Favoritism

Tw: Stockholm syndrome, unreliable narrator, horrific things seen positively by narrator.

“What’s life like outside the prison?” Branimir had once asked the Warden when he was a little boy. He’d been staring out of the spaces between bars at the little bit of outside he could see from his cell, standing on his tiptoes on the stool.

”Hell.” The Warden replied simply. “It’s not a place you want to be in. It’s full of murderers and gluttons who starve the less fortunate for fun. You need to stay here, where it’s safe. Besides… you have not yet atoned for your sins. You have not been fully redeemed. But as long as you do as you’re told, I will help you redeem yourself, and I will protect you from the Hell outside.”

The eight year old stared at the blanket of white snow outside. He wanted to play in it, and see what was beyond this prison, but… Warden wouldn’t lie to him, would he? He’d done something wrong, so he needed to stay here until he made up for it. He needed to be good. “If I’m good this week, can I go up to the roof and play in the snow?” Branimir asked instead.

Warden stepped into his cell and pat his little head. “That can be arranged.”

—

‘Where’s Warden going with that axe?’ Branimir thought blearily as he awoke to the sound of hurried stomping footsteps. He’d been all cuddled up in his comforters and blankets, content to doze for a while longer. The stuffed animal from when he was nine was clutched in his arms, and he took it with him as he shuffled out of bed to see what had sent the Warden off in such a furious hurry. He stepped past the decorations he’d obtained over his years here, including his work desk and his fully stocked bookcase, opening the door to his gate and peeking out down the hall. He caught a glimpse of the Warden going up the stairs, and relaxed a little. ‘It’s just someone in the maximum security ward.’ Branimir thought to himself, satisfied.

The gate was already unlocked, so it must already be day time. Branimir went back in his cell and deposited his stuffed animal back in his bed, going to his desk.

The Warden had asked him to work on some more blood-recognition padlocks this week, with the promise that if the young adult got them done he’d be rewarded. Branimir was determined to get them done in half a week, to prove that Warden was right to trust him. Besides, the technology was familiar to him— after all, he was the one who’d invented them, with the help of the right materials and all the theory books he’d read. It was child’s play to put them together.

The warden sure wanted a lot of padlocks. Branimir vaguely wondered how many prisoners were on the second floor. There was no one else on his floor, and the warden never let him access the second floor, only the roof.

‘They’re scum— the worst of the worst. They could hurt you.’ The Warden always scowled whenever he asked. ‘It’s sweet that he cares.’ Branimir thought.

Branimir hadn’t minded too much. It’d always been just him down here, ever since he was a kid. That just meant he got unlimited access to the library and the recreation facility. Plus, the Warden visited him several times a day to check in on him, so he wasn’t too lonely. Maybe… just a little.

Click. Clack. Zzt. The three noises that came with making padlocks were satisfying and soothing, and before he knew it he’d made more than his quota. Branimir couldn’t help but be a little proud. He stood from his desk and waved at the central tower, which peered into his room as it peered into all rooms in the circular prison. Someone was always there, always watching. It’d been that way for as long as Branimir could remember. When he was younger he liked to make silly faces at the tower because he knew he was always being watched.

At some point, he’d been scared of it, he thinks. Maybe when he first came here, at six… but that was at least twelve years ago, so he could hardly remember it. It was a silly childish thing anyway, to be scared of something that’s for your own good. If he’s always watched, he can’t do anything wrong.

The Warden shows up soon enough after Branimir waved.

“Did you finish?” The tall man asked. Even though the height difference had decreased drastically since Branimir was a kid, the Warden still towered over him.

Branimir grinned and handed him the box full of padlocks. “Yup! With interest.”

“Excellent.” The Warden pat the young man’s head, as he had always done. “What would you like as your reward?”

Branimir thought hard about it. “Would be it possible to have another prisoner on this floor with me? I know they’re all scum, but maybe there’s one who’s the least scummy?”

Warden’s eyebrows raised in concern. “Have I not been visiting you enough?” He asked.

“N-no, it’s not that!” Branimir quickly defended, not wanting to upset him. “I just thought it’d be nice to talk with someone besides you. Besides, I worry that you might need more time to monitor the prisoners on the top floor. You keep having to rush away. I’m worried that you balancing time between that and keeping me company is wearing on you. Just this morning I saw you storming past my cell because of them!”

The Warden put a hand to his chin in thought. “Hm… I suppose that can be arranged. I have someone in mind. I’ll give the two of you a trial period, and if you get along, he can stay here to keep you company. If he hurts you, you yell as loud as you can while fighting back as hard as you can and I’ll take care of it.”

Branimir beamed. “Thank you, Warden! Can you bring him now?”

