Factory Guard

The wall of CCTV feeds felt like a bunch of eyes staring back at him, it had an eerie feel to it but Martin had gotten used to it, it was part of the job, sure night shift wasn't easy but he was getting along fine with it.

There was nothing exciting about monitoring the CCTV feeds of a factory, it was dull and boring, monotony was another part of the job which he had a hard time getting used to, everything was the same everyday, there was no difference from one day to another.

He yawned being reminded of the monotonous nature of his job, another boring night to pass, he had already had two cups of coffee and yet he still felt weary, it was hard to stay awake and keep seeing the unchanging scene displayed on the screens.

Something flickered on the screen, it caught his attention, he thought maybe there was some glitch but on further inspection he found nothing wrong with the camera, again it flickered and this time he could see a young woman standing near the entrance of the factory.

He was taken aback, what was she doing at this hour?, he looked closely and found she was looking around, she seemed to be anxious, she was dressed in jeans and black shirt, maybe she was waiting for someone.

Several questions popped in his mind, who was she?, why did she seem anxious?, who was she waiting for?, and the most intriguing of all, what was she doing at the factory at this hour?!, he thought of intervening but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he dropped it, he was partially afraid, he didn't know what the exact matter was and didn't want to get involved in any criminal matter, also she was standing near the entrance, so it didn't concern him.

As his shift ended, he stayed a little later than usual, he scanned all the workers that were entering the factory but he found no one resembling the girl he had seen earlier. He even asked his colleague whether he had seen any girl near the entrance of the factory before but didn't find what he was looking for.

Back home he couldn't shake off the thought of the girl, half of his mind warned him that it was none of his business but the other half was curious, he also felt alarmed at the thought that if something gets stolen from the factory during the night, the blame will fall on him, what if the girl was looking out for her partner who sneaked into the factory to steal something?

He drank more coffee than usual to keep himself awake, he had to do his job well otherwise it could land him in serious trouble if something went wrong but despite his attentive stance, he didn't see the girl anywhere that night, had she become aware and changed her plan?

Anxiety began to gnaw at him, he felt something was amiss, days turned into weeks but there was no sight of the girl again but despite not seeing her, Martin couldn't forget about her, it was as if she had seeped into his subconscious.

And then he saw her again, late into the night, standing near the entrance, as anxious as she was the first time he saw her, this time he made sure to observe her movements, he didn't want her or her partner in crime to run away with anything.

But she stood there looking around, no matter how long he looked, she didn't make any movements, just stood there, sometimes looking sideways, sometimes downwards, what was the deal with her Martin thought, he couldn't figure out what was going on, it felt like he had reached a breaking point and yet had no answers.

As dawn came near, she just walked away leaving him perplexed, he couldn't understand what was happening, he kept a watch over her the whole night but didn't see anyone with her nor did he sense anything strange but why would a girl stand there alone in the night looking around anxiously and just walk away?, he couldn't wrap his head around it, he searched about the factory online.

Any ghost stories, any rumors or even any murders that took place but found nothing, there was nothing to make sense of it, that would shed light on why the girl was there, she would just mysteriously appear and then walk away.

He thought maybe she was involved in some occult and performing a ritual but found nothing of that sort online, still he found this explaination fit best with the situation, he tried to not think about her and go about his day, if she wasn't causing any harm to the factory, it was useless bothering about her.

He saw her in his dream or rather it was a nightmare, the kind he had never had before and it shook his soul to the core, she was standing there in his cabin, gazing at him fiercely with a creepy smile etched on her face and then she began multiplying and he just sat there frozen, unable to move an inch, he woke up with a jolt, he vowed to himself that if this continued, he would quit his job without a second thought.

There she was again, standing in the same position, looking around anxiously, he was sick and tired of her, he wasn't up for any games, especially during the night and had grown irritated by her presence, an irritation that had overcome his fear, he thought of going there and shooing her away in such a way that she never dared to come again.

But just as he was about to get up, she moved, it surprised him, she walked to the left side of the wall, climbed over it and disappeared, he was struck by terror, where had she gone?, he couldn't find her anywhere in the factory, no matter how hard he checked the different screens.

He was caught in a dilemma, should he get up and search for her or stay there and try to monitor her movements, she might appear on the CCTV, there was no way that she could avoid it!

But despite him eagerly keeping a watch on it, there was no sign of her, there were cameras fitted in every part of the factory, so even if she was very clever or knew the factory layout well, she couldn't escape the cameras at all!

And then it happened, the CCTV's went blank one by one, he reached out to the controls and tried to understand how to stop it but he couldn't control it, as the last screen went blank he stood there in panic.

The lights flickered, he broke out in cold sweat, he grabbed the gun he had kept for emergencies and headed out, he looked out for her but found no trace of her, his mind kept racing to find out where she had disappeared.

He saw a flicker of her on the stairway, he raced down but there was no one there, he felt fear creep into his veins, he tightened his grip on the gun but even that provided little comfort.

A hand touched his shoulder, a cold shudder ran down his spine, he didn't want to look but he knew he had to turn, as he slowly turned his gaze to see what it was, her razor sharp teeth illuminated by the flickering light were the last thing he ever saw.