#tspverse

The Boss´ Office:

It was a tastefully styled room with elegant red tapestries and polished wood. A fireplace rested against the wall on the right and on the opposite side were tall bookcases, filled with old relics and manuals.

  Pacing in front of them was a chubby blue eyed brunette, an employee that used to work here. Now he considers this place his prison.

  Daniel B Foyle pulled out book after book, studying its cover, flipping through its pages before returning it on the shelf.

To an outsider, this would look like an innocent activity. He´s only trying to find some quality reading material, maybe a crime novel or something of the sort. In truth, Daniel was searching for more than a gripping story. He was looking for an escape.

  It was the oldest trick, pull out some old paperback and have a previously hidden door reveal itself. Or maybe a trapdoor, with stairs leading down into a musty old basement. A secret passage or even an elevator. He´d take anything if it would just get him out of this hellhole, away from the endings and back outside.

  To his old life, his familiar, albeit shitty apartment. His neighbors with all their cats and dogs and plants. To a real bed and a real meal, two of the many things the Office lacked. Daniel missed living in general. All those new faces to see everyday and the new memories to make. Here, all he had was endings and his tiny office. The same walls and the same paintings while the same asshole tried bugging him into playing his stupid story.

  Daniel placed a copy of “101 Ways To Keep Your Employees From Quitting Their Work!” back on the shelf, trailing his fingers over the spines of more absurd titles. He scowled as he thought of their captor. The Narrator.

  A British man like himself, obsessed with The Stanley Parable, as he called his work. He loved sending employees through it, making them play out whatever sick setting he wanted. Daniel himself had only gone through a couple endings, the rest he had heard from his coworkers. At least if The Stanley Parable were any good, maybe being trapped here wouldn´t be as bad.

But it was a nightmare. Daniel wondered just how many times the Narrator had been rejected by respectable publishers to induce this insanity when he heard a door open.

  He stared in disbelief at the newly removed IT manual in his hand. Was this the book he had been looking for? His head snapped up and he looked around for any movement in the shelves, any sign of a mechanism being triggered.

  He waited with baited breath, trying not to imagine seeing sunlight again for the first time in years maybe? Or calling up Gavin, hearing his voice that he feared he would forget if he´d stay any longer…breathing in fresh air again…

  But nothing moved. No secret passage, no dark hallway. No redemption. Only a voice, right behind him.

  “Ah, what do we have here? My second favorite employee. It certainly is a pleasure to see you.”

  Him.

  Daniel slowly released his breath, willing himself not to cry or scream in frustration. He had thought…

He was so close…

  Balling his fists, the writer turned around to face his kidnapper. His expression held nothing but pure hatred and dejected anger.

  “What do you want?” Daniel asked venomously. The Narrator shrugged, his unsettling bright blue eyes traveling shortly of the room before they landed back on the employee.

  “Nothing…” He finally answered. The other stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

“Maybe I was curious as to what you´re doing in here.” Daniel chose not to believe him, he was up to something. He was sure of it.

  “I´m looking for something to read,” He lied, eyeing him suspiciously before turning back to the bookshelves. “I got to distract myself somehow from the mind numbing boredom that comes with this place.” He bitterly placed the manual back to its brothers. It was useless to him now and he felt an almost hatred forming towards the book, like it had betrayed him.

  The Narrator huffed indignantly, the sound right behind Daniel this time, startling the employee a little. He didn´t hear him approach at all and that was really unsettling. Nonetheless, he didn´t give the other the satisfaction of knowing.

  “What´s wrong with my story?”

  “What´s wrong with it?” Daniel repeated, his voice scathing. “Oh dear, I could write a whole novel about that, love.”

  The Narrator glared. “My story, he said, poking the other´s shoulder angrily. “Is perfectly fine. You just don´t know Art when you see it.”

  Daniel turned to face his captor, books forgotten as he raised his eyebrows. “Or maybe you´re just a sad, delusional old man, desperately clinging to your half assed script like it´s the only thing keeping you afloat.” He smirked obnoxiously. “You truly are pathetic, Mr Narrator.”

  The taller man listened to the accusations, his shock evident on his face. “What- Who do you think you even are?” He growled.

  “A better writer for one.”

  The Narrator had heard enough. He slammed his hands on either side of Daniels head, cornering him. “Now listen here,” He began, failing to notice how the other grew wide eyed and red faced at the sudden change of position.

  “I can make your life very miserable if I wanted to.”

  “More than you´ve already made me?” Daniel hissed. “You took everything away from me! Everything!”

  “I can break you.” The Narrator said, leaning closer. “So I´d be careful what you say to me.” Their noses were almost touching.

  “I´m not scared of you. Do your worst.” Provoking the storyteller was probably a bad idea, but he was Daniel B. Foyle and he wasn´t going to roll over and admit defeat that easily. That or he just didn´t know when to shut up. Nonetheless, he continued. “You´re all bark, no bite. You prance around like an overconfident fool but in the end you hide behind your endings, your only defense system.”

  “Are you challenging me, Foyle?”

  “Bring it on, asshole.”

  They glared each other down a while more before the Narrator seemed to realize how close they were. He took several steps back, blushing as he straightened his tie, looking away from the employee.

  Daniel tried not to look smug. Oh. He failed.

The Narrator scowled at him, but he didn´t say anything more. Instead he cleared his throat and turned on his heels. Walking out, he offhandedly said, “If you´re looking for a way out, you really got to do better than that. Rest assured no books will magically grant you a key to a secret passage. You´re looking in the wrong place.”

The door swung shut behind him and Daniel dropped the book back onto the shelf. It´s no problem, he decided, if freedom was still a little ways away.

He after all had a snide son of a bitch to top.

A/N: dealsintales hope you enjoyed~ and everyone else who read this, whatever this is.