- I know, shocker. Coming from the guy who cracked jokes during a supply raid.

  - But sometimes, a dumb pun won’t fix anything.

  - Sometimes, people don’t need to laugh. They just need someone to sit next to them and not say a damn thing.

  ---

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  I told her three jokes that day.

  One about a vampire who couldn’t commit to a diet.

  One about a zombie stand-up comic bombing at open mic night.

  And one about a guy who walked into an apocalypse and still couldn’t find his life’s purpose.

  She didn’t laugh.

  Didn’t even roll her eyes.

  She just stared at the map we’d found, fingers tracing the roads, over and over like she was trying to draw a different past.

  So I sat beside her. Close, but not too close.

  “I know I’m annoying,” I said. “But I mean well.”

  No answer.

  I handed her a granola bar. She took it without a word.

  Later, while she was resting, I wrote this tip down. Thought about crossing it out. But I didn’t. Because it’s true.

  Laughter saved my life more times than I can count.

  But today?

  Today it didn’t even come close.