I work as an overnight security guard for an abandoned…
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I work as an overnight security guard for an abandoned mine. Last night something came up.
My job is pretty simple. Clock in at 8:00pm, walk around the chainlink fence surrounding the mine shaft every 30-45min, and watch the security cameras.
The mine has been abandoned since the 80s. Elevator shaft down sealed off, and a fence erected around the whole thing. Corporate’s official story was that the mine had run dry and was no longer profitable. Any local family would tell you the real story was that too many miners had gone missing, their bodies never found; and no one wanted to go back down the mine, no matter how much they raised the pay.
I didn’t know why they needed such tight security for an abandoned mine. But I wasn’t about to question it, the pay was amazing.
I had been at this job a month and already had my routines down. Start a pot of coffee as soon as I get there, and check in with the day shift security guard. There was usually nothing to report. A couple of kids tried to sneak in to the mine to get drunk, a tweaker came by looking for copper wire, the normal stuff expected in a place like this.
I had just finished with the coffee when the day shift security guard, Mack, approached me.
“It’s been pretty quiet around here. But something did happen that I can’t really explain.”
He took me outside the office and showed me a spot in the chain link fence that has been ripped open. “I couldn’t tell you how this happened, I didn’t see anybody on the monitors, and didn’t hear anything either.”
As I got closer to the fence I noticed that the edges of the hole that was now there were ragged and curved outwards at all different angles, some kind of viscous black substance coated the entire affected area. The smell was enough to dissuade me from inspecting any further.
“It doesn’t seem like kids with bolt cutters, they usually just jump the fence anyway.”
We walked back to the office and started to watch the security footage from around that time. But just as we got to the correct time stamp the file was gone. The error message read “file manually deleted”.
Mack had no answer other than he hadn’t even thought to check the security cameras before I got here. As he was leaving for the day he asked me if I could write up the incident report. Just as he was about to go both of our attention turned towards the mine shaft. The groan of old steel cables echoed throughout the quarry. The elevator was moving.
When it finally reached the entrance to the tunnel, we hurried over to the security cameras. There was one installed right above the shaft entrance. There was nothing there. The elevator didn’t go back down.
“Old girl must’ve finally died, that same thing happened earlier too. Probably some weird electrical surge. You mind writing up the report for all this?”
Uneasy as I was I didn’t mind, it gave me something to do to pass the time. I watched him pull away, the dust from his tires fading into the night. The sun had set, and I started settling down for the long haul.
Just as I finished firing off the email to corporate world, my alarm went off. Time for my first round of the night. It was about 9:30 when I stepped out of the office. One thing I enjoyed about this job was the remoteness, no light pollution, you could see every star in the sky.
It took me at least five minutes of walking before I realized how unnaturally dark it was. My flashlight was little help tonight, what light it did put out was swallowed up by the vast expanse of darkness after more than five feet.
I realized there were no stars in the sky that night, no moon. And the more I kept walking the more uneasy I started to feel. I’d usually hear a coyote or two, an owl. Nothing.
I convinced myself that it was just overcast and pushed on. The fence surrounding the mine shaft went on for 1.5 mile. Walking at my usual pace it would take me about 20-25 minutes.
I made It back in 15. As I sat down the computer dinged. I’d actually received a response from corporate.
“REPAIR FENCE IMMEDIATELY. IF SOMETHING APPROACHES YOU DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE IT.”
I was not about to go out there again. The morning crew could handle it. Settled into my chair and halfway through my first pot of coffee I started to notice a stench seeping into the office. It was pungent, and oddly sweet, and as the minutes passed it grew stronger.
I couldn’t stand the smell anymore and needing fresh air I finally decided to go outside and repair the fence. The only sound as I started walking was the sound of my own footsteps and the tools shifting around in the tool box.
I was in a hurry and grabbed way too much and ended up dropping the flashlight. It flickered off as the batteries fell out and everything scattered in a different direction. I stopped walking abruptly and was about to bend down when I heard soft foot falls behind me that stopped just a second after I did.
I stiffened. Something in me told me not to turn around. I turned on my head lamp and picked back up my tool box and kept walking towards the fence, leaving the flashlight behind. Every step I took was matched by another pair of steps behind me, always a second or two after.
