Pam tucked her sketchbook a little tighter under her arm and waited for the elevator doors to open. Her hands were still a shade of bluish-purple from the cold, and her hair was an explosion of chaos from the wind in the parking lot. All and all, she looked like she normally did after lunch, at least lately.

That was because lately she had been leaving the office to take her lunch. She had tried to ignore it, not run away from her problem, but she couldn’t be around them when they were a couple. The way that they sat at the same table and smiled at each other. The way they shared Jim’s carrot sticks and laughed. She realized how petty her feelings made her, how ridiculously high-schoolish the drama of the entire situation was, but that didn’t lessen how much it hurt her. Because it wasn’t high school, it was her adult life, her present and her future.

She had called off her wedding because of Jim. Not so that she could run into his arms, to immediately surrender herself to him, and declare her undying love. No, it wasn’t like that. It was because he had shown her that a different life than the one she was living could exist for her. She could pursue her passions, she could, for the first time in her life, be independent, and she could have someone in her life that supported her. The problem was she had done the first two and now wanted the third.

The art classes she took produced works that she showed to no one. Her new apartment was always silent, save for the television that she sat glassy-eyed in front of every night. It made her feel weak to want someone to share her life with so badly, to not be able to simply focus on herself, and not have the ambition like so many other people seemed to have. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized it wasn’t about sharing her life with anyone, or someone, it was about sharing it with him. His confidence in her became her strength, his smile became her laugh, and ultimately, his love for her had become her love for him. Her connection with Jim had opened her eyes to a world deeper and richer then her own had been, and now he was giving that world to someone else.

It felt like a hot pain was pumped through her veins every time she looked at them, only to be replaced the next minute with a heavy feeling of exhaustion. No matter how much she tried, the pain persisted, so she just avoided it. Anyway, she didn’t need more memories to turn over at night while she stared at the ceiling.

Instead, during the break she usually drove her car to somewhere in Scranton and drew whatever it was she saw. Houses, trees, people, or landscapes, it didn’t matter to her. She’d just park, sit in her cold car and draw. Of course, today was a little different. It was Friday, and more than that, it was the Friday before a long weekend. To say things were lax at the office was an understatement. Plus, it had been a hard week, not that every one lately wasn’t, but Karen had been especially affectionate with Jim since she had moved out of the Days Inn….on her suggestion.

For that reason, Pam had decided she needed a present. A reward for surviving the week and not going completely crazy. Kelly would have bought a new dress probably, but she had bought a double cheeseburger, fry, and milkshake and devoured it in the McDonald’s parking lot in less than seven minutes. Where was she going to wear a dress to anyway? After that she had just let herself draw until her hands were too cold to move the pencil anymore.

When she had turned the car and heat back on, she was shocked to discover that it was 1:10. She had gone over her usual lunch break by forty minutes. Michael wouldn’t care, but she knew that Dwight would be pissed. It wasn’t like she could count on Jim to run interference, thought she really hoped that he would.

With a soft ding the elevator doors opened. Pam, with her eyes on the carpet, walked out the doors and directly into Steve the camera guy.

“Oh! I’m so sorry Steve, I-I- wasn’t paying attention.” Pam held her hand out in front of her and stammered apologetically.

Steve chuckled a little. “No problem Pam.” He gave her a small smile, “you, uh, just getting back?”

Pam looked up nervously. “Yeah, you know…Friday, long weekend….dollar menu at McDonalds.”

“Yeah, I hear ya. We’re leaving for the day. The office is completely dead, so we’re starting the weekend early. Though if anyone asks, we were here ‘till 5, cool?”

“Yeah, totally.” Pam smiled and watched as Steve and the rest of the crew got into the elevator. She sighed and walked down the hall, past Vance Refrigeration, to Dunder-Mifflin. The image of the hallway made her mind briefly flit to that Tom Hanks prison movie that she could never remember the name of.

-----

She didn’t look over at the office as she hung her coat up on the rack and put her sketchbook on her desk. She reasoned that if she didn’t make much sound, or make eye-contact with Dwight he wouldn’t come over and give her a hard time for…Pam blew out a breath as she looked at what the clock on her computer read… she was over an hour late. She quietly checked her email, which was empty, and the company email, which was also empty. Only three and a half hours more to go….

Suddenly, she heard a loud noise, a yell she thought, come from somewhere back in the office, her eyes raised over the desk.

What she saw surprised her. Dwight was gone, Jim was gone…she craned her neck over towards Accounting….Kevin and Andy were gone too. She looked over at the Conference Room, but the blinds were closed. Still, she could tell that the lights were off, so they weren’t in there. Her mind immediately went to the idea of a sales call. But, a sales call on a Friday afternoon? Nobody would be in, and why would all three go? and where was Kevin? As the questions whizzed through her mind, she looked over at the other cluster of sales desks and her surprise and confusion deepened.

Phyllis was on the phone, and Stanley was doing a crosswords puzzle, but Karen was definitely not working. Her elbow was resting on the table, and her flat palm was cradling her forehead. She couldn’t really make out what her face was doing exactly, but she looked upset. Pam’s brow scrunched in thought. What the hell had happened while she was gone? She knew that if they weren’t in the Conference Room, then they weren’t in the office. Dwight would be at his desk.

Even though it was against her better judgment, Pam decided to ask Michael what was going on. She got up from her chair and walked to his office door, knocked twice, and walked in.

As soon as she entered Michael’s office, she regretted it. His head was down on the desk, and a halo of Snickers wrappers were spread around him. It was another early afternoon Michael Scott sugar crash. Pam frowned and wondered who let him buy and eat so many Snickers bars.

“Michael?” Pam said in a voice loud enough to make herself feel uncomfortable.

