Finding happiness in the Parable || The Narrator x Stanley

Chapter 2: just shut up!

"this is the story of a man nam-"

The Narrator had been cut off like every time before this one.

"Stanley I thought we talked about this? I thought you were going to let me talk?"

The Narrator seemed slightly sad, and even more so when he didn't get the slightest response from Stanley.

"Stanley? Hello? Can you hear me?"

Stanley hadn't gotten out of his office chair. He just sat there.

".. Stanley? Is everything alright?"

The Narrator was growing concerned. Stanley wasn't moving. He was breathing, he wasn't dead. He just seemed to have.. stopped.

"Stanley..?"

Stanley looked at the camera in the corner of the room. He looked completely empty on the inside. A robot to the Narrator's design.

"... Stanley? What's wrong?"

Stanley spun around in his chair, and looked at the floor.

"I can't keep doing this."

He thought. He had figured out as well when he still had sparks of hope, that the Narrator could read his thoughts. Though he had run out of things to say many years ago, so he simply stopped thinking.

The Narrator was actually quite happy that Stanley had communicated with him! But, he still sat confused.

"You can't keep doing what, Stanley?"

"This.. this whole thing. It just repeats, and repeats, and repeats.. I can't do this anymore."

He thought.

".. my game? Is there something wrong with my game?"

This thought had made the Narrator even more sad.

"Yes! Yes there's something wrong with your game! What's wrong with it, is that I'm stuck playing it over and over and over! If you just wanted a being to repeat the same story for all eternity, why make me sentient? Why not make me a robot?"

"... Because if you weren't sentient, I'd be alone forever. Alone in.. well whatever this place is. I don't want that, Stanley. I don't want to be alone. A robot, even if it'd keep me company, would not be the same as another living organis-"

"Well maybe I don't want to play this game anymore! Ever think about the fact that maybe, after the first few playthroughs of the freedom ending, I'd get bored? And it's not even freedom! I just get put back in this hellhole!"

"Hellhole..? Bored..? Is.. is my game really that bad..?"

Stanley sighed, leaning back in his chair.

After a few moments of silence, the Narrator spoke.

"Well.. uhm.. what.. can I do to make my game better..? I'm willing to do anything for the player, it's true, Stanley! Anything at all! What would make my game more sufferable?"

He didn't get a reply.

"... Do you want more doors? More choices? More endings..? I'll do it Stanley, truly I will.."

Only silence filled the room. An uncomfortable, tense silence. The Narrator grew sweaty and upset. He didn't know Stanley was suffering so. He would've never guessed..

The Narrator loved his game. He thought it was perfect. He didn't think it needed anything more. But.. Stanley thought diferente. Why? What was there to dislike about the Narrator's game? What was wrong with it?

"Stanley..? I need cooperation here, what do you want?"

"I don't know."

"What? What do you mean you don't know? You must want something!"

"Just.. stop. Please. Please stop."

"Whatever do you mean? 'stop'? What exactly are you asking me to stop doing? Is this what you want to see in the g-"

"Stop talking. Shut up. Please."

".. what? But I-"

"I don't want to hear it. For the love of god, keep your mouth shut for 5 minutes. I've got a headache."

Stanley leaned his elbows on the desk, his head resting in his hands.

"If.. if that's what you want, Stanley."

The Narrator was more in shock than anything. He would've simply declined the order to be quiet, but he was confused. Stanley hadn't acted up like this before? Why's he being like this now?

The Narrator thought to himself. He was used to just saying every thought he had outloud to Stanley, thinking in his own mind was strange to him.

Stanley slowly lifted his head out of his hands.

"... May I talk again?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you. Thinking is a strange concept, you know. Some people can see images in their heads, some people can hear their thoughts as voices, some people don't get either of th-"

"I want you to talk less."

"What?"

"You asked me what I wanted in the game. I want you to talk less."

"But.. talking is my schtick? My passion? My very soul!"

"You want me to like your game? Talk less."

"... If.. if that's what you wish for."

Stanley looked tired. He seemed stressed, and worn down. More emotionally worn down than physically worn down, but the amount of times he's done the freedom ending have worn him down physically too.

".. anything else coming to mind? That you want to see in the game?"

"If it was you'd know."

"Right.. how about.. we call it a day, hm?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright.."

Then everything went black.

The end is never the end is never...

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Words: 841