Monday, May 16, 2011

Moomoo In The City





Sunday.

Shift  begins at 10 in the evening. I  have three agents working with me in a large building occupied by less than twenty people. Our office sits on the third floor of the white-washed edifice, and with barely-lit hallways to cross before reaching our work stations, expect to be spooked as you pass by the empty rooms.

My place of work is replete with stories of spectral encounters. There's this little boy who peeks behind empty office cubicles. One time, a delivery guy from Jollibee got his biggest scare when the kid joined him inside the elevator at 2 in the morning.

I'm not sure how he got out without shrieking all the way to the lobby.

There's also this faceless male adult often seen near the elevator. He wears a white upper garment and tends to disappear shortly after being seen. A white lady is also spotted walking past walls. Among the three entities known to us, the lady makes the least appearance.

In a place where strange encounters become ordinary occurrences, the living residents have gotten used to the invisible presence that it frighten us only when we realize that we're sharing spaces with the dead. Sure, the elevator opens at the lobby before buttons are being pressed, or our peripheral vision tells us of human figures disappearing in the dark but these are merely harmless encounters.

However, there are moments when courage simply betrays us. These are times when the hauntings break all forms of reason that it resigns us to our basic instincts of fearing what cannot be explained.



One Sunday evening, I was left with two agents because the other one decided to work remotely at  home. The hallway leading to our office was darker than usual because of the broken light in front of our room. I  had no intentions of  getting frightened, but there's no doubt the vibe on the floor was heavier than the previous nights.

So I decided to plug my music player in hopes of shaking the blues away. Thirty minutes into our shift, a loud thud was heard outside the room. The sound was akin to a plus-sized person trying to force himself against the wall.





An agent thought a robber might be trying to sneak in. Perhaps one of the nearby offices was being burglarized. Gut feel was telling me otherwise.  Despite the hair on my skin rising, I turned up the volume of the speakers and switched to club music to show my defiance. Light were turned on as well to keep that darkness from getting in.

Had the loud thud went on, I  honestly don't know what to do. Should I speak the Creator's name to drive the spirit away? Should I call on the Blessed Mother like what the priests-exorcists do. The night was still young and had the haunting persisted, I doubt if the agents would still report to the office the next night.

Fortunately, the loud thud ceased at once. Meanwhile, clairvoyant friends from Twitter were telling me that it was a dark creature who followed someone to work. As to how they sensed the creature's presence, I  leave to their extra-sensory abilities.  One of them even suggested to leave sweets near the door before I go home in the morning.



Nobody spoke of the loud thud during the course of the night. I also did my best to avoid having trips to the bathroom out of fear that  I  might bump into something in the hallway. Much as I have grown used to my own encounters with the spirits, a wrong apparition may force me to scream in falsetto voice all the way back to our room.

The agents told me it was the first time they had such experience. They have gotten used to the split-second "malik-mata," but a loud thud, they said was out of the ordinary. I was ready to believe that what we heard came from an outsider. However, an agent from the morning shift also told me that they too heard a loud bang, this time from the room next to our office earlier that weekend.

Come to think of it,  I was told a few weeks ago that an agent from the night shift (the one who decided to work at home) heard some scratching noises on the wall as he passed by the hallway directly across that room. It was five in the morning and their workers are not expected to arrive until seven.

The agent also claimed that the door was ajar when he passed by it, but when he returned from his bathroom break minutes later, the door was firmly shut.

Word spreads that its new occupants seem wary of strangers. Weeks into their office refurbishment, nobody knows the kind of business they engage in.

Meanwhile as the mystery of the strange noises unfold, I have this feeling that the loud thumping will go on. I am convinced that it was never the kid nor the old guy who's responsible for our entrenchment,  As to when the haunting happens next, only time will tell.

We will just have to wait and listen as ghost stories are told on the floor.
   




      

21 comments:

dario the jagged little egg said...

Hi sis' na experience ko narin yung elevator sa basement, bumukas magisa na wala naman ako pinipindot,( Yung right elevator ) akala ko sira lang and thankgoodness tanghali yun hehe...Baka si Jun Jun : )

Kapitan Potpot said...

I was never a believer, pero dahil na-assign ako sa nightshift, I've had encounters of such. Madalas, during the time I am on the sleeping quarters, may dark image na nakadagan sa akin na parang pumipigil sa paghinga ko. I think it happened twice.

The second was when I used to open or close the night shift, someone is typing the keyboards kahit ako na lang ang tao.

zeke said...

what's the name of the building?

i have never experienced any of these.

claudiopoi said...

kahit na hindi ako matakutin na tao, ay natakot ako dito, in fair. hindi din ako naniniwala dito dati, pero nung nagkaexperience ako first hand ng pagromansa ng succubus (talaga!), ay naniwala na din ako. sinulat ko pa nga yun dito eh:

http://claudiopoi.blogspot.com/2010/10/para-sa-kalaguyo-ko.html

iskeyri shit!

