The Stanley Parable One Shots / Short Stories

The End of the Parable (3/?)

Stepping out into a crowded office for the first time in hundreds of years was jarring for Stanley, to say the least. He looked around the office. All he could see were familiar faces he couldn't remember. He was glad no-one payed any mind to him. An odd few looked up, but then immediately went back to what they were doing previously. He turned around to look back into his office to see the Narrator, who still hadn't actually left the small cubicle. Stanley couldn't blame him for being nervous. He lifted his arm and held onto his Narrator's hand with his own, squeezing it lightly. His Narrator gulped before stepping out into the crowded room. The two men started walking as casually as they could towards the meeting room. Stanley looked straight forward, trying his best to ignore the deafening silence that had fallen over the room.
Stanley felt his Narrator's grip tighten around his hand. He looked behind him to meet his Narrator's gaze, before his Narrator broke the eye contact by briefly looking towards the other people in the office, then darting towards the floor. At that point, curiosity took the better of Stanley, and he decided to sneak a peak at the rest of his coworkers. Unsurprisingly, they were practically gawking at the duo, the way you would if you saw a six foot stranger walk out of an office cubicle in the building you work in, holding hands with the employee that work there. Bonus Points if you saw said employee arrive. Alone.
After what felt like an eternity, the two came to the two door room. Luckily, it was empty. It was almost surreal, entering the room without the door slamming shut behind them. But that wasn't what Stanley was focused on right now.
'You good?' he asked. His Narrator nodded in response. He wasn't even sure why he had asked such a stupid question in the first place. Of course his Narrator wasn't 'good'. Neither of them were. His Narrator chuckled lightly at that.
'It's just a common English phrase, Stanley. You don't need to overthink it. You sound like me, for heavens sake.' he said, amused. Stanley scrunched his face up into one of disgust. Ew! He didn't want to be obnoxious! And BRITISH!
'I am not obnoxious!'
Agree to disagree.
'exCUSE-'
~ ~ ~
The meeting room was also empty, as it always was. As they were leaving, Stanley looked at the brook closet before looking back to his Narrator as a devilish grin spread across his face.
'Stanley. No.' his Narrator responded, scowling.
'Fine, fine.' Stanley thought, rolling his eyes. He admitted that- for once- the Broom Closet was not the right place to be. They had more important things to do, after all.
'Coming to a staircase, Stanley walked upstairs to his boss's office.'
Stanley smiled at this. Through all of the uncertainty and fear that had come with this new adventure, it was nice to have his Narrator's voice to comfort him through all of it. To make him feel comfortable. To make him feel safe. To make him feel happy. Sure, he wasn't an omnipotent voice, but it felt so much better that it was spoken by a person. It made him feel so much less lonely. Stanley couldn't bear to imagine having woken up with all his coworkers back without his Narrator, and how alone and scared he would have felt. Stanley's deep thoughts were broken by the sound of his Narrator's voice, saying 'Now, Stanley, I truly do enjoy listening to your internal rambling monologues, but I do think we should- and this is merely a suggestion and nothing more,- move?'
Oh. It appeared that Stanley was so lost in thought that he hadn't even gone up the first stair yet. Stanley started walking forward, still hand in hand with his Narrator. He thought about how is Narrator was totally just avoiding mentioning how his internal monologue was about him. There was no response. The Narrator knew Stanley too well, and he knew that if he kept silent, he wouldn't get a reaction out of Stanley. The Narrator chuckled.
'You got that right.'
'Haha got you.' Stanley thought, a devilish grin spreading across his face. Easy.
The Narrator scowled, and turned his face away from Stanley's while muttering something under his breath. He really did that a lot. He looked around the walls and floors before settling on the window. He froze on the spot.
Stanley stopped. He turned his head over to the Narrator's to see him walk over to the window. Stanley followed him, intrigued by whatever had caught the Narrator by such surprise. The two stopped by the window, and Stanley- following the Narrator's footsteps,- peered out.