"I won't restart! I won't restart!" the narrator proclaimed, as if he was a child who had yet to be taught responsibility. But alas, nothing had happened. Sure, the ticking timer on the Confusion Ending schedule was halted, but that only made the experience worse for both the narrator and Stanley. Had days passed in the solipsistic environment? Weeks? Months? Years?

No. It must have been centuries, as now Stanley had gone completely crazy. He had endlessly tried to open the two doors leading back to the circular room. He had tried to click every single letter on the Confusion Ending schedule. He even had the schedule memorized by heart, and recited it several times. But alas, nothing had made the game progress.

Thus, after reinventing philosophy, the narrator decided that he had to restart. Sure, he didn't want to forget what was going on, but he also didn't want to be stuck here, with Stanley, forever and ever. And as part of the room's ceiling caved in due to irreversible decay, the choice was obvious and inevitable.

"All of his co-workers were gone. What could it mean? Stanley decided to go to the meeting room. Perhaps he had simply missed a memo."

(all controls are disabled)

[minutes later]

"But then, after finally recovering to his senses, Stanley finally realized the big truth. If he had to go out to the open world, he would surely have to make decisions and take responsibilities, and one wrong decision could lead to very unfortunate results. On the other hand, locking himself in the room and stubbornly waiting for the computer to give him a new order was also not a preferable choice for Stanley.

Of course, I was here for him, ready to guide his every step and ever-so-subtly correct him whenever he had stepped on the wrong foot. But Stanley couldn't have known that. Therefore, he remained in the same spot for hou-"

"All of his co-workers were gone. What could it- Hang on. The game restarted? I didn't do anything! We're not even through the room with two doors and this is already the worst game I've ever had.

*sigh* Alright, let's move forward. You didn't really make sense of that anyway. Let's tell the story again.

All of his co-workers were gone. What could it mean? Stanley decided to go to the meeting room. Perhaps he had simply missed a memo.

When Stanley came to a set of two open- What is this line? I don't remember it being in the story. But it must be there on purpose, as if it was meant to be followed. Go ahead, Stanley. Follow the line."

(if he goes to the left) "No no no. I don't know what you're on to, but I'm curious on what this line does. Come on. Follow the yellow line."

(if he goes to the right) "Now that I think about it, the line wasn't originally a part of the office design. It must have been employed by someone or something, as if it leads us towards the true adventure that is called The Stanley Parable. Ha. And I always thought that was the story. [mockingly] "When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left." Pfft. Nonsense. I was looking at this thing completely wrong. I understand nothing about storytelling. You simply have to make the direction of the story glaringly obvious right from the beginning, instead of narrating the story and expecting the characters will follow as you come along.

Well, I have talked long enough and completely forgotten what I was up to - like, really, really long. Long enough for the office to have completely decayed, so it must have been a few centuries. I'm a bit surprised you're even alive, Stanley. Well, let's pick up where I think we should pick up.

It seems the line has come to a halt. Well, I can't really remember what was the story that was supposed to take place here, but the broken windows, collapsed office tables and flickering ceiling lights seem inspiring enough. Let me give a shot at this. *ahem*

This is the story of a man named Stanley. Stanley worked for a company in a big building where he was Employee #427.

Employee #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 of every century. And although others might have considered it soul-rending, Stanley relished every moment that the orders came in, as if he had been made exactly for this job. And Stanley was happy.

And then one day something peculiar happened. Something that would change Stanley. Something he could never quite forget. He came to his office as usual, only to find that the door leading to Room 427 was blocked. At first, he felt irritated that he could not be taking orders from the computer, but then he realized something quite strange. None of his co-workers had come to work. Had the company gone bankrupt without anyone telling Stanley about it? It seemed as though a lot of time had passed. The entire office was now in ruins, none of the computers working and electricity barely being enough to light the place.

Stanley resolved to explore his office and hopefully try and find some answers. He first headed to the meeting room. Perhaps he had simply missed a memo.

But, as bizarre as it was, the pathway to the meeting room, as the pathway to his room, had caved in. Stanley turned around to go back, but then he heard another crumbling sound. As the door leading back to where he started was also inaccessible, Stanley began-

Wait a minute. Now the story's locked in one place! An adventure cannot go on like this. As much as I'd hate to tell it, let's restart and go back to the real story."

"All of his co-workers were... huh. Now the game's completely broken. There's nothing that could be found in the darkness. No office. No lines to follow. Nothing. Well, restarting it only seems to make it worse, so let's explore it as-is, and sincerely hope we won't have to restart.

Hmm. There appears to be a book store in this virtual limbo. And it's host to numerous stories. Perhaps the game is now telling me, "Okay, you're really, really bad at this story thing. Here are some good stories to help you out and show you what people really like. You know, some classics. Books that all people have read, like..." What was one that was really good? Come on, Stanley. Pick a book up and read it to me. I want to know what people like, and then you can tell me what you like so I can become a better writer. Just imagine what we could do with this, Stanley. Just imagine what I could be making instead.

