The White Roses (stanarrator)

Chapter 1 - 'Mr. 427'

The Narrator's POV

"This is the story of a ma-"

"Stanley! Wait up! Let me finish my dialogue!!!"

But employee 427 had already rushed up from his desk and ran through one of the open doors.

The Narrator sighed, how many more times did he have to go through with his speech just to be interrupted?

The Narrator lifted his head nevertheless, looked at the monitors and saw Stanley rushing through all of the corridors.

"Stanley! Would you slow down?? I don't even know where you're going!"

Stanley finally stopped, looked around to find the camera in the room he was in, walked up to it and signed.

[I'm going to find Mariella]

"Why do you need Mariella right now? She's probably busy with her own work."

But the protagonist had already rolled his eyes at the camera and continued running. What was he even going to do with Mariella?

"Excuse me, Stanley, what do you need Mariella for?"

Stanley quickly signed [It's a secret], and then vanished off of the monitors, seeming to find a way out of the office.

The Narrator had sunk in his seat, his hands over his face, exhausted. For the last couple of weeks Stanley had gone to see Mariella and Jim more often, leaving during his work hours and avoiding Narrator as much as possible. Narrator didn't really like Stanley leaving to do something while he was working because he knew that any work that he hadn't finished, Narry had to finish for him, meaning he had to stay overtime. He didn't mind much because he liked sitting in his office silently working while talking to himself, however, it could get really lonely sometimes, and he wished he had company.

I guess what the Narrator was really saying is that he didn't mind Stanley doing whatever he wanted when he was in the office, as long as he was there, and he was listening to the Narrator. He liked being listened to, it really calmed him down. And he liked Stanley's presence. It felt warm and happy.

The Narrator was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Stanley coming back into his office and looking right at the camera.

As soon as the Narrator looked at the monitors he noticed how close Stanley's face was to the monitor, it was almost as if he could feel his breath on him.

"S-Stanley! You're back! So what did you ask Mariella? What were you talking about?"

Narrator stammered with a shaky voice, but was quick to steady himself again.

"Well?"

Stanley stepped back and looked away from the camera. He signed -

[Nothing, just something I had on my mind]

He didn't seem convinced. Something was off about Stanley.

"Stanley, you know you can tell me everything right?"

Stanley looked at the camera suddenly, as if he was shocked, his cheeks flushed slightly red. He nodded, shook his head and went back to his desk to continue with his task.

Narrator watched Stanley press buttons on his computer with his head resting in his hand, his hand movements bland and identical to each other, as if he had lost all emotion after he entered his office. But he couldn't help but wonder, what was Stanley so eager about asking Mariella? What was so important that he had to rush out of his office in the middle of his shift, while the narrator was telling his story, and ask Mariella of all people? Why couldn't he just ask him? Why was The Narrator thinking this way? Was he.. jealous? Well, Stanley was his character, he had the right to be jealous!

Right?