The group had been sitting on the floor, dead silent, for hours. Jeremy couldn’t help but fiddle with the fresh tear in his sleeve.
The room was a mess, but where else could they all go? There was dust everywhere, which was no good for Alyssa. She was allergic to it. Occasionally, a mouse would scamper across the floor, but nobody noticed. They were all too busy dwelling in their own thoughts, trying to forget the horror they had escaped.
“Hey, uh hey. I-I have an idea.” The tiny man named Gerald spoke up, stuttering. “I’ll, uh, I’ll tell a joke. To-to ease the mood.” His voice was strangely high, and lacked confidence. Nobody acknowledged him speaking. “O-okay, uh… knock knock.” Not a person stirred. Gerald waited. “You-you’re supposed to say ‘who’s… who’s there.’” Silence. “Well, you-you don’t have to, I guess. The punchline, was… was ‘orange you glad I didn’t say banana’, but that-that isn’t funny without the rest of the joke, I guess.” No movement, no sound followed. Gerald fell silent.