HEADLESS VISITOR

I sat in the small office room, putting in the finishing touches for the day's work, and making notes on the things to be accomplished for the next day, when the guard stepped inside.

I looked up to see him put a record book on a side table, remove his cap, and adjust his shirt.

Guard : "Oh, how's everything ?"

Me : "Oh, fine ... I'm just getting done here."

Guard : (loooking at his watch) "Don't you think it's getting a bit late ?"

I looked at my watch and the time registered was 8:30. I was astonished by the speed time flew. "Wow! It is getting late ... I got to get going.." I remarked.

At this, the guard spoke to me in a low voice, an expression of concern on his face.
"Sir .." he spoke "allow me to accompany you. I'm resuming my rounds in a short while, but let me go with you until you're out of the compound."

"Why is that?" I asked, curious at what he was hinting at.

"Just let me go with you .... I'll explain to you later.."

I agred with him, and we both stepped out of the office, then proceeded to walk towards the gate.

At first, there was no other sound except for our footsteps and an odd vehicle that passes along the interior street that led to the compound, but halfway to the gate, I noticed hearing another set of footstpes behind us.

My companion whispered to me in a low voice :"Whatever you do .. don't turn around and look behind you. Just walk"

He seemed to be able to read my mind, and sensed that I was skeptical of his instruction, because his next words were spoken as though he was pleading with me : Please, sir ... trust me. You don't want to do that ..." All the while, the footsteps behind us seemed to keep up. Now, I began to perspire despite stepping into the warm evening.

It seemed like an hour, but we cleared the gate in five minutes. We walkeed across the street, and stopped at a small store. To my relief, we stopped hearing the footsteps behind us.

Looking at my companion, I could sense some relief in his facial expresiion. Whereupon I decided to ask him what he knew about what has happened.

"Hey, what exactly was that back there ?" I asked him.

"Ever since I began working there, I have encountered the ghost of a headless person. It scared the hell out of me at first, but now I'm used to seeing it. Besides, he doesn't hurt anyone... Do you remember when you heard those footsteps a while back ?"

"Yes ?"

"That was him ..."