“There’s nothing pressing happening now… and you did deliver with interest. So yes. Stay here, and I’ll bring him up.” The Warden agreed.

Branimir was curious about the second floor, but he knew better than to pester the Warden or question his orders, so he nodded. “Yes sir!”

So Branimir waited in his cell, distractedly reading one of his newer books, vibrating with excitement until he heard footsteps.

There, next to Warden, was a very scarred man with black hair. He was a bit taller than Branimir but much shorter than Warden— though to be fair, it was very hard to be taller than Warden, who often had to duck a little to avoid lower hanging doorways.

“Branimir, this is Anto. Anto, this is Branimir. If all goes well, you’ll start staying on this floor with him.” Warden introduced. Then he suddenly stood straighter. “I’ll have to leave you two to it, unfortunately. The upper floor is being unruly again.” Warden’s sharp blue eyes, surrounded by black, pierced the newcomer’s soul as he leaned in close to Anto. “If I hear that you’ve hurt him, you’ll face the same fate as you saw this morning.” The Warden softly crooned, voice low and gravelly.

With that, the Warden took off, finally leaving the two alone.

Anto was shaken, but Branimir couldn’t help his excitement. The younger circled the other, looking him up and down. “Wow! It’s so nice to meet you! I’ve never met another prisoner!”

Anto raised his brows. “There’s no one else here right now?”

“Nope. There’s never been anyone here besides me.” Branimir told him honestly.

“How long you been here?” Anto asked cautiously.

“As long as I can remember. I’m pretty sure I was six when I came here. I don’t really remember anything before then.” Branimir shrugged. “Oh! That reminds me! Have you seen what’s outside the prison? I’ve tried looking from the roof but I can’t ever see past the snow!” Branimir begged eagerly.

Anto took a few minutes to recover, blinking rapidly. “You’ve been imprisoned since you were six?”

“Yeah? What about it?” Branimir titled his head.

“What did you even do? What, did you pull a reverse baby farm or something?”

“I don’t remember that part either.” Branimir confided sheepishly. “The Warden says I’ve sinned and I need to repent, but he’s never said what the sin was. But he gives me lots of stuff when I’m obedient and I do what he asks! As long as I don’t ask to see the outside world.”

Anto’s face was unreadable as he processed the words for several minutes. Then he sighed and smiled a little. “Alright, you want to know about the outside world? I’ll tell you while you show me around.”

“Sure!” Branimir chirped, and walked off, gesturing for him to follow.

“So, the outside world is Hell. I come from a kingdom where the queen wanted you to work for her and waste your life away doing labor for her until you died. So I betrayed her to get out, and found out that the world outside the kingdom is a damn wasteland. Maybe there’s more kingdoms out there— but I doubt they’re any better. I got caught by the Warden’s drones in the Northern Kingdom, which was just like mine in every way but with a King.” Anto explained as they walked the halls, following Branimir.

“Aw. That’s exactly what the Warden said. Well, except the parts about you.” Branimir sighed. “Oh well, guess I should stay here after all.”

“You don’t want to escape?” Anto asked.

“I think I used to, when I was little. This place used to scare me, at some point. But then I learned that it was all for my own good, grew up from those childish dreams and got used to it.” Branimir smiled. “Anyway, here’s the library!”

He turned into a room filled wall to wall with books. “It used to be a lot smaller when I was little, but ever since I got interested in tech it’s gotten bigger. The Warden recently added a ton of new books, after I read all the ones in here again.”

“Huh… I’m not a great reader, but maybe you can help me?” Anto asked, shuffling closer to him, voice slightly sly.

“Oh yeah, I’d love to! I’ll find some of my favorites later for that.” Branimir was stoked by the idea. He had a friend he could read with! Anto was so nice already.

Branimir pulled him past the library and into the recreation room. “There’s lots of card games and board games over here, and over here’s the training center.” He pointed to a securely locked glass room. “That’s where the Warden trained me to fight. Maybe when you’re a here a bit longer we can spar!”

Branimir pulled him to the next room. “And here’s the kitchen! The drones do the cooking, but if I ask permission I can cook. I usually just let them do it though, so I can do other things. Here, have you eaten yet?” 

Anto shook his head slowly, gobsmacked.

Branimir went into the room, going up to the counter. “Two please!”

The bots handed him two trays of hot food. Branimir brought it over to a table. “Here, come eat! And you can ask me any questions you like.”

Anto sat down, eating the meal slowly, savoring it. “So… you mentioned you like tech? You know anything about the security system then?”

Branimir laughed. “I should hope so, I made most of it. I just got through making a bunch of blood-recognition padlocks today!”