Yuan said...

Woah! I wanna go to your office kuya joms and experience what you wrote first hand. I do hope to read more of this kind of entry from you as i am a fan of this genre. ^^

Sean said...

shit! matutulog akong bukas ang ilaw.

Spiral Prince said...

can I astral waltz into your office, kuya joms? :)

Von_Draye said...

I wonder what was your background music when you were typing this?
tee hee

Ar-Ar Malalis said...

our office has been transferred here in this "before - abandoned - building"..
Imagine working on 19th floor at night where you have to pass all the floors in the elevator,
each floor is dark and empty floors.
pero na experienced ko na bumukas siya on 7th floor tapos parang may hangin na malamig na pumasok but instead of pressing the close button, HOLD pa 'yong na-press ko! AT ako lang mag isa non!

Lone wolf Milch said...

My ghost stories din kami noon when i was working sa callcenter. good thing di nagparamdam sa kin ang multo

Bloiggster said...

scary indeed. mate-take ko pa yang mga harmless apparition ng white lady at bata but a ghost that keeps on banging the wall, medyo katakot na. hopefully, di sya malevolent spirit.

may moomoo din dito sa building na tinitirahan ko kaya i avoid throwing my trash at night. madalas magparamdam pag dumadaan ako sa hallway papuntang tapunan ng basura.

Anonymous said...

souljacker! hehehe...kahit magagalit ka siguro express ko opinyon ko. If you have a strong faith, all these things you had seem to be little bit of fun to experience. If you have faith, God is within you and the demon trembles in the presence of God. Bless you brad!

Mugen said...

Laser:

Ayos lang di naman ako magagalit. Hehe. Just to remind you. Faith has nothing to do with ghosts or creatures from beyond. It helps that your faith is strong. But if a malevolent spirit insists on disturbing your peace, human instincts tell you to fear the unknown.

God Bless bro.

Bloiggster:

Ikuwento nga yang moomoo na yan. Masarap magkuwento ng Ghost Stories kapag natitigang ang utak.

Lonewolf:

Lost spirits wander everywhere. Sabi nga nila, some still has unfinished business while others haven't realized they have already passed away.

Mugen said...

Ar-Ar:

Naalala ko tuloy, kapag nagpapalit ako ng sounds nung gabing yun, I'm seconds from pressing my inner panic button kasi baka may kumalabog ulit sa pinto at hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko. Hehe.

Von Draye:

Static. :D

Sean:

Mas matindi pa yung ghost stories ko dun sa lumang trabaho. Mga harmless ang mga kasama namin dito. :)

Mugen said...

Yuan:

I might write someday how I found out that I'm capable of detecting the presence of spirits. :)

Claudio:

Ay nako. Natetempt na talaga akong ipost yung dati kong ghost story. Hahaha. Parang trip ko yata manakot ngayong gabi.

Greenbreaker:

Pasensya na but I cannot divulge that information. Baka ma-stalk ako dito. Teehee.

Mugen said...

Daniel:

Kapag kusang bumubukas yung pinto sa lobby, nagpapasalamat na lang ako sa kung sino man ang nilalang na nasa loob. :)

Louie:

And I'm sure, when that dark figure is on top of you, your body can't move and despite the feeling of being aware, your eyes remained closed. Tama ba?

Kapitan Potpot said...

Oo, ganun na ganun. I think Joshua ung pinangalan sa kaniya nung mga tenants.

Mr. Hush Hush said...

I read this post around 4am.. Puttanesca! natakot ako bigla! hahahahahaha I scanned my room, which was dimmed out already, got out of bed, turned on the kitchen light, drank some water, then went back to my room.. gusto ko na buksan ilaw, pero, pinilit ko sarili matulog! hahahaha hmf.

zeke said...

nyahaha, sumisimple lang! :P

pero, gusto ko talaga yan, I just want to know how it feels like being watched by some unknown something. wahaha ang gulo lang.

Kane said...

Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

What a fright! Pero they say the living is still scarier than the dead. What do you think?

Kane

Victor Saudad said...

....i dunno, but from what i can read from your story, hindi concrete na may nagmumulto.

kung may nagmumulto talaga, hindi siya sa kabilang kwarto lalo na kung walang tao. It would have definitely traversed walls to a room of people.

Whenever i hear a single thud, i brace myself and go and check it out.Better prove myself wrong than to scare myself of an unknown.