After that, I made it back to the office without any issues, and my senior praised me. "Good job out there. Glad it was nothing."
Me: "Me too, honestly. But why do you think the alarm went off in the first place?"
Senior: "...Maybe it was a ghost? lol"
Me: "...No way, haha."
There were no more alarms after that, so I wrote up the report for Building XX. When 9:00 AM rolled around, I handed off my shift to the day crew and went home.
Since you get the rest of the day off after a night shift, I slept past noon.
"Night shifts are nice and relaxed, but they sure ruin your sleep schedule..."
I was rummaging through the fridge looking for something to eat when my phone buzzed with a LINE notification. It was from the office.
The message read: "Good work. Sorry to bother you on your day off. We sent the report for Building XX to the facility manager, and it seems there's something they urgently need to double-check... Could you pop into the office for a bit?"
That was it. I thought to myself, *(Did I forget to lock up...? No, I'm sure I locked it... What could it be?)* Even though it was my day off, I didn't have any plans, and I was curious about what they wanted, so I headed into the office.
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When I arrived, Mr. Sato (fake name), who was working the day shift, looked awkwardly hesitant. "I'm really sorry to call you in on your day off... It's just..."
When I asked what was going on, Sato told me that the facility manager of Building XX had said, "I want to speak with the guard who responded yesterday. Ideally as soon as possible." Apparently, he sounded pretty anxious.
The client was a long-standing client, so Sato said he had hesitated to call me in, but ultimately decided it was best.
I thought, *(Is that a thing...? Well, maybe I messed something up, so it can't be helped.)* Thinking that, I called the manager of Building XX.
Me: "Hello, this is Sakai from XX Security."
Manager: "Ah, hello. This is Tsutsui (fake name), the manager of Building XX."
Me: "I'm the guard who responded to the alarm at 2:02 AM today..."
As soon as I brought it up, Mr. Tsutsui said urgently, "Ah, yes! That's what I need to clarify right away! Could you please come over here right now?!"
Raising his voice out of nowhere, he asked me to come to Building XX. I told him, "Let me check on that, please hold for a moment," pressed the hold button, and asked Sato:
Me: "The client wants me to go over there regarding yesterday's incident. Is it okay if I go?"
Sato: "If you don't mind, Sakai-san, please..."
Me: "Got it. I don't mind at all, so I'll tell him I'm on my way."
With that, I took the phone off hold and told him, "I'm heading over now."
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When I arrived at Building XX, Mr. Tsutsui was there to meet me. He owned the building and ran his own company out of it.
Tsutsui: "I'm so sorry for calling you over on such short notice..."
Me: "No problem at all. So, what was it you needed to talk about?"
Tsutsui: "I received your report... and it mentioned that a computer was left on..."
Me: "Yes, one of the four computers was left powered on. I didn't touch anything and left, though."
Hearing that, Mr. Tsutsui's face grew somber. "...Would you mind coming inside with me?" he said, guiding me in.
I hadn't noticed yesterday because it was pitch black and I was relying on my flashlight, but during the day, the building had plenty of sunlight and was quite clean for its age.
We went up to the second floor, and he led me to the room in the back where the alarm had gone off.
Tsutsui: "...Could you step inside?"
Feeling a bit creeped out, I opened the door and walked in.
The moment I entered the room, I immediately noticed something off.
Me: "Are there... only three desks?"
When I had rushed in during the alarm, there were four desks, but now there were only three. The desk with the computer that was turned on was gone.
Me: "Um... was the desk that was here cleared away?"
I asked while pointing to the spot where the desk had been.
Tsutsui: "...There was never a desk there to begin with..."
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Mr. Tsutsui said with a dark expression on his face. Wait, I didn't get it. It was definitely there last night... the computer, too...
Tsutsui: "In your report, you noted down the monitor's serial number, right...?"
Me: "U-uh, yes. I believe it had a sticker that said 'NW-14'."
Tsutsui: "The computer with that number... was there until a year ago..."
Me: "...A year ago...?"
Tsutsui: "Yes... It was used by an employee who passed away a year ago."
I was rendered speechless.
Tsutsui: "He was a very hardworking employee and did his job well, but one day he made a major mistake."
Tsutsui: "I told him, 'Days like that happen, let's just move past it,' but maybe he felt guilty about causing trouble and wanted to make up for it through work. He started working overtime day after day."
Me: "..."
Tsutsui: "Then one morning when I came into work, he was slumped over his desk as if asleep. When I called out to him, he wasn't breathing, and his body was cold... The cause of death was overwork."
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Mr. Tsutsui must have deeply cared about that employee. Tears welled up in his eyes.