Imagine a story where most office doors are open, and going to each other door leads you to different places, instead of all of them being either dead ends or wrong choices. Imagine a story where the other computers are left preoccupied with random tasks. Imagine a story where, while exploring the rooms, you have to find clues, like the code to the boss's keypad, instead of me deliberately telling you that the code is 2-8-4-5. (Keep that in mind, it'll become relevant later.) Imagine a story where the mind control facility is guarded by additional security, and you have to unplug the electricity to get around it.

Imagine a story where... where there's no wrong ending, and a situation like this never happens, but every once in a while I crack in a joke like: "When Stanley looked at the strange room with the monitors, he couldn't have known that in the previous version of the story, I had considered it a big spoiler and therefore, assuming he had made a mistake, I restarted the game and... and..." Stanley, could you please fill me in on what happened recently? I can't quite remember right now. Or are you too busy imagining? Either way, I'd love to hear your ideas, so please speak up. Don't be shy. I know what your work demanded from you, and I think I know the key to making you feel better."

(once Stanley goes out of the book store, the narrator halts the story above) "...you're making absolutely no sense of what I'm saying, aren't you?

Ugh. You left into the wide open space. Whatever. Let's just explore the newly opened city together. It's truly marvelous. And while I'm at it, let me keep up the story.

Stanley explored the city, realizing how much he had missed. Every time he drove by the city from his home to the office, he had followed a set of instructions, just as he followed a set of instructions in his office, and never once did he stop to think that there was an entire life, a living organism that he was a part of without realizing it, like a red blood cell to the surrounding brain cells.

Of course, that metaphor is a bit flawed, as there is no place for a red blood cell anywhere in the human body other than in the veins or arteries or capillaries, and if it had found itself among neurons, it would die from not being able to fulfill its task. But Stanley was different. Sure, he was debilitated from the recent experience, but he was much more ready to adapt and live an entire new life, where he could make his own choices-

You know what? No. This has become all about you simply exploring the city. If you want to do that, I can leave you to that. The next time I restart the game, I will be nowhere to be found, and you will be left in your office, free to explore on your own. Is that what you want? To be free to your mind. To gain knowledge like a child, and not like an office worker constrained to a linear path before the story began and during its duration. I can do that. Restarting in three... two... one."

(Level design ideas: show a giant office building that is in fact Stanley's company)

As the narrator promised to him, Stanley would explore. He would enter every single of his co-workers' offices, and check the computers, desperately searching for clues. Unfortunately, after he ventured deeper into the office, he was lost. He had no longer been able to find the set of two open doors, nor his boss's office. The sequence 2-8-4-5, however, stayed with him. He would write it everywhere with anything that he could find. He would carve it onto walls with hammers. He would make it out of papers on the floor.

But ultimately, nothing would come to his mind, and he would pass away as he came to his senses: by the door to Room 427, without a single clue to his life, and completely forgotten by everyone.

This is the story of a woman named Mariella. She was recently hired by an enterprise that finally had bought a long-abandoned office building, known for notorious stories about how everyone in the office building had simply vanished, and she was assigned the employee number 427.

Employee #427's job would be simple. She would sit at her desk in Room 427 and she would push buttons. Orders would come to her through a monitor on her desk, telling her what buttons to push, how long to push them and in what order. This is what Employee #427 would do every day of every month of every year.

But when she followed the directions to Room 427 for the first time, as she approached the room, she noticed several offsetting details. Every square inch of the corridors was marked with the number 2-8-4-5. She didn't know that once this was the passcode to the boss's secret room, as she didn't know that by now the secret room was now guarded by facial and retina recognition, and thus completely inaccessible to anyone but the boss. But she made note of the number later, as if it was not the key to the boss's secret room, but instead the key to the entire past of the building.

By the end of the corridor, she found another detail. A man, now only recognizable as a skeleton with clothes that barely held themselves together and couldn't be worn anymore, lay by the door of the office to her new room. He looked like he was the last remaining employee of whatever company used to be here, and he was likely not to be of a very high rank.

As she stared at the corpse, people came and passed. Co-workers of hers had come and gone for several days, now well knowing of their jobs and coming to tell stories about the mythical woman that looks like she's made of china and the corpse by her. Janitors would come to the place to clean all traces of the messes of papers and the carvings of the walls.

And finally, the boss himself came to the place, where he had found Mariella, standing by her predecessor. He picked up the corpse, leading Mariella to look at him in confusion. But the boss didn't speak anything. He simply led the new Employee #427 to the office, now looking as new as it was when Stanley had come here first, and with no trace of whoever worked here last.

And thus, shrugging away the last memory of the strange corpse and the number 2-8-4-5, Mariella switched on the computer meant for her, closed the door to Room 427 and pushed her first button.