November is upon us, meaning that the Halloween season has sadly come to an end. As Spirit Halloween departs from the husks of dead retail stores and the spectre of Mariah Carey approaches, the world has once again started to shift gears to the winter holiday season. As retailers leave ghouls and goblins behind, college students leave behind their sexy RBG, squid game, and Ellen Degeneres costumes. However, for one student, the frights of the Halloween season might not be quite over, “Yeah.. this guy in my poli sci class has been wearing a Joker costume for a week straight, and I’m really starting to get concerned.”
Paul, a senior studying anthropology, first noticed his classmate Mason in clown makeup the Friday before Halloween. “I mean I really didn’t think anything of it at the time, it’s definitely cringe to dress up as the Joker, but I thought it might just be a bit or something. And after all, it was Halloween.” Although Mason did raise his hand to mention how “we live in a society,” Paul didn’t pay much attention since it seemed like he was just in character. However, as Halloweekend came and went, Paul started to see that something was very wrong.
“At first I really didn’t know what I was looking at, after all I was pretty hungover, but I swear to god Mason still had the clown makeup on,” recounted Paul, “and it wasn’t like he came into class still fucked up from last night. He had very clearly reapplied the makeup. I think he even ironed the suit!” This pattern continued throughout the week of classes, and Paul grew increasingly concerned. “He just keeps bursting out laughing in the middle of lecture and talking about how he’s 'jokerpilled.' It’s not like Mason was that social in class before, but this is something else.”
Although Paul hasn’t said anything directly to Mason or his professor, he and his classmates are all getting increasingly unsettled. “It’s been a week now. Some of the girls in class say he’s been asking them “why so serious” with absolutely no context. The other day in class he actually introduced himself to a guest lecturer as “Joker, from the movie Joker.” I’m not sure how this is gonna end, but I’m seriously considering dropping the class.”