The Strangest Thing Happened While I Was Alone Working Overtime At A Medical Facility

I don't think I'll ever do this again.

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Flickr / Tim Samoff

I’m never working late again.

I’ve been strapped for cash for the past week or so due to bills, so last night I decided I’d work overtime. I work at a local doctor’s office doing electronic paperwork filing. The project we’re currently working on now is supposed to be finished by the end of May, so I thought the overtime would help that move quicker.

Braving the rain, I pulled into the office at 9:45PM. The office I work at isn’t the place where the patients go — because our 10 doctors have about 13,000 active patients, we have a separate building specifically for paperwork, patient records, meetings with medical suppliers, and all that good stuff. I pulled into the large 45-car parking lot, but seeing it completely empty gave me a weird feeling.

I walked towards the side door and held my keycard up to the ID scanner. There’s only two ways to get into my building: the side door from the employee parking lot, and the front glass doors. As soon as I walked in, I headed for the kitchen. There, I stood in front of our two vending machines trying to figure out what I wanted. I ended up getting root beer and a few bags of cheddar chips. Then, I got to my office. The only way I can describe it is an oversized cubicle. There are two desks, one for me, and the other is for the other guy working on the project. This “cubicle” has a door though, so it’s nice to have a little “privacy.” (That and since my office is completely against the wall, I have a window that faces the doctors office.)

I finally sat down at my desk around 9:55PM. I started my computer and waited for my monitors to boot up. As I sat there waiting, I was hit with a very odd feeling. It wasn’t the feeling of being watched or anything, but it was the silence of the empty office that made me very uneasy. I slowly wheeled over to the door, and shut it.

It was only a few minutes after that, that I got to work. Scanning files, pushing files, scanning files, pushing files…welcome to my life for the past two months. It was around 10:20PM when I had my first shock of the night. I was sitting at my desk just doing my routine, when a radio in one of the cubicles out in the main office turned on. This wasn’t just a gradual “turn on, then slowly turn the volume up.” No, as soon as the radio turned on, it was already blaring music. I jumped out of my chair, and opened my door.

Have you ever been so scared that you were afraid to even move? Well that was me in that doorway. I yelled to see if anyone was there, but got no response. I stood in the doorway for what felt like hours. My legs kept tensing forwards, but I wouldn’t move. I was even tempted to go back into my office, but I knew I would have to turn it off sooner or later. So I sprinted out into the main office to find the culprit. There are a LOT of cubicles on the main floor, and nearly each one has a radio, so I was scrambling trying to find it.

I got closer to the blaring music, I actually recognized the song! Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes The Boogeyman by Henry Hall! I’m a huge Bioshock fan, so I would’ve thought it was cool if my heart hadn’t been racing a mile a minute. I finally got to the cubicle. It was Sharon’s. Her cubicle was very close to the side door, which was on the other side of the office. Sharon is always nice, but very invasive. I sort of dreaded the fact that she might be here. I called out her name as soon as I turned off her radio, but nobody answered. I got that uneasy feeling again, so I went into our kitchen, which is right next to the lobby. I pulled out my phone and leaned against the door that led to the lobby.

I started texting Hannah, my main boss, to ask her if anyone was working with me that night. It was then I heard a very faint, voice cry out. “Hello?” it said. I nearly dropped my phone as I jumped in fright. I looked around to see if anyone was around me, then I heard a series of loud bangs.

BANG BANG BANG.

Someone was slamming their fist against the glass doors. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

“Okay I’m coming, JESUS!” I yelled as I opened the door to the lobby. I looked to my right and felt light headed. No one was out there, just the pouring rain. I quickly calculated my actions to the time it would take for someone to hide. It took me only a few seconds to walk out into the lobby, so there could have been no way someone could’ve gotten out of view of our doors that quickly. I felt, at this point, extremely creeped out. I sprinted back to my office like a scared kid running up the basement stairs. As soon as I got into my office, I locked the door, laid against it, and pulled out my phone.

“Hey. Is anyone working tonight?” I typed.

This was the text I sent my Aunt, who is also a manager at the office. It took a few seconds, but she responded.

“No, why?”

“Well I keep hearing these noises as if someone is here.”

