This is the story of a man named Stanley.
Stanley is quite a boring fellow. He lives in a small apartment in a run down area of the city. It has a bathroom, a bedroom with a small bed, and a kitchen with a sink, a refrigerator, a microwave, a stove, some cabinets, a small couch and a table facing a minuscule T.V. The three rooms are connected in the form of an L and the kitchen/living room is the only room with a window. All the other rooms rely on the unreliable dim lighting the small lamps produce. The walls and ceiling are gray and the floor uncarpeted. In short, the apartment is small and cramped, but cheap and manageable.
Stanley is also unemployed. He had been searching for a job for quite a while. He checked the newspaper for jobs seemingly every day. Skimming through the celebrity gossip and reading the almost illegible ads section. However, Stanley never found any particular job that fit his unknown desires. For now, he was living on the money his parents had left him with when they died. He had no siblings or other family relations, so he was on his own with the limited, inherited money.
It was now fall of 2006, and Stanley was still searching for a job. It became his daily routine. Get out of bed, eat breakfast, read the paper, maybe walk around the city for a bit, have lunch at a cafe, go to the supermarket, come home, eat dinner, and watch the T.V. mounted on the wall until he fell asleep. This was the pattern Stanley followed every day, of every week, for about 4 months. Although a lot of the time was spent pondering the unknown, Stanley knew it would come to an end eventually, and then he could finally move on with his life.
Now it was on one of these days, in this self made cycle, that something out of the ordinary happened. Something that would forever change Stanley. Something that would be the beginning of a wild adventure Stanley would traverse. The newspaper that usually went to Stanley's neighbor, had instead been placed in Stanley's income box. So that when Stanley came to take his paper, he took the incorrect paper by accident. On this paper was a different set of adds, and when Stanley noticed this, sat down on his sofa and quickly scanned the newspaper. A couple jobs stuck out at him, the ones that had the greatest salary. One for a deli, one for a car mechanic, and one for a science company. Stanley decided to go for the science company first, as it had the highest salary. Stanley didn't know much about science, it hadn't been his strongest subject in school. However, he hoped he could get a job like a coffee guy, or a file manager.
Stanley wrote down the address on a slip of paper and slid it into the pocket of his black pants. After finishing tying his also black shoes, he stepped out of his apartment and locked the door. Stanley strode over to the elevator rode it to the ground floor. The elevator was gray, with a metallic underside and blinding white lights at the top. After the loud hum of the elevator, the doors slid open and Stanley walked forward. After passing through the lobby, and checking one more time to make sure he knew the address, Stanley left the run down building and head towards the nearest bus stop. It was a short walk away, and Stanley soon found himself running to catch the bus that had just opened its doors.
Stanley sat down by himself in the middle of the bus. Away from the front where everyone could see him but not far enough back that he had to share his seat with another person. The bus was moderately full. Mostly with people with actual jobs. At least the seasons were changing and he wouldn't have to sit in an overloaded bus in the middle of the summer. Stanley shivered, it had smelled so bad. Shaking that thought away, Stanley checked the bus route and his eyes widened as he saw the commute time. This place is really out of the way, he thought, resting his head against the window, Nothing I can't handle, though. Stanley's thoughts ceased as he watched the colors of the city fade into the colors of country land.
Stanley had never been this far out from the city, this company was literally in the middle of nowhere. Stepping off the bus, Stanley noticed one huge difference instantly, the air. The air was much, much fresher. The difference was startling. His breaths tuned long and relaxed as he enjoyed this new air. Wow, he thought, I really need to get out more often. Stanley took a few steps forward until seeing a small sign. It looked like it was made of scrap metal and was barely hanging from a crooked metal pole. The words were faded or peeled off, but Stanley thought he could make out a small arrow pointing towards a cobblestone road. The sign was obviously not maintained, if maintained at all. Is this some sort of scam? Stanley asked himself. He had never encountered a faulty company, but he always feared walking into a room with armed criminals demanding his wallet. Though they said never to judge a book by its cover, but the salary for this job was abnormally high, and the condition of that arrow might have been a sign. Get it? Sign!
Stanley sighed, he really needed a life.
Treading down the worn, cobblestone road, Stanley eyes wandered to the horizon. Though the sun was still making its way to its peak, Stanley found the horizon fascinating. In the city, the only edge you saw was a city building or ally. Here, in the countryside, the only thing that stopped him from the seeing the other end of the world was the gently rolling hills poking out from the smooth landscape. Trees, telephone poles, and stone walls dotted the plains, some sort of ruins of an old civilization. Shrubs on the side of the road tugged at his feet as he passed by, dancing in the soft breeze that rolled through the plains. It was a peaceful environment, one that Stanley found he enjoyed massively. He felt as though he had found his inner peace. Maybe this job would be the one.