Finally arriving at the fence I immediately set to work. I found even more of the viscous substance, it coated not only the fence but the ground around it. It was exactly the same odor that had come into the office. Slipping my gloves on and the strongest pair of pliers I had, I began folding the broken chain links inward.
I had almost forgotten about the footsteps when I heard something shift behind me. The smell grew stronger. And the air felt wet and heavy. I trembled as I kept working. Keenly aware that whatever was behind me had no intention of leaving.
I could feel it stoop down, and kneel behind me. Mimicking the position I was in. Hot, shallow breath hit the back of my neck and made my hair stand on edge. My grip tightened on the pliers I was holding, I needed to move faster.
The breathing behind me eventually fell into almost perfect sync with mine, always a second or two behind.
I finished the last repair and stood up slowly. It stood up too. I kept my head down and started walking back to the security office. It followed.
Every step I took was echoed back to me. I started picking up the pace, and so did it. And suddenly the steps were in perfect sync with mine. No more delay.
I had the security office in sight when the footsteps disappeared, and something l appeared in front of me. It caught me so off guard I didn’t have time to look away.
I found myself staring at-at me. Or someone’s impression of me if you were trying to describe me to somebody.
It had the same scar on my eyebrow from when I fell off of my bike when I was six. The same gap in my front tooth, but everything was slightly off. Eyes were crooked, nose sitting too low, the skin was pulled too tight, and sallow in color.
I had no choice to acknowledge it, and it knew. It raised a hand, slowly like it took effort, the skin hanging from the bones and pointed an unnaturally long finger at me.
“Switch.”
I dropped everything I had and started running. I knew it was close behind me. It hadn’t learned to mimic my run, and I could hear its awkward gait struggling to keep up.
Slamming and locking the door I sunk to my knees. I could hear it just outside the door. It’s shallow breathing momentarily out of sync with mine.
I checked the security cameras live feed. A figure cloaked in darkness was climbing through the hole in the fence. I couldn’t make out much from the security feed, all I could occasionally see was a thin pale arm, and the shine of their eyes. From behind the fence the figure stood up and looked right at the security camera.
They stood there watching for a full minute before vanishing into the darkness. My eyes were fixed on the security cameras when this time my phone lit up.
It was my boss.
“DO NOT GO OUTSIDE AGAIN. SHUT ALL THE BLINDS AND DO NOT WATCH THE SECURITY FEED ANYMORE. ITS WATCHING YOU BACK.”
I’ve never moved faster. Shutting the blinds was the easy part, turning off the security feed without looking was going to be a challenge.
I kept my eyes on the floor as I walked over to the desktop. Reaching for the mouse I began slowly trying to power it down, using only my peripherals to guide me.
I thought I had it when the screen lit up with the one of the security feeds taking up the entire screen. It was the one just outside the security office door.
It was there looking right in the camera. It’s eyes locked on mine. I couldn’t look away. I stumbled backwards and fell my head cracking against the floor. The last thing I heard before I passed out was “switchhh.”
I woke up to the sun streaming in through the blinds and my boss kneeling beside me. He told me Mack had come in and found me unresponsive. I stood up with his help and went straight for the desktop; and I immediately tried to find the security footage from last night.
I was met with the error massage “File manually deleted.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder, “the company likes to deal with these things internally.”
I was sent home for two weeks on what they call “mental health leave.” On my return I was going to be given a partner and a substantial raise. The fence had apparently been repaired and “reinforced,” The elevator permanently decommissioned.
It was the night before I was suppose to return to work, I felt mostly fine other than the goose egg on the back of my head.
I was brushing my teeth when I caught my reflection in the mirror, and something felt off. I know what my face looks like, I’ve looked at it everyday for 25 years. My proportions seemed off.
I put my hand to my face, it felt tight and papery. The tan I once had was replaced by a sickly yellow color. My eyes seemed sunken in and dull.
I’m typing this now because I don’t know what will happen when I return to work tomorrow night. Part of me doesn’t want to go, but I need the money.
If you’re reading this and I haven’t updated, don’t try and research the mine, don’t try and find this place. Something might try and switch places with you.