Anto nearly choked. “You made all the tech here? The drones?”

“Yeah!” Branimir exclaimed proudly. “The drones I came up with those when I was about… twelve? I think? I’ve improved them a lot since then.”

“… Damn. So you’re just a straight up genius, huh.” Anto was wearing a wobbly smile.

Branimir felt a little shy at the praise. No one but Warden had ever praised him, mostly because he didn’t remember anyone before Warden. “Hehe… thanks. You know, you’re really nice! You’ve been nothing but kind since you got here. The Warden must have been right about you.”

Anto stared at the table. “So… is there an exit to this place?”

”Well… yes. But… it’s locked from the outside.” Branimir shrunk in his seat. “It’s over there.” He stood and pointed across the circular prison, to a long dark hall. It seemed completely open and unguarded. “But I don’t go near there anymore after what happened last time.”

“What happened last time—?” The moment the words started to leave Anto’s mouth, Branimir’s eyes went foggy, his breathing turned shallow, hugging himself so hard his fingernails left indents in his skin as he shook heavily, leaned over the table, completely unresponsive. He was no longer the bright and cheerful man that’d been dragging him around all afternoon. It was like he retreated into himself, leaving behind only a shell.

“So…” Anto glanced at central tower, visible even from the dining room, and tried to change the subject. “You really don’t mind being here? Even having your every move watched?”

Slowly but surely, Branimir’s breathing evened, starting to come back to himself from whatever had made him retreat into his own head. He nodded sluggishly. “Not really. It’s for our own good. We can’t do anything bad if we’re being watched.” Branimir shrugged simply, repeating the phrase he’d heard since he was a kid like it was a lifeline. “Plus if I ever want to get Warden’s attention I just wave at the tower.”

“I see… and you’re happy here? I mean— It’s always like this? Food and books and games?” Anto questioned.

“Well yeah, but… I used to be pretty lonely. I mean, the Warden checks on me a lot and spends time with me, but he’s busy with the max security ward a lot. But now I’ve got you, so I feel a lot better now.” Branimir beamed.

Anto smiled big and pat his shoulder. “That’s good, because I feel a lot better with you too.” His voice was a bit too sweet, but Branimir didn’t notice.

—

The footsteps of the Warden signaled his arrival. Branimir and Anto were in the former’s cell together, Branimir helping Anto read a book. Both were smiling.

“Are you two getting along?” Warden asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Yes! Thank you so much, Warden!” Branimir cheered.

“So… will you be willing to stay here? And you know the terms on which you’ll stay?” Warden hummed to Anto, black encased ice blue eyes piercing him again.

Anto stiffened slightly, but nodded. “…Yeah. I’ll go get my things and move down here.” He decided with finality.

As he moved to go with the Warden, the Warden moved in to speak with Branimir.

“You’re really alright?” The Warden asked, hushed.

“Yes, father.” Branimir whispered, smiling brightly. “He’s kind.”

The last piece of the puzzle fell into place in Anto’s mind.

—

The second floor was filthy and freezing— Anto didn’t think there was heating in this place at all until today. He was just happy that this was the last time he’d have to go back. He gathered his stuff and was out of the crowded cell before they realized what was going on. But once he was out with his stuff, they could put together the pieces. Especially when the Warden announced it.

They all knew damn well that it wasn’t for ‘good behavior’.

“You’re really gonna betray us like that? Break inmate code for that creep of a Warden?!” Aco demanded.

Anto brought a hand to his chin, giving an over-exaggerated ‘hmmmm’ of thought. “Let’s see. A barren freezing cell with a mattress, stuck with a bunch of violent assholes, nothing to do, and shitty gruel… or live in luxury where the only person I have to deal with is a sheltered pretty boy who thinks I’m the best thing since sliced bread.” He laid out the options bluntly, then raised his voice high and loud. “Man what a hard decision, I’m not sure I can choose!” He caws, voice overflowing with sarcasm and mockery.

Sensing his fellow inmates’ rage, Anto deflated and rolled his eyes. “Listen. I had my suspicions confirmed while we were up there. I’ll do you a small mercy and tell you this before anyone else gets themselves killed, but we ain’t getting out of here. The only prisoner on the bottom floor is the Warden’s son, and he’s been here since he was six. More than that, he’s a damn genius with machines and is the one inventing all the security measures that keep getting escapees put on headstones. The only doors down there are locked from the outside and loaded with things that’ll murder you for getting close.” Anto put his hands together and pointed them. “So! It’s as I thought from the beginning. There’s no hope for escape! If the Warden’s locked up his own son for basically no reason, you really think you fucks ever have a chance of getting out? Suck it up. I’m accepting my fate, and you should too.”