“Just remember not to trust anyone at this job. If the opportunity comes, someone can, and will throw you under the bus.” Marissa grumbled, and started muttering to herself as we both sat in the cramped security office. I’d gone from working in a very social environment, to this secluded, and seemingly barren security job. Marissa was training me for a few days before she went to another post. After that, I would be working night shifts at the Centurion Complex all on my own. Tonight was the last night Marissa would be with me.
Marissa was an older woman, most likely in her early sixties, extremely bitter, and openly offensive about particular topics. She mumbled under her breath a lot, and could be rather confrontational at times. I just kept quiet, tuned her out most of the time, and only listened when it came time to learn something about the job.
The job itself wasn’t demanding, and there was a lot of down-time. I was to take over the weekend shifts, spanning from 4pm to 12am. A normal shift went as so; two exterior patrols, two interior patrols, and two parking structure patrols. The Centurion Complex was made up of two buildings that needed to be patrolled. Even so, it was easy work, and with all of the down-time, I had plenty of time to catch up on some reading, so long as my patrols got done.
It was the final night that Marissa was training me, and she was acting different from what I had become accustomed to. She seemed very anxious, and paranoid. She was muttering to herself a lot more than usual during our second interior patrol for the night.
“Hey Marissa, is everything alright?” I’m a rather anxious person myself, so seeing her act as such caused me to feel rather uneasy. She kept looking over her shoulder, and scratching her head rigorously with both hands at once, letting out an exasperated chuckle from time to time.
“You need to know some things.” She replied. “You’ve got everything down for the job, but there’s things we’re not supposed to train new people. You seem like a fine young man, so it’s only fair that I share what I’ve learned here over the years.” Her eyes began to water. She took off her glasses to wipe her eyes. “The Centurion has many tenants that only reveal themselves at night. They’re mostly active over the weekend when the usual tenants are off work. You’re all alone here with them over the weekend.” She paused, turning to me, her eyes filled with what appeared to be terror. “They know you’re alone, and they will make themselves known to you.”
I didn’t know what to say. I believed in the paranormal, but I wasn’t entirely sure if that’s what she was hinting at. “What are you trying to tell me? That there are some weird employees here, or that they’re rude? Maybe a combination of both?” I let out a nervous laugh, when suddenly Marissa stepped closer to me, her head down, and what sounded like stifled crying.
“I’m not supposed to tell you anything. They already know I did, I can feel it! No matter what you do, do not acknowledge them. The more you do, the more ‘social’ they become.” She was visibly shaking. “Let’s go outside. I’ll tell you more there, where they’re less likely to hear us.” We cut the patrol early, exited the building, and sat down at one of the tables in the courtyard between the two buildings. Marissa seemed a bit more at ease, but was clearly still paranoid.
“Try to breathe, Marissa. You’re worrying me. Who are ‘they’? Also, why shouldn’t I ack-“ Marissa held up her finger to her lips, gesturing to be quiet.
“The more we talk about them, the more potent their presence gets. They. Are. Always. Listening. I’m going to leave early tonight since they’ll be upset with me for warning you, and I don’t want to be around for whatever they may have in store for me.” She looked over her shoulder for a few moments, before turning back to face me. “There are a few more things that you need to know. Write them down. We don’t have much time.” I quickly pulled out my pen and notepad, growing more anxious by the second.
Building one, where you spend most of your down-time, has much less activity than building two. However, be wary of the third, and fourth floor. There is a woman that will take notice of you. Once you encounter her, she will follow you until your interior patrol is finished. Once you step out of the doors, she isn’t to be found again until you start your second interior patrol, on the same floor that she previously started to follow you on. Don’t look directly at her, and do not acknowledge her in any way. You will know it’s her when you get a glimpse of her. You’ll hear her following you, and you will feel her presence. No matter what you do, you cannot acknowledge her! Do you understand?!” I was taken aback by her sudden change of tone. I nodded, confirming I understood her warning of this woman.
She let out a sigh of relief, and for the first time, I saw a slight smile come across her face. “Good. Before I delve into the horrors of building two, know that you cannot tell anyone about these… things. Spirits. Demons. I don’t know, and I don’t care. I’m only telling you because this is my last night here, and I’ll never have to come back. Now, for building two, be wary of the ninth, and tenth floors. Especially the ninth! If you’re not careful, and mindful of-“ Marissa suddenly froze, her eyes fixated past me, looking upwards. I saw her face drain of color, and she had a look of pure dread on her face.
“Marissa, what’s wrong? What is it?” She just sat there, staring in the same direction for a few moments, before looking down at the table, her head hung low. I felt a chill quickly run down my spine, and the air surrounding the table turned extremely cold.
“I have to go.” She said, with a sound of utter defeat in her voice. She stood up, and started heading towards the parking structure, not turning back, or speaking another word. I rushed up behind her, trying to speak with her, or get her attention in any way that I could, but she got into her car, and drove off. Up until tonight, Marissa appeared to be a rather stoic, and stubborn person. Seeing her behave the way she did tonight had me utterly baffled.
I turned around, and started making my way back to the security office inside of building one. I stopped at the table that Marissa and I were sitting at earlier. The air was much colder surrounding the table, than anywhere else I had previously walked while outside in the area. I stood over the chair Marissa had previously sat in, and looked up at the building, trying to find any indication of what caused her to storm off like that. Scanning the upper levels of building one, I was unable to see much of anything in the darkened windows of the offices. As my eyes trailed lower while scanning the building, I caught a glimpse of something that appeared to be on the fourth floor of the building. It had the shape of a woman, and was just standing there, appearing to be staring out of the window. I was unable to make out any features, so I was certain that I’d grown paranoid after Marissa’s freak out, or that I was getting tired, since it was getting late.