#entertainment
source
My job is pretty simple. Clock in at 8:00pm, walk around the chainlink fence surrounding the mine shaft every 30-45min, and watch the security cameras.
The mine has been abandoned since the 80s. Elevator shaft down sealed off, and a fence erected around the whole thing. Corporate’s official story was that the mine had run dry and was no longer profitable. Any local family would tell you the real story was that too many miners had gone missing, their bodies never found; and no one wanted to go back down the mine, no matter how much they raised the pay.
I didn’t know why they needed such tight security for an abandoned mine. But I wasn’t about to question it, the pay was amazing.
I had been at this job a month and already had my routines down. Start a pot of coffee as soon as I get there, and check in with the day shift security guard. There was usually nothing to report. A couple of kids tried to sneak in to the mine to get drunk, a tweaker came by looking for copper wire, the normal stuff expected in a place like this.
I had just finished with the coffee when the day shift security guard, Mack, approached me.
“It’s been pretty quiet around here. But something did happen that I can’t really explain.”
He took me outside the office and showed me a spot in the chain link fence that has been ripped open. “I couldn’t tell you how this happened, I didn’t see anybody on the monitors, and didn’t hear anything either.”
As I got closer to the fence I noticed that the edges of the hole that was now there were ragged and curved outwards at all different angles, some kind of viscous black substance coated the entire affected area. The smell was enough to dissuade me from inspecting any further.
“It doesn’t seem like kids with bolt cutters, they usually just jump the fence anyway.”
We walked back to the office and started to watch the security footage from around that time. But just as we got to the correct time stamp the file was gone. The error message read “file manually deleted”.
Mack had no answer other than he hadn’t even thought to check the security cameras before I got here. As he was leaving for the day he asked me if I could write up the incident report. Just as he was about to go both of our attention turned towards the mine shaft. The groan of old steel cables echoed throughout the quarry. The elevator was moving.
When it finally reached the entrance to the tunnel, we hurried over to the security cameras. There was one installed right above the shaft entrance. There was nothing there. The elevator didn’t go back down.
“Old girl must’ve finally died, that same thing happened earlier too. Probably some weird electrical surge. You mind writing up the report for all this?”
Uneasy as I was I didn’t mind, it gave me something to do to pass the time. I watched him pull away, the dust from his tires fading into the night. The sun had set, and I started settling down for the long haul.
Just as I finished firing off the email to corporate world, my alarm went off. Time for my first round of the night. It was about 9:30 when I stepped out of the office. One thing I enjoyed about this job was the remoteness, no light pollution, you could see every star in the sky.
It took me at least five minutes of walking before I realized how unnaturally dark it was. My flashlight was little help tonight, what light it did put out was swallowed up by the vast expanse of darkness after more than five feet.
I realized there were no stars in the sky that night, no moon. And the more I kept walking the more uneasy I started to feel. I’d usually hear a coyote or two, an owl. Nothing.
I convinced myself that it was just overcast and pushed on. The fence surrounding the mine shaft went on for 1.5 mile. Walking at my usual pace it would take me about 20-25 minutes.
I made It back in 15. As I sat down the computer dinged. I’d actually received a response from corporate.
“REPAIR FENCE IMMEDIATELY. IF SOMETHING APPROACHES YOU DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE IT.”
I was not about to go out there again. The morning crew could handle it. Settled into my chair and halfway through my first pot of coffee I started to notice a stench seeping into the office. It was pungent, and oddly sweet, and as the minutes passed it grew stronger.
I couldn’t stand the smell anymore and needing fresh air I finally decided to go outside and repair the fence. The only sound as I started walking was the sound of my own footsteps and the tools shifting around in the tool box.
I was in a hurry and grabbed way too much and ended up dropping the flashlight. It flickered off as the batteries fell out and everything scattered in a different direction. I stopped walking abruptly and was about to bend down when I heard soft foot falls behind me that stopped just a second after I did.
I stiffened. Something in me told me not to turn around. I turned on my head lamp and picked back up my tool box and kept walking towards the fence, leaving the flashlight behind. Every step I took was matched by another pair of steps behind me, always a second or two after.
