Dreams are Hard to Follow (A Stanley Parable Story)

Chapter 4: Making Progress

This is the story of a man named Stanley.

Stanley was content.

Always just content. Pushing buttons on his computer, all day, every day.

Then one day, something very peculiar happened. Something that would forever change Stanley; Something he swore he's experienced before. He had been at his desk for nearly an hour when he had realized that someone had been gently knocking on his door for the last few minutes. Stanley opened the door, his neutral expression fading as he was relieved to see a somewhat familiar face, one that wasn't Tim asking for a pencil. This man was probably from another floor or from the Office some doors over. That would explain why Stanely seemed to know him and felt so at ease at the sight of him.

"Hello Stanley! I'm Employee— actually no, I'm getting quite sick of that. Call me Narrator this time around. Apologies for interrupting your work, but you must come with me, it is of the utmost importance that you do! You see, it involves— . . . pushing buttons?"

Stanley was already closing his office door, his face beaming, excited to press new buttons! He didn't question the man's odd choice of saying, "this time around," but Stanely didn't care.

[If it involves button pushing, I'm in!]

His hands were practically shaking with excitement, gladly standing by the man's side. Narrator hummed, pleased that coursing Stanley into coming with him had been so easy.

"Ah yes, very good! Oh and before we are interrupted–" He grabs Stanley's lunch from his desk and shoves the bag into his arms, Stanley looked baffled and attempted to put the bag away before the Narrator continued, "Trust me Stanley, this will make things easier. Just have at least half of the sandwich now and eat the other half later if you feel so inclined."

Stanley wanted to disobey, he felt the need rumbling deeply in his bones. He wouldn't eat just half, he would eat the whole thing! Unhinging his jaw as much as he could, he shoved both sandwich halves into his mouth and chowed down. Swallowing as much as he could. The Narrator's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, watching Stanley stuff his face.

"Slow down Stanley, for goodness sake! You're going to choke–!"

His voice had echoed, making the Narrator abruptly stop in the middle of his sentence. Once his brain fully processed what that meant, the damage had already been done. With those four words, Stanley felt something change and shift. There was an uncomfortable feeling in his throat, a tightness. Something was in his throat, and he could no longer breathe. Good thing he didn't need words to communicate! Frantically he gestured at his throat to the man, the older gentleman instantly was sent into a panic and looked around for help. Everyone was ignoring them, just focusing on their daily tasks. That was until, two employees gathered the will and strength to abandon their work for their friend.

"Mariella, get a bucket! I'll do the Heimlich Maneuver!" Tim instricted, putting his newly acquired pencil down and getting behind Stanley, getting his hands in position. Mariella wasted no time and rushed out of the office, and Tim got to work. Putting a fist to Stanley's upper abdomen, and used his other hand to jerk his fist in and up, and repeating the action.

"Tim! I've got the bucket!"

"Good! Use it to catch whatever flies out of his mouth!"

After a few tries, a piece of sandwich launched out of Stanley's mouth and into the bucket. Stanley took in a few grateful breaths, wiping the string saliva from his lips. The Narrator rushes to his protagonist's side, giving him a few pats and rubs on the back as Stanley's breath shudders and coughs.