A Story Finally Finished || The Stanley Parable

[4] - Freedom?

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The three made their way to the other end of the museum, where apparently, the Timekeeper was situated. Narrator was quiet, as was The Curator. Stanley fiddled with his hands as he walked. He looked alone in the blank rooms, but it was quite the opposite. Narrator and Curator were hovering above him, invisible to his eye, but not to each other. Upon reaching a black door, contrasting to the walls, ceiling and floor, Stanley stopped.

"Go on then! Knock!" The Narrator called to him. Stanley clenched his fist, and knocked quietly on the door. As he took his fist away from the door, it flew open, to reveal a darkly painted room. It was large, to say the least, with a towering desk in the middle of the room, surrounded by towering cabinets.
Sat at the desk was a large muddle of clocks, that Stanley could see. All different shapes and sizes. The clocks took the shape of a tall human-like creature, and it sat with its arms crossed at the desk.

"Stanley.." It spoke, "I knew I would see you at some point."

Stanley shivered as the clocks' voice echoed through his skull. He continued to look up towards them though, frozen in place.

"And it seems you brought Curator and Narrator. Greetings, you two.."

Narrator bid the clocks 'hello', and Curator greeted them almost cheerfully. Straight to the point, Curator began, "Hello, Timekeeper. We have come with a.. request, of sorts. Re: Stanley and Narrator."
"Ah.." Timekeeper sighed, "And what may that be?"
Stanley looked down, anxiety coursing through him. Narrator felt this, although he understood little, and realised he would be the one to explain. He flicked his wrist, and Stanley removed himself from the room. "You see, Mx. Timekeeper, we - Stanley and I -, we want to leave. We have been trapped here for what feels like years, and Stanley's slowly going mad.. I don't want my protagonist feeling like this any longer."

All went quiet. The ticking of the many clocks that made up the Timekeeper was the only background noise. "Hmph. Fine. I was getting bored of you two anyways."
Well that was easy.. Curator scrunched her eyebrows together, but shook her confusion off.
Narrator felt Stanley's heart lift from outside the room. It made him feel.. content. "Wait- what do you mean you 'were getting bored' of us?!" Narrator called, crossing his arms.
The clocks shrugged, and the door behind Narrator opened again. Stanley entered, smiling. That made Narrator smile.

"You had gone through each ending almost twenty times. You had done everything. There was nothing else for you to do." Timekeeper explained. Stanley caught the being's attention, before signing 'Thank You' and stepping back. "You're welcome, Stanley. Anyways. No more sappy stuff. Get going. Enjoy the world whilst it lasts."
Stanley's eyes widened slightly, That was a little menacing.. He thought.
"Apologies." Stanley smiled, It's fine.

Narrator thanked The Timekeeper once more, and the Timekeeper stood from their desk, towering over the three even more. "Well," They began, "If you are to leave, Narrator, I suspect you may want a visible human form? You've been a 'disembodied' voice for years." Narrator nodded, "That would be nice." Timekeeper seemed to nod back, before clocks around its form began to glitch out, flashing every colour possible.

Narrator felt strange. Like there was thousands of little bugs crawling on him. Stanley watched as a spot in the room began to glow yellow, his eyes wide. It was like it was straight out of a superhero origin movie..
After another minute of bright yellow light, Stanley saw another man stood across from him, marvelling at their outfit.

The man was probably in this late 30s, or early 40s, and his hair was brown, and had many grey streaks running through it. On the mans right cheek was a dimple, and under his pale yellow eyes, were wrinkly eye bags. On the end of a pointy nose, sat a pair of rectangular yellow glasses, held by a silver chain. His outfit screamed cottage-core, consisting of a white shirt, with a mustard yellow jumper and a sunflower yellow tie. Over the top, was a murky grey waistcoat, and he wore dark grey trousers, and dress shoes. Hanging out of the mans waistcoat pocket, was a golden chain, supposedly leading to a golden pocket watch.

Narrator..? Stanley thought, approaching the man. Said person turned to Stanley, eyes calm, and nodded. Stanley reached Narrator, and stood directly in from of him. Narrator stood at about 5'5, whilst Stanley stood at 5'10. The taller chuckled, Wow. You're short. He began to laugh more, and Narrator scowled, rolling his eyes. He tried to fix his posture, attempting to make himself taller but was unsuccessful, and therefore, crossed his arms and sighed, allowing Stanley to laugh about his height.

The Curator and Timekeeper chuckled, watching the two men bond for a minute, before The Timekeeper spoke up, "Well.. Good luck out in the world. If you ever need me for an emergency, shout me, and I should arrive. Be careful, Gentlemen." They clapped their 'hands' and a door appeared behind the men.
Narrator smiled weakly, "Thank you, I will keep that in mind." Stanley signed out 'Thank You' one more time, before turning to the door. Suddenly, something clicked in Stanley. Wait. We don't have any money! What will we do?

"Check your pocket, Stanley."
Stanley scrunched his eyebrows together, and reached into his trouser pockets. Nothing was there a few hours ago, but now, Stanley felt cold metal and rough paper on his skin. He grabbed the objects and pulled them out of his pocket. In his hand, was a key, and many $100 bills, all held together by a paper wad. There was probably over 200 there. Stanley felt his mouth drop open, and he heard Narrator in the background.
"Now, don't thank me again. Go. Enjoy life." The Timekeeper said, walking back over to their desk.

Without another word of thanks, the pair bid goodbye to The Curator, and walked through the door provided, welcoming the bright outdoors.

"And they were happy."

1024 Words ✔︎