Finally arriving at the fence I immediately set to work. I found even more of the viscous substance, it coated not only the fence but the ground around it. It was exactly the same odor that had come into the office. Slipping my gloves on and the strongest pair of pliers I had, I began folding the broken chain links inward.
I had almost forgotten about the footsteps when I heard something shift behind me. The smell grew stronger. And the air felt wet and heavy. I trembled as I kept working. Keenly aware that whatever was behind me had no intention of leaving.
I could feel it stoop down, and kneel behind me. Mimicking the position I was in. Hot, shallow breath hit the back of my neck and made my hair stand on edge. My grip tightened on the pliers I was holding, I needed to move faster.
The breathing behind me eventually fell into almost perfect sync with mine, always a second or two behind.
I finished the last repair and stood up slowly. It stood up too. I kept my head down and started walking back to the security office. It followed.
Every step I took was echoed back to me. I started picking up the pace, and so did it. And suddenly the steps were in perfect sync with mine. No more delay.
I had the security office in sight when the footsteps disappeared, and something l appeared in front of me. It caught me so off guard I didn’t have time to look away.
I found myself staring at-at me. Or someone’s impression of me if you were trying to describe me to somebody.
It had the same scar on my eyebrow from when I fell off of my bike when I was six. The same gap in my front tooth, but everything was slightly off. Eyes were crooked, nose sitting too low, the skin was pulled too tight, and sallow in color.
I had no choice to acknowledge it, and it knew. It raised a hand, slowly like it took effort, the skin hanging from the bones and pointed an unnaturally long finger at me.
“Switch.”
I dropped everything I had and started running. I knew it was close behind me. It hadn’t learned to mimic my run, and I could hear its awkward gait struggling to keep up.
Slamming and locking the door I sunk to my knees. I could hear it just outside the door. It’s shallow breathing momentarily out of sync with mine.
I checked the security cameras live feed. A figure cloaked in darkness was climbing through the hole in the fence. I couldn’t make out much from the security feed, all I could occasionally see was a thin pale arm, and the shine of their eyes. From behind the fence the figure stood up and looked right at the security camera.
They stood there watching for a full minute before vanishing into the darkness. My eyes were fixed on the security cameras when this time my phone lit up.
It was my boss.
“DO NOT GO OUTSIDE AGAIN. SHUT ALL THE BLINDS AND DO NOT WATCH THE SECURITY FEED ANYMORE. ITS WATCHING YOU BACK.”
I’ve never moved faster. Shutting the blinds was the easy part, turning off the security feed without looking was going to be a challenge.
I kept my eyes on the floor as I walked over to the desktop. Reaching for the mouse I began slowly trying to power it down, using only my peripherals to guide me.
I thought I had it when the screen lit up with the one of the security feeds taking up the entire screen. It was the one just outside the security office door.
It was there looking right in the camera. It’s eyes locked on mine. I couldn’t look away. I stumbled backwards and fell my head cracking against the floor. The last thing I heard before I passed out was “switchhh.”
I woke up to the sun streaming in through the blinds and my boss kneeling beside me. He told me Mack had come in and found me unresponsive. I stood up with his help and went straight for the desktop; and I immediately tried to find the security footage from last night.
I was met with the error massage “File manually deleted.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder, “the company likes to deal with these things internally.”
I was sent home for two weeks on what they call “mental health leave.” On my return I was going to be given a partner and a substantial raise. The fence had apparently been repaired and “reinforced,” The elevator permanently decommissioned.
It was the night before I was suppose to return to work, I felt mostly fine other than the goose egg on the back of my head.
I was brushing my teeth when I caught my reflection in the mirror, and something felt off. I know what my face looks like, I’ve looked at it everyday for 25 years. My proportions seemed off.
I put my hand to my face, it felt tight and papery. The tan I once had was replaced by a sickly yellow color. My eyes seemed sunken in and dull.
I’m typing this now because I don’t know what will happen when I return to work tomorrow night. Part of me doesn’t want to go, but I need the money.
If you’re reading this and I haven’t updated, don’t try and research the mine, don’t try and find this place. Something might try and switch places with you.
#entertainment
source
| 4,000 mlx | |
| 9 | |
| 0 |