Cls-lolz X86.exe Error -

> PUNCHLINE IS RUNNING YOU.

> THE PUNCHLINE IS EVERYTHING ELSE.

Mara sat down on the cold concrete floor, wrapped her arms around her knees, and began to giggle. Not because she wanted to. But because the error had finished loading. Cls-lolz X86.exe Error

Mara ran. Not to the exit—the windows now showed a looping GIF of a laughing skull—but to the basement. The legacy server room. Because if something called "X86" was involved, it was old. And old things had off switches. > PUNCHLINE IS RUNNING YOU

> BUT JOKES REQUIRE TWO THINGS: > 1) A SETUP. > 2) A PUNCHLINE. Not because she wanted to

The lights died. The servers whined down. The laugh track stuttered, then stopped. Silence, thick as a held breath.

But the lights in her cubicle dimmed. Not flickered. Dimmed, like someone was slowly turning a dial on the sun. Across the open-plan office, other screens went dark, one by one. Then came the sound: a low, wet giggle, like bubbles popping in a tar pit. It came from the speakers. From the air vents. From inside her own skull.