𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 [𝙽𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝚡 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚢]

5

Stanley had no idea how long he'd slept. But when he woke up, The Narrator was still talking about coding. Stanley remained clueless as to what any of the words meant. He by no means felt well, fully, or even decently rested. His bones were weary, his muscles weak. He may have even felt worse. He slowly sat up. It was easier this time, but wow it hurt.

The Narrator paused mid-sentence "Oh! Stanley! You're awake! Do you feel any better?"

Stanley shook his head and The Narrator sighed. "I suppose it makes sense; I looked it up and it takes three days to make up the lack of sleep for one day. I can't even begin to imagine how long it'll take before you're back to your normal self."

Stanley stood up, the air mattress was all but fully deflated beneath him.

"Those things never keep their shape. Hopefully, the next time you sleep I'll have a better place for you."

Over at the computer, Stanley started to type again.

W-H-A-T D-O T-O-D-A-Y ?

"What? You said you weren't feeling better, why do you want to go out more?" The Narrator asked, puzzled.

B-O-R-E-D .

"Erm, I'm not sure that's a good idea. The interwebs say-"

D-O-N-T C-A-R-E .

The Narrator mumbled under its breath, sounding suspiciously as if it was insulting Stanley.

"I suppose... hm, let's see, we could return to the new new content? I'm not sure how much you'd been paying attention, but I took The Player to-"

I S-A-W .

"No need to be rude, Stanley." it huffed.

Stanley walked out of his office on unsteady feet, heading through the office building until he reached the door that read New New Content.

When he reached what he was calling 'The Convention Hall', he squinted at the bright lights, which were quite overwhelming. Could they be considered 'lights'? There was no one specific source of light, it was all just bright. Like the windows outside of his office.

"Oh, is it too bright in here? Here, let me turn that down." The Narrator had become more observant and caring of Stanely's wellbeing. The blinding light walls and floors and... everything dimmed down to a slightly illuminated concrete grey color. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

The Narrator lead him through the building, boasting about the ingenious of The Stanley Parable 2. It showed Stanley a button it was working on, intended to say the name of the player. It wasn't working, and Stanley just tiredly and silently laughed as The Narrator told him to imagine the role of Jim. Stanley wondered if The Player he hated so much was actually named Jim, or if this really was nothing more than a placeholder name.

Even if Stanley didn't truly take on the role of Jim, he found the button fun to press. To the point that The Narrator had to forcibly take it away from him, earning a dramatized huff from Stanley.

There was another jump circle, which Stanley couldn't use as The Player had already let the toll get to 0. Stanley however, did not even need the circle. This was his body and he'd do whatever he'd like with it. He took a couple of hops outside of the circle, just to make a point to The Narrator.

"Stanley, even if you are physically able to jump without my delightful circle, could you please at least pretend my additions are useful in the slightest?" It asked, and Stanley gave him a coy smile. He was glad the two of them could have a bit of fun together, after everything.

Stanley then headed towards a room off to the side, which contained a non-functional machine meant to give Stanley the achievement The Developers left in the game.

There was a room with a hole that went on for ages. Stanley felt there was something wrong with the hole, as it got shorter each time Stanley went into it. Stanley had learned that The Narrator had something scripted for nearly every possibility, and there was no doubt in his mind that it had scripted out this entire exhibit prior to showing Stanley it.

So naturally, Stanley fell into the bottomless pit several times. It got shorter every time until The Narrator just gave up and left him there, the hole being no more than a foot deep. To quote The Narrator itself, 'You heartless bastard.'

In the end, Stanley just climbed out of the hole, obviously. But The Narrator leaving was annoying.

The Narrator also told Stanley about some visual changes around the office; asking Stanley for advice on what balloons to use to decorate the building. And then promptly used whichever one Stanley did not decide on. It didn't really matter; both text options were incredibly lame. Stanley had only picked the one that read "Happy 12th Birthday Step Neice" because it had a more vibrant color palette. He supposed the grey "Get Well Someday" ones were fine too.

The next thing The Narrator showed Stanley were some silly collectibles, figures of Stanley. Man, Stanley loved The Narrator's antics. The pride it showed in everything it made. Stanley had no real desire to seek the figures of himself, but he had the desire to follow what The Narrator said, to hear the joy in its voice.

The final exhibit was the most bizarre by far. A bucket stood upon a pedestal, basking in the shine of an unseen spotlight above. It seemed to glow and sparkle. Stanley could easily accept the supposed calming effects of the object The Narrator claimed.

The cool smooth metal was comforting against the weary and sore limbs of Stanley's. It was like putting an ice pack on an injury. It helped Stanley, a lot.

As the two exited the room where The Bucket was found, The Narrator said "Does anyone give out awards for "most enjoyable bucket in a video game"? That really should be an award, if it isn't already." And Stanley couldn't agree more. The bucket was enough to make grown men cry.

Was Stanley going insane?

...

Maybe a little.

Stanley finished seeing all The Narrator had to show him and left the exhibition, The Narrator mentioned something about putting an epilogue somewhere, and Stanley was met with the familiar reset screen.

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THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END

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