I saw that she was typing when I heard something else. Footsteps. They were in the kitchen, and it sounded like someone walking in a circle. I put my phone in my pocket and headed back out into the kitchen. As soon as I opened the door from the main office, I saw the door to the lobby closing, and the back of someone’s boots walking away.

“Thank God,” I whispered to myself. I quickly went through the kitchen and into the lobby. But nobody was there. Perplexed, I checked all the rooms near the lobby, but I couldn’t find anyone. I re-opened my phone to read my Aunt’s text.

“It might be one of the janitors, don’t worry about it.”

“No, nobody is physically here but I keep hearing the noises, I am about to head out,” I replied.

“Really? You’ve been complaining about money for the past couple weeks, overtime wouldn’t hurt. Stop being such a puss.”

Against my better judgement, I knew she was right. I needed the money desperately. So again, as soon as I got off the phone, I sprinted back to my office. This time, I covered my ears as I ran.

I locked my door behind me. We weren’t supposed to do that really during the day, but I didn’t give a damn at that moment. I started filing again. I looked at the computer clock, 11:05. It was then that my desk phone rang. I looked at the ID, and felt relieved to see it was Marcus, a male nurse at the actual doctors’ office. It must’ve been Marcus that I saw leaving the kitchen! I remembered that their vending machine wasn’t working, so he must’ve come from next door to get something. It didn’t explain the radio, but I was trying to rationalize everything at once.

“Hey, Marcus what’s up? You scared the shit out of me earlier!” I said,

“…open the door.”

It wasn’t Marcus. It was the same, soft voice that I had heard earlier.

“Who is this? If you’re screwing around with me, it’s not funny, I’m trying to get work done.”

“11:30, open the door.”

“What do…” I started, but heard the phone disconnect.

I know I should have left, but to be honest, I think I was too scared to even leave my office.

At 11:24, knowing that my “deadline” was almost up, I stared out the window and at the doctors office. Nothing happened for about a minute, but the light of the lobby turned on. I could see the silhouette of a person facing away from their lobby’s side window. The silhouette sat there for a few seconds, motionless. I saw it turn around as if it was looking out the window, staring at me. I got closer to the window to see if I could make out the person, but the light abruptly shut off. I sort of jumped back, and outside the window. I could hear splashing, like someone running through the puddles. The sound got closer and closer. I pulled down my shutters quickly and fell back against my door.

BANG BANG BANG.

Someone was slamming on my window. Fearing that it would break, I unlocked my door and ran out into the main office. As soon as I started towards the other side of the building, the main office lights turned off. I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight, but I didn’t even get time to organize myself. As soon as the light came out of my phone, I heard a hissing sound behind me. That’s when I started sprinting as fast as I could.

I’ve worked here long enough to sort of know my “routes,” but I kept running into cubicle walls and other things as I scrambled to get away. The hissing sound followed right behind me. As I ran past Sharon’s cubicle, her radio came on. It was louder than it was earlier — the volume had already been turned up all the way and it was playing the same damn song. I could feel my heart pounding and my blood pumping through my body. The 30 seconds it took to run from my office to the side doors felt like an eternity. The hissing noise sounded like it was right in my ear as I ran out of the door, when everything stopped.

I fell onto the sidewalk outside and looked up. I was pleased to find nothing hovering over me. Soaked through by the rain, I got in my car and called Hannah to tell her what happened. Although it was late in the night, she actually answered. After I spewed out what I could, she said she would call the cops. I told her I wasn’t staying, I told her to tell them that I would be at the Taco Bell close by.

beetlejuice

When the cops went over the building, they said there were no signs of forced entry. They even checked the doctors’ office and didn’t find any signs. They were, however, able to verify that I receive a call when “nobody was inside the office”. I told them all I could and went home. I am supposed to be going there tonight around 5 for a meeting, but I called in. I can’t really quit, but I will say that I will never work there alone again. Hell, I don’t even want to know what was going on. I think it’ll be easier for me to work there if I just keep myself in the dark. I don’t know, I’ll see. But I can say that what happened last night has turned me from someone who has always been skeptical of the paranormal, into a pretty hardcore believer. Thought Catalog Logo Mark