Earlier this week, Sharon told a joke that not many appreciated. I believe my followed laughter was the cause for this potential reprimand, but I just couldn't escape the feeling that I'd been through this many times before. No one else seemed to get the joke, much less look amused.
Sharon frequently told jokes. Many flew over the heads of others, but I.. I kept them in my head, even if I didn't I quite understand them at first, I made sure to log these jokes she made. They always got me a little farther.
This particular joke landed in the "controversial" pile. I won't go into details, but somehow I think the joke is directed at me. I laugh, and I guess I have to mention, I got multiple uncomfortable stares after I broke.
I finish the email that originally made me put my office visit on hold, and walk as slowly as I can to my now determined fate.
I'll admit, it wasn't the most appropriate of jokes, but it got a chuckle out of me. I couldn't understand why everyone looked so mortified when I held back the laugh before I broke into a full-on fit.
As I knock on the large, oak doors leading into the office, a sense of calm and relief wash over me. As though I'd been in this same place, at seemingly the same time before, and I know the outcome.
"Please, do come in." I hear a great roar of laughter from the other side of the doors.
I open the door, to see nothing but an empty, long, and dark corridor. I can make out only vague silhouettes of doors lining each side of the hallway, and I wonder, "Where is the red door?"
I slink past the black doors, I know not to mess with them after last time. God only knows what would have happened if I let the light from the last black door's opening touch my ankle. Once I reach the brown doors, I know I am safer, but we are not in the clear yet. I take one breath, and run across as fast as my body allows. I'm safe as long as they don't hear my breath. I gasp for a deep breath after the browns, and I prepare for the yellows. This is the last stage, and I fail every time.
I sit criss cross in the middle of the floor, in between brown and yellow, and pray. I meditate. I offer my soul. Every time has failed, but I am determined this time.
My thoughts, they bring me to a calm place, thoughts are my own, and I can control my body for once. As quickly as it took to get to this place, I'm levitating in the same breath.
I hover past the last set of doors, whispers from lost souls, beckoning me all the way. Torn between life and eternal dark, I struggle past.
Once I reach the last and final door - all white and gleaming with a hope and certainty I haven't yet experienced - I reach for the handle.
BOOOOM!
An electric shock, or maybe of some other kind, sent me reeling into a fetal position at the beginning of the hallway. Somehow, I'd lost all progress. All hope. And all emotion.
"Where is the red door?"
I gazed on, unable to establish where, or even who I was.
Before my mind caught up with the actuality of this...
I started my day like any other. I opened my email, and saw the joke of the day. Only it was slightly different this time..
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]): "Where you find the red door, you find your answers. Only in death may they cause peace. Death is a circle we all go around. If you find a white door instead of a red, you may not continue training. I will watch and they will watch and you will all burn in hell. Dig a hole deep down and bury you deep we will. Very scared please do no open the white door anymore. we have tried. and you have failed. U"
I thought everyone got the emails everyday like I did. It wasn't until my recent attempt to forward the emails, with the joke meme title "No U", did the emails stop.
Last week, I saw Carrie open her email, start laughing uncontrollably, and leave in direction to the office. I hope she finds the red door.