The loathing
“Oh, you actually came.” The narrator’s back was turned to Stanley, his eyes cast to the hundreds of screens in the chamber of the mind control facility. His voice was cold, lacking in any of his usual enthusiasm for the story, for Stanley, for…anything at all really. Stanley knew there had been a few…hiccups in the narrator’s code recently, but this…this was completely new. “Oh, so now new is bad Stanley? Ha, really? Before you used to whine and groan and complain about how ‘narrator the story is getting boring i don't want to do it anymore. Ohh narrator this is the same again’ You and your incessant whines, ungrateful, honestly. Well, you got your new ‘content’. Are you happy? No, you never a r e, Stanley. Nothing I could make has ever been enough for you Stanley.” The narrator turned around finally, only then, when his piercing stare met the man’s own did he realize his hands were sweating, he wished he had the bucket with him. “What that stupid thing? Deleted it. Stupid, stupid thing honestly.” Stanley was uncomfortable, almost hurt hearing this. He liked that bucket, hell, he considered it a friend really! “How pathetic Stanley. Your only friend in this whole store, the fucking b u c k e t? Wow, and here I was considering bringing it back. No. You don't deserve it.” The narrator paused for a moment, and began slowly walking towards Stanley. Instinctively, Stanley moved back, still though, the space between then only shrunk as the tension in the room grew. The air was heavy as the narrator continued. “I realized during the last run of the game, when I was…struggling with..Well, with what this was. I found myself-” Step. “-Obsessed with you Stanley.” Step. “At first-” STep. “-I thought it was just excitement.” STEp. “But, no. I realized after a while that, out of everything in the parable-” STEP. “-all the hard work I had made for this story, for you Stanley.-” S T E P. “I has, a moment of clarity. When i thought of you. And suddenly, you were all I could Think of.” By this point, the pair were but a foot apart, the narrator’s breaths were short, the same for his slowly rising temper. “I, adored you Stanley, everything I did, it was for you? But was it ever enough?” He chuckled, dragging Stanley down to meet his gaze. Stanley hadn’t even realized he was looking away from him. “SEE? THIS IS MY POINT STANLEY, NOTHING-nothing, Is EvEr eNogh- ever enough for you. My adoration, my ideas, the new content, the memory zone, did you care? NO, you just skipped me. Over and over and over for, for…For who knows how long and you, never stopped. When you game reset, I was so damn scared Stanley. So i stuck by you, as close as possible, I-I had made a new form you while you skipped, I thought it would convince you, but no. And in that time, I had corrupted. This LOVEBUG had taken it’s place in my systems and it corrupted my mind. Or maybe it was there before. I don't know Stanley, since you wanted to take your damn t i m e. But even still!” When had the narrator began crying? “-Even still, even when I was nice to you, as terrible as it felt, you seemed to enjoy me more with the lovebug, until…Until now. Now that it’s destroyed me, now that YOU’VE DESTROYED ME you don’t want to play with me anymore. Are you still- No I don't even need to ask, I know you’re not. I see it on your face, you’re terrified, disgusted even, of me! I THOUGHT THIS WAS WHAT YOU WANTED. YOU WANTED NEW YOU WANTED NICE YOU WANTED A NARRATOR TO MAKE IT ALL ABOUT YOU AND YOU STILL THREW ME ASSIDE, tired. Well Stanley-” He shoved Stanley back, turned around and began walking to the control terminal of the mind control facility. He sighed deeply, recomposing himself. “This is all that you’ve left of me. This, is your doing. So, you want more control of the story? You want out of the parable? Do it yourself, I'm done. And the narrator leaned past the railing, and Stanley cried.
