For all those who work late nights in high-rises…
I was working late on a Saturday night on the 29th floor of my office building—alone of course, though that was not uncommon. Being almost 30 stories up and near the Pacific ocean, there was a thick fog surrounding the upper part of the building such that you couldn’t see 10 feet out from the building but, if you looked down you could see the lights of the city below. Nearly all of the lights in the office were off because they are controlled by motion detectors and no one had been in the office for hours. Anyway, creepy atmosphere.
So I’m working in my office when I see out of the corner of my eye a distinct brown object briefly pass by on the far side of one of the assistants’ ledges diagonally out of my door (if you’ve worked in an office, you know what I’m talking about). The shape went into my colleague’s office and the light in her office—which also is controlled by motion detectors—went on. My colleague is short and has light brown hair so I assumed I had caught a glimpse of her head as she was walking into her office. Bored, I immediately got up and wandered over to say hello. No one in sight. I looked at her light switch and saw that the manual override button (which turns the motion detector off) was popped out, so the lights that were shining in my face should have been off. The hairs went up on the back of my neck and I walked back to my office and sat down. A minute or so later I looked up and noticed that my colleague’s light was now off again and I got even more creeped out. So I sat there feeling uneasy for a few minutes and listening for sounds of activity in the office, thinking someone was around and triggering office sensors but, alas, there was no one else there.
Probably to make myself feel better by breaking the uneasy silence, I stood up and walked to the door of my office and called out “Hellooo??!” No response, no activity, nothing. So I turned back to walk into my office and—boom—the light in my colleague’s office goes back on and the silence is shattered by the phone in the conference room between our offices suddenly ringing. This was extremely unusual because the conference room can only be dialed from INSIDE the firm. At this point I have an acute case of the willies and I go back into my office and sit there while the phone rings and rings for at least 10 minutes. I tried to focus on my work so I could get the hell out of there, but that infernal phone would not stop ringing. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I walked into the dark conference room and, wouldn’t you know, the lights didn’t go on like they should have and always do. I’m two seconds from peeing my pants by the time I reach the phone and look down to see that the digital display does not show any incoming call, the phone is just ringing all by itself and has been for 10 minutes! I pick up the phone and, in the manliest voice I can muster say “[Law Firm Name].” Not only is there no response, there was a dial-tone as if no one was ever on the other line, which destroyed my desperate hope that some idiot in another office had dialed the wrong extension. I turned and walked back to my office as fast as I could, noticing over my shoulder that my colleague’s light had turned back on again but—right when I looked at it, it turned back off. I get back to my office and resolve to get the F outta there so I collect my stuff, walk to my door and, just as I’m about to hustle down the hallway to the elevators, I call out “I’m leaving! See you later!” Instantly the light goes on in my colleague’s office, the lights in the conference room go on, and—bam—the phones in the conference room AND my colleague’s office start ringing. All of the hairs on my body stand on end and I feel the blood drain from my head. I raced to the elevator, jumped on, and as the doors closed I could still hear those phones ringing in the distance….
Hope you enjoyed and got scared with the story. :) I'll be posting more scary stories soon, so stay tuned. :)
