Chapter Text
Buzzing of fluorescent lights and the steady drip of the leaky sink faucet kept Basil’s cell in a constant state of noise, not that it was ever very quiet outside anyways. The door was of thin metal with a six inch by six inch window covered in bars, as though Basil would even be able to crawl through a space that small. Hm, maybe they could.
They were currently sitting hunched over on the top of their bunk bed, staying as still as humanly possible to keep the rusty springs from squeaking, as they usually did from even the smallest of movements. Below them lay an empty mattress, a gray fleece blanket spread on it in a rather careless fashion.
That mattress used to be assigned to someone, a brown-haired polish man who had seemed to be in his thirties. He had been wearing a bright orange jumpsuit when he arrived, and he seemed incredibly confused, scared and angry. Basil had tried to attempt communication, only to be greeted with a language they had never heard before. In a last ditch effort, they had pointed to themselves and said “American,” then pointed to the man to instruct him to follow with where he was from. That seemed to have worked, as the man answered with a heavily accented “Poland.”
That seemed to have been the only couple words the man knew in English, besides the basic “hello” and “goodbye,” but that was all Basil needed. If they wanted the man’s attention, they’d simply call him “Poland,” and the man would respond as if that were truly his name. They had had an odd friendship, never speaking to each other, but they had found comfort in each other’s company.
Now Poland was gone, he had been for almost 4 days, and Basil was alone again. They had never been explicitly told what had happened to him, only that he had “fulfilled his purpose.” Basil didn’t like that, especially knowing the types of jobs this corporation liked to give to their prisoners.
It wasn’t too big of a deal, Basil was used to being isolated, so they weren’t going to beg the guards to assign them a new cellmate. Besides, it was only a matter of time before another poor soul was abducted and forced to work for Urbanshade. At least Basil’s assigned work was less lethal than most others, only working to clean up the remains of those who had been torn and dismembered by whatever job they had failed to complete.
They remembered how disturbed and shocked the guards and other LR-P were to see how unbothered they had been to clean up severed and disfigured body parts. Everyone had whispered (or straight up spoken) about how monstrous they must be, especially considering their… “incident.” It wasn’t that Basil wasn’t unnerved at the sight of the horrors they had been assigned to clean, it was just that they saw no reason to screech and cry and throw up as their partnered LR-Ps had done. It was more efficient to get it over with and feel nauseated later.
The rattling of the cell door’s lock knocked Basil from their train of thought, nothing but their eyes moving to look between their draping hair and ahead at the metal sheet that was being opened and a new prisoner being shoved in.
It was a man, though much younger than their previous cellmate. He had medium-length black hair and pierced ears, his skin a warm, light shade of brown. The jumpsuit he had been assigned was a dark green-blue, complimenting his hair color. He was rather pleasing to look at.
The man angrily jerked his arm away from the guard pushing him into the cell, who responded by slamming the door and whispering violent curses as they locked the door and stomped away. “Asshole…” the man huffed as he walked a bit further into the cell, gaining his bearings. He looked around, then jumped as his eyes landed on Basil, who hadn’t moved at all. He must not have noticed them earlier.
“Uh… hello?” The man greeted, his voice unsure and defensive.
“Hi.” Basil responded, still not moving and not looking at anything besides their new cellmate.
“I’m Sebastian…” The man continued, his tone maintaining the hesitant tone. “Sebastian Solace.”
“Basil. Just Basil.”
“Right… okay,” Sebastian crossed his arms, looking around cautiously. “What a shithole…”
Basil followed Sebastian’s gaze, taking in the appearance of the cell once more. Scratched, concrete walls, a singular sink with no mirror, an old, metal, circular clock above it, and a small off-shoot room with a low toilet, barely big enough to fit a full grown adult. They had registered all of this on their first day here and never had thought too much on it again, though they had to agree. It was definitely a “shithole.”
“So… How long have you been here?” Sebastian asked, turning back to face the hunched over prisoner on the top bunk.
“At Urbanshade or in this position on the bed?” Basil asked, completely serious.
“Well, I meant at Urbanshade but now I’m curious about the second thing too,” he chuckled, a bit awkwardly.
“I’ve been here for a couple months “ they answered. “At Urbanshade, not sitting here. I’ve been sitting here for…” they glanced at the cracked clock on the wall above the sink, “two hours?”
Sebastian looked concerned. “Two hours?” He turned to the side, hunching forward to recreate the posture of Basil’s. “That seems like it’d hurt after like… ten minutes.”
Basil didn’t respond for a couple seconds, before simply nodding in confirmation. That seemed to amuse Sebastian, as he huffed a laugh and shook his head. This was a little nicer than having a cellmate that they couldn’t properly communicate with. Just a little.
The next couple minutes were mostly silent as Sebastian made his way through the limited amenities of the cell, occasionally breaking the silence to update Basil on how poor quality everything was, to which they’d just reply with an “mhm.”
Refusing to step into the “bathroom,” Sebastian finally retired to his bed, the coils creaking loudly as he got comfortable. Deciding that since the horrid sound was finally made, Basil laid back and inhaled sharply as their own springs screeched and whined. Still, lying on their back was more comfortable than an upright fetal position.
“Hey, Basil,” Sebastian called from below them. “Why did Urbanshade take you? Like… what did you do? Were you also on death row?”
Basil blinked at the ceiling, taken slightly aback by the sudden serious topic. It made sense, though. Of course the new guy would have questions about this place and about them.
“I wasn’t on death row,” they answered, slowly twiddling their thumbs with their hands resting on their stomach. “I was in some mental institution. I can’t remember the name. But I had been forgotten by whoever admitted me there, so Urbanshade practically abducted me.”
Sebastian was quiet, the air stagnant with silence except for the damned dripping of the sink faucet. He then sucked air through his teeth like he was in pain, though Basil realized it was just a reaction to what they had told him.
“Sounds about right,” he sighed, his voice defeated. “I was… framed for a pretty horrible crime. Sentenced to death. Then Urbanshade snatched me right before I was scheduled to die.”
“Dying would’ve been better than this. You’ll see.”
Sebastian laughed quietly. “Damn, okay, you got some spunk.”
Basil frowned. They hoped Sebastian had taken what they said seriously.
Being here was truly worse than death.
It was even worse than hell itself.