Custom Field used to allow a Free Story; no longer works

First @TomJNowell is 100 percent right. It was the PHP and my ignorance of it.

Putting in the following code from a year-old backup seems to have fixed the issue in question, if not the underlying improvements that need to be made:

<?php 
    $key = 'Free Story';
    $themeta = get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, TRUE);
    if($themeta != '') {
    $free_story = 1; 
    }
 ?>

<?php if($_SESSION['auth'] == '1' OR $free_story == '1' ) { ?>

NOTE that $post_id from earlier has been replaced with the proper code to call the ID of the current post/page: $post->ID Also note that the TRUE value after $key appears to ask the meta to go through until it finds the $key (Free Story) I want and then operate on that value. I still don’t get what if(@themeta != ”) {$free_story = 1;} is saying. Is it saying that IF themeta is Null or empty, set $free_story to = 1?
Regardless, That’s a learning mission for me. Thank You Tom for your patience!