My name is John and I’ve been working at a data center as a “Database Technician” for the past three months. In other words, I sit around half the time making sure nothing breaks and help our customers with basic support on-site. I used to work the day shift, but the guy on the night shift left without any warning.
We have several people working different shifts, but we were not expecting to have someone leave so suddenly, and management thought this would be a great opportunity for me. Today was my first night shift, and basically it was really fucking weird.
I badged through the entrance door at 6pm and entered the “Technician’s Office.” Practically every door that leads to a room is either a pin pad or a basic badge scanner. Sitting in the office was Matt.
Matt is an extremely extroverted guy. Do you remember those popular kids back in high school where they would literally talk to anyone if they get bored? I am pretty sure Matt used to be still is that guy.
Our shifts overlap by a solid hour to make sure the incoming shift has enough time to set up their personal devices and get the company’s ticket system up on the desktop. After setting my devices up, I asked Matt if he had any idea why the last guy quit.
After giving me that annoying fake laugh, he said, “Between you and me, I think it was the ghosts.”
I gave him my best “you’ve got to be shitting me” face and said, “Ghosts? Wasn’t this building built around 10 years ago?”
“Well, yeah, but this land was probably haunted by old spirits or something like that. Haven’t you heard of those Wendigos things?” He offhandedly commented.
Now I know not a lot of people know about cryptids and things, but from my very basic knowledge, Wendigos are not ghosts. I just sighed and mustered up “Yeah, sure, that sounds reasonable.”
The hour overlap slowly went by and passed. Matt left and the next couple of hours went by pretty quick with the help of Reddit and my favorite TV show.
I was in the middle of scrolling through a Subreddit when the lights cut out. Now for those who don’t know about data centers, that is fucking bad. The whole building runs on utility power, and if the lights go out, the servers might go out. We have generators in case that goes out, but it is not a fun day to deal with those things.
I practically jumped out of my seat and sprinted towards the door when the power kicked back on. I realized it was just the motion sensor turning off the lights, assuming that no one was in the room.
“Okay, maybe it is time I take a walk,” I whispered to myself. I took the company phone with me in case someone needs to get in to access their devices.
The layout of the building is pretty simple, where the Tech Office is next to the entrance. Straight from the entrance is a hallway that leads to the “Customer Cubicles”, right before that is where the elevator, staircase and customer bathrooms are located. Past their cubicles, are our storage room, power rooms, fitness room, and shipping/receiving bay.
Now I know you’re probably thinking “A fitness room in a data center? These nerds probably don’t use it.” You’re right, but we also have a pool table in that room, so I make good use of it.
After badging through, I made my way towards the fitness room, until I saw a shadow near one of the cubicles. Usually, I wouldn’t even notice. Except it’s a Saturday at 10pm. The only people usually on-site were yours truly and the security guard upstairs, but I guessed there’s always one night owl somewhere.
I turned towards the figure, assuming it was just a customer getting ready to leave.
I put on my best customer service voice and said, “How’s it going? Do you need help with anything?”
What I thought was a person turned around, and I saw this entity wearing a blue polo, khakis, and no shoes. It was almost transparent, like a smoke from a wildfire, where you can just barely see past the gray smoke.
It opened its “mouth”, except it was similar to a hand puppet’s mouth being opened by a child, and let out a scream that could only be compared to a tornado siren. Then it dropped onto all fours and lunged at me.
I like to think of myself as someone with above average reaction time, and that was put to the fucking test when that thing launched at me. I would love to say that I rolled out of the way and dodged it like a parkour pro, but I just dropped to the ground like a dying fish. I awkwardly scrambled to my feet and made my way to the door and took the chance to turn around.
It was gone. I tried to badge through the door, but my card wasn’t working. There’s only two ways I can get back to the office. I can go to the back and use the second staircase and make my way upstairs just to come back down. My second option was to leave through the shipping bay, since we have another exit there.
Technically, there is another exit, but it’s an emergency exit and I really didn’t feel like explaining to the police that I was “attacked by a spooky looking dude”.
Considering my options, I’d rather stay inside and just pick up my steps per day. I made my way to the back of the building, where our electric room and second staircase is located.
I attempted to badge through the next door, and I was able to get through. “Finally, some good news. Now let’s see what’s behind door number 2,” I jokingly said as I opened up the hallway door.
My humor quickly faded as I saw another being. This time I got a better view, considering it was a large hallway. This thing was a fully blacked out figure. Not a shadow where you can slightly see through it, but close to an “endless void” black. It smiled at me, the teeth were large, almost like a photoshopped image of enlarged teeth. Then it started to laugh, a hollowed out static laugh. It was like an echo of one of those pre-recorded laughs from one of those 80s game shows.
It didn’t move and just stood there, so I took a chance and stepped forward. Nothing happened, and it was still standing there and laughing annoyingly. I tip-toed my way towards the staircase, but he was right next to it, just to the side of it. I was within 10 feet of him when he stopped abruptly and pointed behind me.
I glanced behind me and saw the other being. I was not going to test my luck a second time. I ran up the staircase and managed to get to the second floor without any issues.
After I ensured my survival, and made sure that my pants were still dry, I started my journey back to the office. I saw the security guard sitting by the secured gate of the cabinets, and just gave a simple nod.
Listen, before you start judging and asking why I didn’t ask him to buddy up like the New Yorkers who kicked ghost ass, I didn’t exactly know this guy and did not want to seem like a paranoid rookie on his first night shift.
Luckily enough, he didn’t question me, and I was able to get to the second floor main hallway. I did not feel like running downstairs, so I took the elevator as a safe option.
I peeked through the elevator doors, ready to bolt in case that creepy fucker was back. To my surprise, I was safe. I rushed to the office door and badged in. I took a look at the TVs we hang on the walls to watch the security cameras, and the things were nowhere in sight. By this time, it was only 11pm. Still 7 hours to go.
The rest of the night went by smoothly, most likely because I refused to leave the office. I am glad that no customers tried to call and ask me to reboot one of their devices, even if the second floor feels safe.
6am finally came around, this time it was Jonah who relieved me from my shift. Jonah is a pretty cool guy, but maybe I am biased because he trained me. He is almost like me, where we are both on the line between extroverted and introverted, depending on the day.
Jonah is mostly day shift because he is a “Team Leader” or some corporate term for “dude who has been here longer than anyone else and does the same thing as you, but he will not be a manager just yet”.
“Hey there John, I am glad you didn’t run off like the last one,” he said with a small chuckle.
“Well, I don’t blame him for running off. There is some weird stuff in this place,” I left it almost hanging in hopes he asked about it. He took the bait.
“What do you mean by that?” He gave me a sincere look, and waited for an answer.
I gave him a brief version of what happened and when I finished telling my recollections, he stood there with a grim look on his face.
He sighed, sat down, and explained, “John, I am glad I am not the only one who saw those things. Tuesday is the next shift for you, right?”
I nodded, allowing him to continue.
“We have a cable that needs to be run for a customer, I’ll pair you up with Tom for it. He has some experience with this. Go home, get some rest, and give me a call when you come in.”
I gave him a quick acknowledgement and grabbed my belongings. This job pays well, my coworkers are great people, and the benefits are better than any other job I’ve worked at. In other words, I am not giving up just yet and hopefully, I can deal with those fucking ghosts.
Before all of that, I am going to have a drink and go to bed.
Well, the next shift was interesting.