This is the story of a man named Stanley.
Stanley worked for a company in a big building where he was Employee Number 427.
Employee Number 427´s job was simple, he sat at his desk in room 427, and he pushed buttons on a keyboard.
Orders came to him through a monitor on his desk, telling him what buttons to push, how long to push them, and in what order.
This is what Employee 427 did every day of every month of every year. And although others might have considered it soul-rending, Stanley relished every moment that the orders came in, as though he had been made exactly for this job. And Stanley was happy.
And then one day-
Before the narrator could continue with his narration the room- no, the entire building began to shake, causing Stanley to fall out of his office chair.
H-huh? What is- Stanley what is going on? I haven't even finished the introduction yet for goodness sake! Did you mess with something?
Stanley quickly shook his head in denial, he was simply trying to do his job until the screen suddenly stopped showing instructions!
The rumbling intensified while Stanley tried to get up from the floor and failed miserably.
Well someone HAS to be responsible for this! there are no sudden earthquakes on my notes!... at least not at the start of the story...
Lights began flickering on the ceiling and objects began to fall all around the building as Stanley looked around alarmed.
Uhh- D-Dont panic! This is an easy fix. All I have to do is restart and-(RESTART FAILURE) OK never mind that umm let me see maybe I can- no that won't work.
Stanley´s monitor fell to the ground and broke causing Stanley to shed a single tear.
Oh boy, something is happening- Hang on Stanley!
Everything shook one terrible last time before-!
THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS LOADING THE BEGINNING
....
Stanley slowly came back to consciousness, slowly getting up from the floor. He looked around the room to find his monitor still on the ground, broken, something which brought him great sadness...
'Ugh, my head... that felt all kinds of wrong... like one of those bad hangovers I get for drinking after getting the closet ending for the hundredth time... Stanley? Are you alright in there?'
Stanley gave the Narrator a thumbs-up
'Oh, thank goodness! Well, I'm fine myself if you were wondering' He wasn't '
Just a bit shaken up... well, at least that is over, whatever THAT was.'
Stanley just looked at his monitor with a sad expression '
Oh don't be sad Stanley, It was just a monitor after all! There are plenty of those around outside your office. And besides, it's not like you were going to need it for... wait a second, why can´t I see beyond this room? I can only see around you! Thats not- hmm'
The Narrator tried to once more restart... but not even a message showed up this time
'This is incredibly vexing... it seems like we will have to find out what just happened, something is... different, but I am not sure what it is.'
They both stood around still, unsure what to do until the Narrator spoke once more
'Well! I suppose that in a situation like this, the only solution is to move forward. So without further ado *Ahem* Stanley stood there for the longest time, but as he came to his wits and regained his senses, he stepped out of his office.' Suddenly the door of his office opened by itself.
Stanley gave his desk and broken monitor one last longing look before following the narrator's instructions.
'All of his co-workers were gone... or were they there to begin with? He looked around and noticed that the lights were off... but the light from the sun was enough to light up the building... wait the sun? Since when do we have one of those? and... are those birds chirping I hear?... Uh, Stanley walked to the nearest window to investigate.'
Stanley did as he was told and looked outside a window, he had to cover his eyes as the sun glared down on him and made it hard to see, but he could see... trees and... birds.
When was the last time he had seen the sun?
'Those are birds alright... but there aren't supposed to be any birds! or trees! We aren't even close to the ending that is supposed to show those! Oh dear, just where are we?.... Stanley, we should keep moving forward, we will find the truth about this.'
Stanley rubbed his eyes and kept moving forward through the building... but he noticed that the building itself started to look... different from the one he knew of as if it was a completely different building from the one he worked at.
There was even a strange logo he found on one of the walls 'C&A'.
'This is... completely different from before... I am not sure how to feel about this Stanley if I'm being honest... I suppose we should keep moving then.'
Stanley shrugged and kept moving, room through room finding only more empty seats, and turned off computers... until he found one that wasn't off, In fact, it seemed like someone had used it and left what appeared to be some old game open with
strange music coming from it, there was a small headset next to the monitor as well. He was about to investigate it when the Narrator interrupted him.
'Come now Stanley! it´s not the time to mess around with some old computer! We have a mystery to solve.'
Stanley looked at the computer one last time before turning around and kept moving forward.
'This is incredibly strange... and new. I swear that I had not planned for any of this Stanley, which isn't to say I am not prepared for situations like this! because I would have to be an idiot to not prepare for such an event!... we just uh, have to keep moving forward... whats with that look? It´s never failed us before now has it?... Ugh, it´s not like it matters anyway... we´ll just keep moving until we eventually reach the end and start... over.'
Stanley looked at the door in front of him in confusion, it was a simple red door with the words 'EXIT' on them, it was just a simple exit door... you could see the sunlight coming from below the door and it was warm to the touch.
Just a simple door.
So why did it fill him with such dread?
'What is... an exit? That... but there isn't- That can´t be a REAL exit... can it? we´ll just be taken back if we try to use it right?'
Stanley stood there silently for some minutes, the Narrator seemed to be processing everything... so he raised his hand towards the door- '
Wait! Stanley I... I don´t know what's out there... and that... scares me, I got no notes, no nothing about this, whatever is out there... it will be completely new and out of my control... are you sure you want to do this?'
Did he want to do this? No, not really... but what else could he do? And... whatever is out there... has to be better than this.
Right?
'...Very well Stanley, I do not know what awaits us beyond this door... but we shall face it like we always have.'
Together
'Stanley opened the exit door...'
-
What happened to those two? Who knows...
