3-12-09

At the behest of my best friend Dan and a few others, I am finally putting pen to paper (electronically, of course) on the second scariest night of my life. 

In 2009 I was two years out of college and working at a small internet marketing firm in downtown Chicago.  The firm leased about half of the 7th floor in a very old building on La Salle Street.  According to the plaque on the front of the building it was built in 1899.  This was one of those places with the smallish, slightly arched windows that didn’t get too much outside light. Numerous renovations have taken place over the years.  The elevators were old, but 1980’s or ‘90’s old.  With some minor hiccups they ran fine, they just reminded me every time I got in them of how old the building was.  The whole place was wired - fluorescent lights and all -  to be a ‘modern’ (depends on your  definition…) office. 

I was working late on a Thursday night. I remember it was Thursday because I had to turn down a happy hour invite from some of the sales people and Thursday happy hours are usually the best.  It was towards our fiscal year end, which landed in March, and I was working on a budget approval for a support team.  It was the last thing I had to finish up before I could leave.  I wanted to get out of there with enough time to catch some Sports Center on DVR before I went to bed.  My cubicle was near the front corner of the floor.  I could usually see or hear anyone going in or out over the low rise cubicle walls.  I kept an incandescent light on my desk because I got sick of the fluorescent lighting after my first three months there.  At the time I owned an iPhone 3S that I typically kept charging via plug into the computer.  Sometimes I’d listen to music, but most of the time I kept it off so I could focus on work. 

It was a little after 7 when I got up to take a piss and get some water.  I only had about 45 minutes of work left, but I needed to stretch my legs and adjust my bladder to a more comfortable level.  I went out to the bathroom, filled up my water bottle at the cooler, and then did a lap around the floor.  It was a small floor and took me less than a minute to make a loop around.  I glanced out the windows and I could see the orange halo around the streetlights and the cars driving up and down La Salle Street.  I went back to my desk to finish up work and, in the process of all this, confirmed that I was alone on the floor.

I was making some good progress when I heard a phone ringing from the back of the floor.  Sometimes that happens.  People call their work phone to check their voicemail or customers call because they are in another time zone.  No big deal.  What made this weird is that the voicemail never picked up.  I don’t know exactly how many rings (3? 4?) our phones give before the voicemail picks up, but this thing just kept going. it rang for well over a minute.  That same stupid Cisco ringtone (I changed mine, thank you 24, but most didn’t).  I looked at my phone before to see what the time it was when I finally decided to go over there to unplug the damn thing.  My phone read 7:18 pm.  I walked over to the ringing phone and took the receiver off the cradle and then replaced it, hanging up.  When I walked back to my desk I couldn’t help but wonder who sits on a phone while it rings and rings for that long? 

A few minutes passed, I was back into the rhythm, checking the numbers in the budget, when my concentration was interrupted again by the same phone ringing.  I let it go, but just like the first time, the voicemail didn’t pick up.  At this point I’m cursing Cisco up and down. ‘Fuck it’ I’m thinking, ‘This time I’m unplugging the damn thing.’ And I did. I went over there, reached behind the phone box and unhooked the phone cable.  I knew the guy who sat at the desk and I was writing him a Post-It note so he know what was up, when something walked past me.  Right then and there I could have shit myself.  Immediately I straightened up to see who just walked past. I didn’t hear the door slam, or footsteps, or anything.  I know something walked past because I could tell by the displacement of light from the overhead fluorescents. I left the note unfinished and started walking in the direction that the shadow had passed, looking side to side, from empty cube to empty cube.  I reached the end of the short row, but didn’t find anything.  I turned around to head back to finish the note. 

I was a little freaked out when I got back to my desk, but I talked myself down.  My ears were definitely perked up, listening for any sound.  I was thinking that I just wanted to finish up and get home for some Sports Center.  Thinking of the wide world of sports and the fans and the players made me feel less alone.  Oh, and March Madness.  I looked up and saw our office bracket on a whiteboard.  It made me feel better and I got back to work. 

Only a few minutes had passed and then came the stress ball.  It bounced three times on the floor and then rolled and came to a stop directly in front of my cube.  ‘Oh Jesus.’ I turned my head to look at it.  Just a little stress ball with our company logo on it.  Sitting right there. Logo turned slightly away and down.  It just sat there in the entryway to my cubicle. 

That was it for me.  I hit ‘Save’ on the budget and the Excel sheet.  I shuffled the papers I needed together in a stack and I closed my laptop.  The phone, the one that I unplugged,  crashed towards the back of the office. (I know it was the phone because I later spoke with the guy stationed in that cubicle).  I was midway through grabbing my shit when my phone started ringing.  ‘Fuck this. Nope. I’m not answering it,’ was my exact thought.  I stepped out of my cube to head to the door when ALL of the phones in the office started ringing.  I was taking big steps to the door and I was about four steps away when all of the fluorescent lights switched off.  My desk lamp stayed on, though, providing enough light for me to get to the door and get the fuck out of there without looking back. (Note on the motion sensors: there are a few motion sensors that trigger all of the lights located around the floor. There is one close to my desk and one by the door.  If the lights turned off for lack of motion, they would have turned on when I went to unplug the phone or when I was walking out.  I would have had to have walked past at least 3 separate sensors during this time.  I asked later and they are set to go off after 45 minutes of inactivity).

I was waiting for the elevator and I could still hear all of the phones in my office ringing.  The wait for that elevator was the longest of my life.  The elevator ride, coincidentally, was also the longest elevator ride in my life. Each ‘ding’ and I was hoping and praying that it didn’t stop.

In the cab ride home I sent my boss a direct text telling him that I had just left work (7:32 pm) and was going to work from home on Friday.