I rubbed my eyes, convinced I was just seeing things, and my mind was playing tricks on me. I glance back up where I had previously seen the woman, and she was no longer there. Curiosity got the better of me, and began to scan the third floor as well. There she was, standing there, her gaze fixed on me. She wasn’t just a shape anymore. I could make out details, and features. The air around me grew even colder as my eyes fixated on the woman. She was wearing a short white dress, reaching down just above her knees. Her skin appeared to be pale, and her hair was long, and dark, much of which hung in her face. She was extremely slender, and frail looking. The nails on her fingers were long, with jagged tips that appeared to be sharp. There were stains on her dress, but I was unable to make out what they were. Finally, my eyes trailed upward, and I was finally able to get a look at her face.
Her eyes were large, opened wide, with a fixed gaze in me. It felt as if she was staring into my soul. As my eyes met hers, I felt as if I couldn’t move, and I was barely able to breathe. It almost felt as if I were being strangled. Her eyes were just dark pools of black. Her jaw looked off-centered. Her face had been neutral this entire time, no expressions whatsoever. However, I noticed that her mouth was slowly moving, forming into an expression. Her body began to twist, and contort, arms twisting backward in a spastic motion. I could hear what sounded like bones cracking, and crunching. Her body now hunching over, and her neck twitched to the side, cracking loudly, her head now resting on her right shoulder. Slowly but surely, a grin formed on her face, as she began limping closer toward the window.
I froze up, absolutely terrified. I wanted to run away, and drive off like Marissa did, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. The woman pressed herself up against the window, and began tapping on it with her long nails. The tapping was excruciatingly loud, and it was surprising to hear from so far away.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. It started off slow, but perpetually got faster.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. She suddenly opened her mouth, and let out a blood-curdling scream. I closed my eyes, and covered my ears to block some of the noise out. After what felt like minutes, the screaming stopped. I uncovered my ears, and looked back up to where the woman was previously. She was gone. Nowhere to be seen.
I don’t remember much of the night after that. I finished up the remainder of my patrols, and avoided building one as much as possible. I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder while patrolling the buildings, but I didn’t run into any more issues that night. After finishing my shift, and driving home, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. As the next day began, I ended up sleeping in late, which meant I had to shower, get ready, then get to work.
Still in the process of waking up, I walked into building one, to relieve the guard currently on duty. His name was Frank, and he was a kind, middle-aged looking man. The prior days before I had relieved him with Marissa. He was very very chipper, and polite. I opened the door to the security office, and instead of the usual greeting, he was quiet. He turned around in the chair, and glared at me.
“Hey Frank. Anything going on tonight?”
“She warned you, didn’t she? She warned you, admit it!” Frank grabbed hold of my shirt, and pinned me against the wall. I nodded rapidly. I felt him tighten his grip before letting go shortly after. “I’m sorry, it’s just…” he paused, and appeared to be holding back tears.
I got a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What happened to Marissa, Frank?” I asked, swallowing nervously, unsure of if I even wanted to know.
“… on her way home last night, Marissa, she… she drove off the road, and crashed. The car was flipped over when they found it. It’ll probably be in the papers tomorrow. I’ll keep an eye out, and give you the paper next time I see you.” He let out a loud sigh, took off his glasses, and sat back down in the chair.
“So, which one was it? Ninth and tenth floor in building two, right? Those ruthless bastards…” Frank’s breathing’s hastened as he continued. “… or the seventh floor in building two?! Twelfth floor in building two?!” His breathing became frantic, and I quickly rested my hand on his shoulder. His breathing calmed slightly, as he composed himself to catch his breath.
“It was a woman on the fourth floor in building one. Marissa was warning me about her, and multiple other things when she suddenly just stopped speaking, saw something in the building behind me, and left.” After relaying what happened to Frank, his head sunk down, and he placed his hands over his face.
“Oh god… she acknowledged her. Look, whatever happens, you cannot look at her directly! I can’t believe she got Marissa…” His eyes began to water, but stopped abruptly, his eyes widening, with a fearful expression coming over his face. “How did you know it was the woman?! You looked at her, didn’t you?!” Frank stood up from the chair, and backed out of the office.
“So what happens now, Frank? What do I do?” I asked, desperately hoping for some helpful advice on how to deal with this situation. After all, I did meet her gaze, but nothing had happened to me since then.
Frank reached in, grabbed his jacket, and walked out. As he passed through the building’s doors, he yelled, “stay away from me!” I retreated back into the security office, and shut the door. I clocked in, and got ready for my first night shift alone. Before I started my work for the day, I pulled out my phone, typed Marissa’s full name, and searched it up online.
Her obituary showed up. Terrible accident. Tragedy. Spared readers the gruesome sights, and details. There was a picture of her car turned upside down in the article. I examined the picture closely, but was unable to see Marissa, but I wasn’t too surprised by that. I examined the picture for about ten minutes, until I found something that sent chills throughout my entire body.
In the passenger door window there was a reflection that I know wasn’t there the first few times I scanned the picture. It was the woman’s face. She wore a sad looking expression. As I examined the reflection closer, her face slowly began to twist into a sinister grin. I dropped my phone, feeling paralyzed just as I did the night before. After a few moments, I was able to move again. I bent down to grab my phone, and looked at the picture once more. She was gone. The woman was gone from the image.
It was now time to start my first night alone at the Centurion Complex.