The Night Shift Security Guard

I found a job as a night shift security guard in an abandoned office building. The salary was quite attractive, and the job content was simple. From 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night, I needed to patrol every two hours, and I could stay in the monitoring room for the rest of the time.

The manager who interviewed me was a kind middle-aged man. He showed me around the place. The office building had a total of 18 floors, and there were also two underground parking floors. Although it had been abandoned for many years, the elevator could still operate normally.

"Remember," the manager said seriously and specifically reminded me, "When you're on patrol, you must take the elevator. Never take the stairs."

I was full of doubts and quickly asked why. He just smiled mysteriously and said, "This is the rule."

On the first night, I sat in the monitoring room, bored and staring at the sixteen surveillance screens. The office building was completely silent, and only the slight "buzzing" sound of the fluorescent tubes made the surroundings seem even more quiet.

At half past eleven, I started my first patrol. I entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 18th floor. The elevator rose slowly, making a "creaking" sound, which was old and made me feel uneasy. Suddenly, the elevator stopped abruptly on the 13th floor.

The door opened slowly, and there was no one outside.

I quickly pressed the door closing button, but the door remained motionless as if it had been fixed. At this moment, I clearly heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor, approaching from a distance. Each step seemed to be stepping on my heartbeat. My heart rate suddenly increased, my palms instantly sweated, and my breathing became rapid involuntarily.

The footsteps stopped abruptly at the elevator door. I stared at the elevator door with wide eyes, my nerves were stretched to the limit, and I was filled with fear, dreading that something terrifying might suddenly jump out at any moment. Just when I was almost on the verge of collapse, the elevator door slowly closed.

I let out a long sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat from my forehead with my hand, and comforted myself that it must be a malfunction of the elevator.

At half past one in the morning, it was time for the second patrol. This time, I planned to go down from the 18th floor. The elevator reached the top floor steadily, and I stepped out of the elevator and shone my flashlight into the corridor. In the beam of the flashlight, dust was flying wildly, and some documents were scattered on the ground. The papers were yellowed, showing the marks of the passage of time.

Suddenly, I heard a soft "click" sound behind me. I turned around sharply, and the beam of the flashlight quickly swept across the empty corridor, but I saw nothing.

I suppressed the unease in my heart and continued walking forward. After walking a few steps, I suddenly felt something drop on my face from the ceiling. I instinctively reached out and touched it. By the light of the flashlight, I saw that my fingers were covered with bright red liquid.

I looked up in horror and saw a large dark red stain on the ceiling, which was continuously dripping down. In an instant, my heart almost stopped, and I turned around and ran towards the elevator.

When I reached the elevator entrance, I frantically pressed the button, my fingers trembling. The elevator door opened slowly, and I rushed in as if I had grabbed a life-saving straw, and then desperately pressed the door closing button. At this moment, I heard the sound of "pattering" footsteps in the corridor, as if someone was running barefoot. The sound struck my heart with each step.

The elevator door finally closed. I slumped against the wall, gasping for breath, and my heart was still pounding violently in my chest. The elevator started to descend, and I stared closely at the floor indicator: 18... 17... 16...

Suddenly, the elevator stopped again on the 13th floor.

My heart instantly rose to my throat, and I was so nervous that I could hardly breathe. The door opened slowly, and there was still no one outside. I was trembling as I was about to press the door closing button when out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a little girl in a white dress standing at the elevator door.

She kept her head lowered, and her long hair covered her face. She was barefoot. I was horrified to find that her feet were hovering in the air, a few centimeters off the ground, exuding an indescribable eeriness.

"Li... little sister..." My voice was shaking so much that it was almost inaudible. "W... why are you here..."

The little girl slowly raised her head, and at that moment, I saw a terrifying scene that I would never forget in my life—her face was smooth, without any facial features, just a pale white skin, which looked particularly creepy in the darkness.

I let out a terrified scream and pressed the door closing button in a panic. The elevator door closed slowly, and the figure of the little girl gradually disappeared. Just then, I clearly heard her speak: "Uncle... play with me..." Her voice was faint and echoed in the elevator.

The elevator finally reached the first floor. I desperately rushed out of the elevator, ran all the way back to the monitoring room, locked the door, and curled up in the corner, shivering all over.

I looked at my watch. It was 2:15 a.m. There were still nearly five hours until the end of my shift, but I felt that every minute was like an ordeal, long and painful.

At half past three, I had to start my third patrol. This time, I made up my mind to only check the floors from 1 to 5. I entered the elevator nervously and pressed the button for the 5th floor. The elevator rose slowly, and my heart rate became more and more rapid as the floors went up, like a wildly beating drum.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped on the 4th floor. The door opened, and a man in a suit was standing outside. He had his back to the elevator, as if he was waiting for it.

I hesitated for a moment but still pressed the door opening button. The man entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 18th floor. He kept his back to me the whole time, and I could clearly smell a strong stench of decay, which was so pungent and disgusting that it almost made me vomit.

The elevator started to rise, and I shrank tightly into the corner, not daring to make a sound, with all my nerves on edge. The man suddenly said, "Do you know why you can't take the stairs?"

I instinctively shook my head, and then I remembered that he couldn't see me, so I stammered, "N... no, I don't know..."

"Because there's something waiting for you in the stairwell..." The man's voice was hoarse and hollow, as if it came from another world. "They like... to play hide-and-seek..."

When the elevator reached the 18th floor, the man walked out. My legs gave way, and I slumped to the ground, soaked in cold sweat as if I had just been fished out of water. At this time, I heard a burst of laughter in the corridor, with the voices of men, women, and children intermingled, extremely eerie.

I returned to the monitoring room in a daze and made up my mind never to go on patrol again. I stared intently at the surveillance screen and suddenly found that something was wrong with the image on the 13th floor. I quickly zoomed in on the screen, and when I saw it, I was almost scared out of my wits—there were people standing all over the corridor—no, to be precise, they were ghosts. Some of them were wearing suits, some were in white dresses, and there were even those in security uniforms. Their figures were illusory and indistinct, exuding an endless sense of gloom.

At five o'clock in the morning, it was still dark. I suddenly heard a knock on the door of the monitoring room. I was so scared that I didn't dare to make a sound, held my breath, and my heart was pounding.

"Xiao Zhang," it was the manager's voice. "Open the door. I'm here for a spot check."

I let out a long sigh of relief, and my tense nerves relaxed a little. I opened the door. The manager stood at the door with a strange smile on his face and asked, "How was your night?"

I stammered and told him about my terrifying experiences that night. After listening, the manager's smile became even weirder and widened: "Do you know that you're the 13th night shift security guard? The previous twelve all disappeared."

I looked at him in horror and suddenly noticed that his feet were also hovering in the air, and there was an indescribable strangeness about him.

"Welcome to join us," the manager said as the skin on his face began to peel off piece by piece, revealing the terrifying flesh underneath.

My last memory was seeing myself in the surveillance screen, showing a strange and ferocious smile towards the camera, as if I was being controlled by something evil.