Michael’s head shot up off the desk, a lone Snickers wrapper still stuck to his right cheek, and blinked rapidly several times. Finally, recognition of the situation sunk in. “Pam? Ugh, what time is it?”

“Um…like, 1:30.”

“Oh, good.” He looked around at the Snickers massacre on his desk and his face light up. “Oh! Pam I can tell you now! So, this morning I went to buy a Snickers bar, because I didn’t get much sleep last night and needed the energy…” at this point he stopped and winked at Pam, a motion that somehow involved his entire head moving. “So, I put in my dollar, and reached down to get it, and what do you think happens? Guess!”

Pam tugged at the right sleeve of her cardigan, and noticed that there was a grease stain on it from lunch. “Um, I don’t really know Michael, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you! I heard money! I got the candy bar, and all my money back in change. It was awesome! You have to do it with bills though..” the joy momentarily left his face, only to be revived a second later, “… but still, having 12 bucks in quarters is worth a dozen free Snickers bars.”

“Wow, that’s really cool.” Pam tried to force a smile and some enthusiasm to reflect Michael’s.

“Yeah, it’s been a great day. Sorry I had to hide it before, but if Kevin or you know…” he waved his hand spasmodically in front of his face, “…Boris Gargamel found out they would have taken them all.” Michael smiled widely.

“Right…ok, um, well I came in here to ask where everyone is?” Pam eyed Michael questioningly.

“Are people missing?!” A look of concern instantly engrained itself on every feature of Michael’s face.

Pam realized that Michael had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. He had probably been asleep since she left anyway. She took one step back towards the door and continued, “no Michael, I didn’t mean that…I meant where, um, Dwight is, because I’ve got a message for him…”. Pam turned to look out Michael’s office window at the empty desks, “oh! There he is, must have been in the bathroom, ok then, I’m gonna go….yeah.” Pam turned quickly towards the door and was almost out when she heard Michael.

“Whoa, Bees Lees, you feelin’ alright? Oh Pam…are you….” Michael’s eyes had suddenly gotten big and his voice soft. “…look I totally understand.”

Pam froze and looked at him in a state of mingled fear and confusion. “Wha…I, I’m fine Michael, really. Um, but I better get back to the phones and, you know, my job.”

Michael smiled softly at her. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Pam squinted and her eyes swept side-to-side in an attempt to coax her mind to decode Michael. “Ummm no?…but thanks.” She slowly backed towards the door and turned around quickly to open it. She thought she heard Michael say something else, but it was drowned out by the sound of the door closing.

Pam hugged her arms around herself and bit the right side of her bottom lip as she stared at Dwight and Jim’s empty desks.

She nervously glanced sideways over at the second cluster of sales desks, though more specifically at Karen. A flood of emotions ran though her as she took in her profile, which remained wilted. Nervousness, anger, jealousy, weariness, and resignation all shot through her mind and body in a split second. Still, with no choice, she took two steps towards the desks, taking in a breath at each pace.

“Hey guys. I’ve got a message for…” she quickly looked at Karen again, who was now looking up at her with a weary expression. “um, Dwight, and I can’t find him. Do any of you know where he is? Did they go out on a sales call?”

Stanley looked up at her and then back down to his crosswords, Phyllis opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by an unusually loud Karen.

“You want to know where Dwight is Pam? He’s with Jim and Andy and Kevin in the break room. They’re…” her bravado was cut off by an acidic chuckle. Without moving her head, Pam turned her eyes to Phyllis for help.

“Dwight is in the break room, Pam. I’m sure you can give him his message there.” Phyllis smiled warmly at her.

“Ok, thanks.” Between Michael and Karen’s behavior, and the fact that Dwight was in the break room during work time, Pam’s confusion had reached new levels. She walked towards the back of the office, and then stopped herself. What was she doing? She knew where they were, where Jim was, and she didn’t need to walk in there like an idiot with a pretend message for Dwight. She stopped to turn around when she heard what was definitely a yell or scream from the break room.

That was it. The strangeness of the situation was just too much. She had to know what was going on. With tentative steps she approached the break room door. She could hear voices inside, but couldn’t make out anything distinct. She lowered her head down and pushed the door open. The scene didn’t disappoint.

Kevin was leaning up against the counter, contently mauling a Milky Way bar. He was taking in the chaos that had erupted. Andy, Dwight, and Jim were all around a table that had a RISK board on it.

At the moment she had entered, Dwight had slammed his fists on the table. She thought she heard him mutter something like “impossible,” but she couldn’t be sure. Either way, his balled fists now framed his temples and his back was hunched over the table. He was muttering something towards the table, but she couldn’t make it out.

At the same time as Dwight had hit the table, Andy had sprung up in his chair, hands raised above his head triumphantly. She had heard him shout,

“GREENLAND FOREVER!”

Not that that made any sense, but she was pretty sure he had said it. Then he was back in his seat plucking at an imaginary banjo, and humming what she thought might be the beginning of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Which further confused her and made no sense. Still, he was smiling as widely as she had ever seen him, and he bounced around in his seat like he couldn’t contain herself.

Finally, her eyes rested on Jim who, like the rest of them, hadn’t noticed that she had come in the room. His expression and actions surprised her the most out of anyone. He was…happy? excited, maybe? His face and his eyes sent her memory back to the Office Olympics that they had engineered together over a year ago now. Even though it wasn’t for her, his wide smile and laughter instantly brought a curious smirk to her face. She opened her mouth to speak, despite not knowing what to say,

"Um…”

All four turned to look at her. She felt herself blush under their surprised gaze. However, she forced herself to stare back at them and say something to break the awkwardness. She decided on the thing that had first come to her mind when she had walked in the break room.

“…. So, I guess you guys found my RISK game?”