August 26, 2005
6am.
I sat lazily on the chair of my workstation, which is almost conveniently hidden from the sight of other people on the 7th floor of the building I worked in. In front of me glared the screen of the black monitor and my desk that is almost bare except for a whiteboard, the teleset, an eraser, a pen and my red coffee mug. With a relaxed movement I gently picked up my mug and took a small sip of coffee. It wasn’t hot anymore. I wished I could feel the burning sensation on the tip of my tongue. The coffee at work tasted bad. Really, really bad. If only the pantry served latte. Behind me is a sliding window, and if peeked between the blinds, one could see a partial view of the Makati skyline, with the early sunshine glimmering against windows, traffic building up in an intersection of the Ayala avenue. I admit, the view beyond the window was the only thing keeping me sane during work, since the coffee tasted really bad. Opposite to me is the workstation of my boss Franco, he isn’t there though… maybe he went out for a break, or maybe taking a call of another associate whose customer asked for a supervisor. The whole production floor is filled with the echoes of muttering voices of people busy taking calls, conversing with people from the other side of the world. I could hear Mike, my co-worker in the next workstation arguing over fees. It is chaotic. It is irritating.
I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind off of traumatic thoughts of phone conversations with really rude people. How I wish I could be rude also. That would be nice. Retribution is oftentimes satisfying. As I kept my eyes closed, the muttering seemed to increase in volume, louder even with a headset covering both my ears… much more louder…my ears were ringing this time… Louder… All voices booming recklessly into the ear tunnels… and more Louder…
Silence.
All of a sudden, every voice and every noise quickly disappeared. With my eyes closed, my thoughts lingered on nothingness and deadly silence. I opened my eyes curiously wondering why everything turned quiet in an instant. I noticed that the computer screen in front of me turned dead blank. A Blackout? It seemed not. The pale white light emitted by the fluorescent bulbs shone brightly above. I could hear the faint eerie buzz and flicker from the bulbs amongst the awful dead silence. I stood up to see above and beyond my hidden workstation to see what happened… Why is it so damn quiet? My jaw dropped in disbelief… the whole floor was empty… everyone mysteriously disappeared. Where is everybody?
Hurriedly I turned to the teleset to put myself in break. The damn thing is dead. I took off my headset and left my station. I marched towards the door looking around. Nobody seemed to be hiding or what not. Everything stood still.
The door creaked, as it swung open by itself before I could touch the doorknob. Beyond the door was the elevator facade. As I walked through into the room, I realized it was empty, the locker cabinets and even the security guard… gone.
Ding.
One of the elevator’s door opened and I walked in slowly. My heart beat cowardly at every step I made. As I turned around inside the elevator to face the door… then it shut itself immediately. The lights went out. Everything went pitch black. The elevator shook and gestured a movement heading down then afterwards halted to a stop. The door slid to open and bright light blasted towards me from the outside. I covered my eyes with the back of my hands to adjust from the excruciating light…and slowly stepped out of the elevator.
My sight adjusted with the light in a few moments and I found myself in the middle of Buendia avenue, in front of the building I worked in. As usual, the street was empty. No vehicle at sight. Everything was still as a photograph except for a mysterious fog that floated creepily everywhere. I started walking and headed eastwards to Ayala avenue. The mist clouded my view of the distance but I can still see slight vividly. It was terribly cold and even with a coat on, I felt a tingling sensation along the back of my spine. No breeze. No wind. No sun. Just the dead cold feeling as if one was locked up in a freezer.
It was so silent that I could only hear each of my footsteps as I trotted in the middle of the street. Upon reaching the intersection of Ayala Avenue, I stopped and saw the dead stoplight and a black crow perching above it. The only moving thing at the moment. Its lifeless black eyes gave a cruel gaze at me. As I approached nearer, the crow flapped its wings and gave a silent squawk, then immediately took off without hesitation, disappearing above into the mist. I turned right and walked along Ayala avenue.
Suddenly a faint set of footsteps echoed against the silence. This time it wasn’t mine. I looked back to see if someone was behind me, saw nothing but the road slowly being eaten up by a thick gray fog. I doubled my pace and walked a bit faster as fear thumped inside my chest. The anonymous footsteps increased in volume and sounded as if someone was getting close… behind my back.
I walked much faster.
Another mysterious set of footsteps joined the current one. The intervals of each step sounded that they too have increased in speed. It sounded like they were after me. I walked much further trying to get away from the haunted footsteps, the view in front of me was nothing but an empty road and buildings along it that looked empty.
Damn. Where is everybody?
This time the footsteps increased in number every second, and sounded like a crowd marching up behind me. My heart beat faster and harder. I turned around and walked backwards just to see what was behind me while continuing to move away from the creeping fog. I was shocked to see dark silhouettes of people walking within the fog. And each shadow of a person’s head gleamed a set of red eyes.
I turned around again and ran madly.
The footsteps behind me increased as I ran reaching Paseo de Legaspi. To my left was the monument of Ninoy, and as I passed by it, his head turned at me and showed an evil grin.
I closed my eyes and continued to run.
Ring. Ring.
“Uhh..Yes?”
“Auto-in na po…”
“Ah thanks.”
Woke up and found myself in front of my workstation desk. People chattering and murmuring in the background. Mike still arguing with one of his callers. Franco still not at his desk. Back to work.
Damn.
Coffee doesn’t seem to keep me awake nowadays.
{ Currently listening to: } Bullshit.
{ I am reading: } Bullshit’s money
{ Currently watching: } and playing Silent Hill.
{ I Feel: } sleepy
Written by domz at 11:33 PM.