#// catches your mariella and cradles her gently in my hands

[neverendingparable]

starter for @not-another-parable

"Hello? Anyone around? I think I took the wrong turn-!" An unfamiliar voice calls out into the hallway. Belonging to a young American woman who found she had, despite all odds, gotten lost. 

Her name was Mariella Carter and despite the fact she shared the name with one of the Parable’s characters, she wasn’t actually part of the Story itself. Nor did she look like the other Mariellas, blonde curls instead of a brunette ponytail and she tended to smile more.

Usually Mariella prided herself for having an immaculate orientation sense, even in a place as confusing as the Office. But these hallways were different somehow, twisting with her head as she wandered further off track. Which is how she found herself opening and closing doors, trying to any indication where she actually was or if someone had been clever enough to put up floor maps around here.

One of the doors didn't lead to another employee office, nor to a separate hallway leading further into the maze. It appeared to be a storage room for miscellaneous junk, things she had seen before lying around in the few endings she had gotten a chance to play. She would've just closed the door and gone about her way but something standing admist the clutter made her breath catch.

Another Mariella. A classic Mariella. Brown hair, pony tail, brief case and scarf, a neat grey suit. She's met a few of them before but none of them ever like this. The way she was standing, lifelessly, it actually made her feel afraid.

"Mariella?" Mari called out quietly, making sure to leave the door open as she stepped in. Her heart was starting to beat faster but still she approached the statue of a woman. It was uncanny. Any moment she expected the other woman(?) to jerk to life and- and what? Chase her? This wasn't a horror movie! Maybe in this Office she was simply a statue, just a realistic model meant to accompany Stanley in his spiral towards insanity.

Still...it was creepy. 

Swallowing hard, Mari reached out and gently tapped the other Mariella's shoulder.