she was actually one of the most dangerous inmates in the entire prison.