Chapter 1 - Marching in the hallway
Office Horror Story 1
This happened back in 2021.
It was a Saturday morning—supposed to be a day off. No office work, no stress. But that day, the president insisted I come in to finish a client quote and submit the report before day's end.
So I went. My boyfriend at the time decided to join me, and we planned to meet up later for lunch with three other friends.
We arrived at the office around 9 AM. The building was dead silent, the kind of silence that presses against your eardrums. As I got to work, my boyfriend sat beside me, casually scrolling on his phone.
I don't know how many minutes passed before he started acting… strange. At first, he simply stood from his swivel chair, glancing around the office like he was expecting someone. Then he turned his seat sideways, eyes fixed on the hallway, unmoving, like he was watching something—or waiting for it.
I noticed it in my peripheral vision, but I didn’t say anything. I was trying to stay focused, determined to finish early.
He did it again. And again. Until finally, in a voice barely louder than a whisper, he leaned toward me and said,
“Do you hear that?”
Annoyed and half-distracted, I muttered, “Hear what?”
His tone was low, almost frightened.
“There are footsteps... in the hallway.”
The hallway he meant was no more than ten steps from our cubicle—fully visible if you stood up. And we both knew no one else was in the office. There was only one entrance, and that door always made a distinct creaking noise when opened. We hadn’t heard it.
I turned to him sharply. I wasn’t sure if he was messing with me. But deep down, I knew he wasn’t. He’d never had any kind of paranormal experience. That was usually me. Between the two of us, I was the one with the “third eye.”
He begged me to stop and just listen. But I didn’t. I refused. I knew if I let myself really hear whatever he was hearing, panic would set in—and I had work to do.
Still, I could tell he was shaken. He drew his chair so close to mine that it was as if two swivel chairs were being crammed into one cubicle. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the armrest of my chair, as if trying to shield himself from something invisible, something creeping just beyond his line of sight.
Feeling guilty, I grabbed my phone and messaged one of our friends. I asked where she was and how soon she’d arrive. Thank God—she was almost at the office.
When she walked in, it was like a wave of relief washed over him. Without skipping a beat, he asked her if we could eat lunch early. She agreed. We left.
While eating, I asked him what exactly he had heard.
He looked at me, eyes serious, voice low.
“The footsteps started from the president’s office… and walked slowly down the hallway. They weren’t just steps—they were heavy, like someone wearing boots. Not just walking, but marching.”
He said it reminded him of our field workers’ safety boots. But this wasn’t just footsteps—it was rhythmic. Deliberate. Purposeful.
And in that moment, I knew—I knew—I had made the right choice by ignoring it. Because if I had let myself hear it too, if I had turned toward that hallway and found nothing there... I wouldn’t have been able to keep working. I might not have even been able to stay.
When we returned after lunch, the janitor was there, mopping the floors. The simple presence of another person gave us a strange sense of comfort—as if whatever was lurking had withdrawn for now.
P.S.
This happened in Siranglupa, Calamba, Philippines. I worked at that company for a year and a half—and this was only one of the strange things I experienced there.
This is scaredy_cat.
Ciao!
©,2025,scaredy_cat,All rights reserved