Tsutsui: "It seems he was hiding how much overtime he was working, so I didn't realize... If only I had checked the building's security logs, I would have realized he was working until late every night... But I neglected to do that..."
As Mr. Tsutsui spoke through his tears, I couldn't find any words to say. I was simply terrified. Because the sight I had unmistakably witnessed with my own eyes back then was a genuine paranormal phenomenon.
Tsutsui: "I'm so sorry for laying all this on you..."
Me: "No... regarding the alarm this time, there's really nothing more I can say on my end. But if you ever notice anything unusual with the facility again, we'll respond promptly..."
Mr. Tsutsui said, "Thank you. I'm going to visit his grave now. I'll tell him, 'You don't have to work anymore. You helped me enough. I'm so sorry.'"
Unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, I said, "Please let us know if anything else comes up," and returned to the office.
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A few days later, I worked another night shift with my senior. Come to think of it, I hadn't told him how everything turned out since then, so I decided to tell him.
Me: "...So, when Mr. Tsutsui called me over and I went, there were only three desks, and he told me it belonged to an employee who died a year ago... My spine went completely cold."
Senior: "It really was a ghost?! lol Good job, man! lol"
Me: "Come on, this isn't a laughing matter!!"
Senior: "Still, though, I feel bad for the guy who passed away."
Me: "Yeah... everyone makes mistakes, he didn't need to put so much pressure on himself..."
Senior: "That was on August 13th, right? That's Obon season. To come all the way back to this world just to go to the office and work... that's really something."
That's true... Did he still have regrets holding him back... or was there another reason...?
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"Oh, right," my senior spoke up, as if suddenly remembering something.
Senior: "Didn't you take photos of the whole room and the computer that night?"
Me: "Oh, right, I did. I looked at them when making the report, but not since then."
Senior: "Why don't we look at those photos right now?"
He made an insane suggestion. Is this guy serious?
Senior: "Come to think of it, I haven't seen them yet. Let's take a look."
Saying that, he started digging through the computer files.
Senior: "Found it! August 13th, alarm log! The photos are still here! Hey, come over here and look at this!"
Reluctantly, I walked over next to my senior and looked at the computer monitor.
The first photo...
Me: "Wait...? There are only three desks..."
When I looked at it while submitting the report, there were four desks, but now there were only three.
Senior: "Huh? Weren't there four desks?"
Me: "Yeah... at the time, the fourth one was right here..."
Senior: "Man, I really wanted to see the photo with four..."
My senior sounded disappointed. There was one more photo, a close-up of the computer monitor. My senior opened that folder.
It was definitely a photo of the computer monitor... but back then, it was showing the desktop screen. Now, the display was completely white.
I felt a sense of unease seeing a photo different from before, but looking closer, there was something written in the center of the screen.
Me: "Senior, isn't there text written here?"
Senior: "Where?"
Me: "Right here in the middle of this white screen."
Senior: "White screen...? That's just the computer's desktop home screen, isn't it? It's just a normal color wallpaper."
Me: "Huh?"
To my senior, it looked like a normal desktop screen...? Then what was I looking at...? Saying, "Guess it wasn't a ghost photo after all," my senior headed to the restroom.
My heart was pounding loudly... Maybe it was better not to look...
But still... I zoomed in on the pure white area of the screen.
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Written right in the center of that screen was:
" I ' M S U F F E R I N G "
...was what it said. Was he still trapped in unrequited anguish even now...? An indescribable rush of emotion surged through me, and tears spilled over.
My senior returned from the restroom and worriedly asked, "Why are you crying...?" but I wiped my tears and replied, "It's nothing..."
Me: "Senior... do experiences like this... happen often?"
Senior: "Hmm? Well, if you're in this industry long enough, you're bound to run into one or two."
Me: "Do you have any scary stories from your own experience...?"
Senior: "Hmm... Oh, right. One time, an alarm went off in a room on the 3rd floor of a 3-story building, so I went to the scene and took the elevator..."
Me: *(...gulp...)*
Senior: "There was a button for '4F'."
Me: "No no no, that's terrifying!!! Uh, you didn't press it, right?!..."
Senior: "If I'd pressed it, I don't think I'd be standing here right now."
Me: "I completely agree...!"
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Working as a security guard monitoring facilities at night—places like that often have spots where "accidents" occurred in the past.
Today, I work at an affiliated company of that security firm, doing vehicle management and equipment inspections. To this day, those words—"I'm suffering"—have never left my head.
If anyone reading this is currently looking for a job, I want to say one thing:
"Don't work for a security company."
