"Good evening princess Hilde," Svana replied before offering a lame bow. She guided Hanne across the room until the young princess could hold onto the edge of the bathtub for point of reference.

 

"Oh," Hanne mumbled excitedly as her face lit up, "hello Hilde."

 

Hilde ignored her sister as she waved a hand at Svana, "I've got it from here." Hilde was responsible for caring for her sister every night until Hanne went to bed which was, typically, after the water in her tub was too cold to sit in any longer.

 

"Yes, princess Hilde," Svana responded before offering another bow. "Good night princess Hanne, good night princess Hilde."

 

Once Svana quietly exited the room, Hilde leaned back in her chair with a groan. "Alright, let's hurry this up."

 

Hanne smiled widely toward the direction her sister's voice came from. "I enjoy ending the day with a hot bath. It's like washing away-"

 

"Have you gone deaf now too?" Hilde interrupted. "Undress and get the fuck into your precious bath," she said with a groan before flicking some water at her sister. Hilde had never once enjoyed babysitting her helpless sister. What she disliked more was how her parents assumed Hilde, in fact, did enjoy spending this quality time with her sister.

 

"Oh," Hanne responded before disrobing and stepping slowly into the tub. "Three, three, three," she sang to herself as she lowered into the water. "So many threes," she said with a nod.

 

Hilde rolled her eyes, "in about three seconds I'm going to strangle you."

 

Hanne slid further into the water, "he isn't dead," she whispered.

 

"No, you're going to be dead," Hilde spat. She stood from the chair and paced next to the bathtub. "You know, you never make any damn sense."

 

"The fifth knows," Hanne mumbled on, "it knows, it knows," her voice rose as she spoke. She dipped her face into the water. "It knows the whore knows," she said while gargling water.

 

Hilde stood next to the tub above her sister, "what did you call me?" She leaned forward so that her face was close to her sisters, "did you just call me a whore?"

 

"You know too," Hanne mumbled under her breath, "I know you know that it knows the whore knows," her voice rose again into song, "I know you know that it knows the whore-" Hanne stopped singing when she felt Hilde smack her hard across the face.

 

She continued leaning over her sister as Hanne began to cry. "You," she whispered, "are my curse," she confessed. "Speak again and I will hold you under that water until you stop moving," she threatened.

 

Hanne turned her head slightly so that she could look her sister in the eye. She nodded once before sliding deeper into the water wearing a frown on her face. Hilde sat back in the chair and leaned over the side of the tub, reaching into the water. She pulled the plug in the drain, "times up," Hilde decided. Standing back up she threw a towel at her sister's head and walked out of the bathroom.

 

Hanne pulled the towel off her head and folded it over the side of the tub. She let out a pout as she sank lower in the water as it too lowered. She kissed at the water as a tear slid off one of her eyelids. "I wish, I wish," she whispered to herself.