A loose stone snapped Stanley out of his trance. Nearly having to scrape his face of the road, Stanley regained his balance and raised his head. When he saw what was in front of him, he froze. Any doubt that this job was a scam was chewed, stomped, then thrown out the back window. The building in front of him was massive, simply massive. It towered above him, giving a cold glare down at him. The entire building seemed to be made out of this gray-white, something. There were no windows visible, (at least from this side of the building,) and no fire escape ladders as most offices in the city had. The building was so substantial, Stanley felt like an idiot for not noticing it until now. Taking a deep breath, Stanley stepped through the glass doors, while somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if not having a fire escape was a safety hazard.
Entering the reception area, Stanley saw what looked like an inviting room. There were blue carpets and fluffy chairs, seated around a wooden table piled with magazines. The walls were a lighter shade of blue then the carpet and the receptionist's desk was also made out of a cheap, oak wood. After giving a quick glance around the entire room, Stanley walked to the woman behind the desk. She was wearing a blue dress to match the room and Stankey couldn't see her shoes. Her face was pale from time spent inside and her hair was black. It was straight, parted on her right side, and neatly came to an end at her shoulders. She had an earpiece on her right ear and her chin rested on her left hand. Stanley had to squint slightly to make out an "Emily" on her golden name tag.
Stanley walked up to Emily and leaned against the desk. Her eyes never left the computer the entire time. Stanley cleared his throat, she didn't even blink. Stanley shifted his weight from one foot to the other, no reaction, at all. Stanley had never been very social, and was never very good at staying in a conversation. Most of the time he was silent, and limited his contact with other people. However, as there was no other option, he cleared his throat, (again), took a sharp breath, and said quietly, "I'm here for the job interview." The secretary glanced momentarily at Stanley then back at her computer. "Ah, yes." she said flatly. "Take this." She stuck a packet of paper out in his general direction, which he kindly accepted. "Complete the sheets, then turn it in over there." She jabbed her thumb towards a small bin near the edge of her desk. "Pencils are on the table. If you need any help, try to figure it out for yourself. I am very busy after all." She informed. Stanley took note not to bother her again. He nodded, then sat down in one of the soft blue chairs and grabbed a pencil.
The survey, was unlike anything Stanley had ever taken before. Most questions on these types of sheets were, "Do you have any prior experience on this type of business?" Or, "Are you good at marketing a product?" This sheet asked questions that Stanley could never guess the reason behind. Some questions he might have over reacted to a little bit. Others he felt he had a right to know why they were asked.
Do you have any family or close friends? This question made Stanley a bit depressed. As mentioned before, he was not a very social person, and because of that, didn't have any real friends. As for his family... Stanley's eyes stung as he blinked to stop his tears. He weakly answered "no" and the next question hit him even harder. If you went missing, would anyone care or go looking for you? Once again, it forced upon him the terribly sad truth that he had tried to keep in the back of his mind since he left home. Locked away in a part of his head that never should have been opened again.
He was alone in the world, and nobody cared.
This horrible truth, this factor of his life, he had tried to hide from. But now it all came crashing down on top of him, and he couldn't take it anymore. Turning his back to Emily, Stanley silently sobbed into his hands for what felt like hours. This was going to go on forever if he didn't stop soon. He had to accept the truth, there was nothing he could do then, and nothing he could do now. But what if there was! Cried a part of him, but he pushed it aside. Locking it back in its rightful place. Drying up the last of his tears with his sleeve, Stanley shakily answered "No" and read the next question.
Are you currently in debt? This question cheered Stanley up a bit. Despite his constantly shrinking money reserves and his unemployment, Stanley had managed to stay out of debt by not buying a car and getting that cheap little apartment in the city. It was a lucky find, and Stanley wasn't sure what he would do without it. Stanley happily answered "No" again and moved on to the next questions.
Have you done anything significant in your life or made a large contribution to the world? That sadness that was brought up during the first question suddenly changed to anger. So WHAT if I haven't done anything significant like start a business or make an invention! Stanley yelled to himself, physically raising his arms in the air, I've done things, I've achieved stuff. For example, just the other day I… Stanley reviewed the last couple of days and found nothing extraordinary, Well, just a month or two ago I… Stanley rubbed his chin as he tried to remember what he did last month. He looked to the ceiling for answers but it remained just as dormant as it always was. No, I'm pretty sure I... Didn't I… Yeah, I definitely did something only last… What was it again? Stanley growled in frustration and carelessly circled "No" for a third time.
The rest of the sheet continued in this fashion. Some question reminding him of the good parts of his life. Others not so much. Sometimes he wondered if these questions were deliberately trying to break him. Eventually, after rage filled rants and sleeves soaked to the point of disfunction, Stanley slid the paper into the turn in bin. Stanley noted that he seemed to be the only one to apply recently, as the bin was empty. He looked around the room a bit, pondering what he should do now. His eyes passed over the, "too busy to be disturbed" secretary and he wondered if her notice should be broken. Coming to the conclusion that it should, (since Emily wasn't getting of that thing anytime soon), Stanley asked, "Excuse me, when am I going to take the interview?" The secretary looked up at him and tilted her head inquisitively, "What do you mean? That was the interview."