She opened the refrigerator door like she'd seen it done so many times before in the movies and on TV. She opened the refrigerator door, saw the light inside and felt strangely soothed. Then she went back to bed and fell asleep.

The next day she did exactly the same thing. But, with the bright sunlight shining through the thin, dusty slats of the white blinds, it just wasn't the same.

She left for work. There, she summoned up the courage to ask her co-workers if they too had the habit of opening and closing the refrigerator door, for no apparent reason, as if there were something inside with no name.

One co-worker laughed so hard that his laughter echoed through the flimsy, grimy partitions that divided the tiny cubicles. A friend simply stared and asked if she'd like a cup of coffee. This friend had dark circles around her eyes just like Clarissa, and Clarissa didn't know if this meant she shared her vice or if she was simply tired of looking and not finding anything.

Others passed by and chuckled, not quite sure what to make of her, why she was sitting on the sofa in the visitor's lounge by herself and not in her cubicle. They passed by barely able to keep from laughing as they made their way back to their workstations.

She just sat there and drank from the mug her friend had brought her and stared into the black coffee. And stared and stared. She woke up a few minutes later, nudged by the friend.

"You should be ashamed, sleeping here, and in the middle of the morning! If you didn't wake up at all the times of the night to open the refrigerator you wouldn't doze off like this."

Clarissa fixed her hair meekly with both hands. She worked her way through the maze of cubicles back to her workstation. That's where she would be expected to spend the rest of the day, until early evening, leaving only to go downstairs for lunch, all alone.

That's when she would walk in total silence to the elevator, go down to the department store beneath the building, enter the same café as always, and order a hot roll, perhaps a brioche. Then she would try some perfumes and then she would go back to the office, reluctantly like everyone else. But at least she would smell nice.

The thought brought her some consolation. She stared at the computer screen, and the tiny question mark in the right hand corner. Was it an omen? A call for help? The computer, the refrigerator. And she. What would she do?

She began tapping on the keys, but she made little headway, and before long, it was time to go down to the café. It would be hard to make up for lost time, but if she really tried hard, perhaps she could finish the presentation in time for tomorrow's meeting.

She printed out what she'd written, folded it, put the sheets in a white envelope a size too big, and stuffed everything in her purse.

She exited the building, a big smile on her face. The small image on the picture ID on her left-lapel matched her large, weary face. It was winter, and she always welcomed the chance to feel the brisk weather outside.

She headed straight for the bus stop. There she flagged a bus, but hesitated when it came time to get on. She climbed on board, sat down, hugged her purse, and smiled.

When she entered her building, she saw dim forms scurrying about. Children. They were not on vacation so why were they there at this hour? She didn't ask; she had a more important matter to attend to. In the elevator, she pressed a button and anxiously shifted her weight from side to side. She opened her purse and took out her keys and the white envelope.

She almost sneezed. It must have been that cold gust when she got off the bus two blocks from her building.

She gathered herself, inserted the key and opened the door. Everything seemed to be in place. She headed for the kitchen, changed her mind and went into the bathroom instead. She looked in the mirror and fixed her hair again.

Then she proceeded to the kitchen, the large, crumpled, white envelope in hand. She stopped in front of the refrigerator door, looked at the family portrait that stared back at her, opened the door, and placed the envelope inside.

Her task completed, she decided to make some coffee. While she waited for the water to boil, she placed her ear against the door to hear how things were going on inside. Silence.