It was a quiet Friday night. It wasn't abnormal for today to be as quiet especially with working the night shift at the office I work at. Strange enough, today felt a bit...odd. I mean, the office was the same as any usual Friday, but I have to add that I've only been working here for about six months working the Friday night shift for around two; so for me this seemed normal. Bill was the only one here besides me, sitting with his door open. We had offices right across from each other so we would leave our doors open and shout across the hall to keep each other company. It was near 11 p.m. Just a few hours to go. 

“Want anything from the vending machine?” 

“Oh, not tonight Bill I'm good.” I responded looking up at him standing leaning sideways against my doorway.

“Right then, be back.” he responded walking off.

His footsteps lightly shuffled down the hall becoming more and more distant until they became completely silent. For an older guy like Bill, its surprising how fast he can move; although most of the time its short lived once all that energy disappears near instantly. It wasn't long though before I heard footsteps once again. This time though they sounded quicker. Before I could look up, Bill was in my office where he quickly and quietly shut and locked the door.

“Bill?” I asked in response to his actions.

“Shhhhh…” he responded back. “Be quiet!” he whispered.

“Bill, what's going on?” I whispered as he requested.

“There's someone in the building, on THIS floor.”

“Was it one of the others?” I asked.

“Don't kid yourself kid. If it were just one of the others, I wouldn't be so dramatic right now.” Bill responded still in a whisper but with slight aggravation in his voice. Couldn't be mad at him, he was really afraid.

“Well, what happened out there?” 

“Well, you know I was going to the vending machine. Got there no problem, and tried to get a snack. Put the money in and all that and that's when the trouble started.” he said before I interrupted.

“Snack got stuck again?” I responded which made Bill give me a long stare.

“That's beside the point.” he responded. “When I was standing there, I could see a slight reflection in the glass showing that large doorway at the far end end the room you know?” he said as I nodded knowing exactly where that was. “Well, I caught a glimpse of someone standing in the middle of the doorway. I didn't think anything of it so I focused on the more important issue at hand, but after a moment my eyes looked back at the reflection to see whoever it was was still standing there. Just standing there not moving at all.”

“What did they look like?”

“They looked like...well this is going to sound crazy but just like a shadow. No face, no distinct features, just the body and all that.” 

“Are you sure? I mean you're going off a reflection.” I asked, sounding a bit skeptical, thinking that his mind might have been playing tricks on him.

"I wasn't born yesterday boy, and don't try to play this off as nothing!" He replied. I nodded in respect before he peeked out the door. He slowly opened it and told me that whatever or whoever was out there is not around. He stepped out of my office taking a better look at our situation. "Nothing here." he said at his normal decibel. 

I got up and walked out into the hallway and looked around with him, confirming what he said, I asked him if he wanted to head back to get that snack of his. Although he looked weary to do so, he didn't say no. Heading down the dark, dimly lit hallways and small lounge areas; we reached the doorway that was the threshold between the way back to our offices and to where Bill had his experience. We went over to the machine, the snack was still hanging there. 

"Machine is the devil, I tell you." Bill said under his breath.

"How is it that you are the only one having problems with it?"

"....."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Aside from Bill's antics, I tried giving him a hand. I was about to pull out my wallet to put some money in the machine, hoping that getting the same snack would make it fall. Before I could however, from the reflection off the glass, I saw the same figure Bill described earlier. It stood there, completely still. I thought it was my imagination until I heard Bill whisper to me asking if I saw it as well. We tried to reason it out as some sort of trick with the lighting or something. 

We attempted for moments to reason it out only to have it all be for not when we saw the figure tilt their head. Bill and I booked it down one of the nearby corridors looking back to see if whoever was there was following right behind. When we felt safe enough, we stopped to catch our breaths. We didn't hear or see anyone coming our way. Maybe we lost them before they could chase us. I'm not sure but Bill and I knew we had to do something. 

We stayed where we were for less than a moment before hearing the sound of running coming from the halls. Strangely enough, the footsteps became more distant. They were...running away?

"What's going on?" Bill asked.

"Not sure, but don't want to find out. Let's call the police while we have the chance." I replied. Bill and I both called, letting the dispatcher know what was happening and what was going on. They advised us to stay away from the trespasser and try to make our way out of the building and wait for the police to arrive. We both thought that would be the best course of action, so we made our way to the staircase near us. 

We made it to them and went down a few flights before out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silhouette hiding under one of the desks through the small window built into the door. I picked up my pace telling Bill to move quicker. He did so without question, and before we knew it, we were on the first floor. 

"What happened up there?" Bill questioned.

I told him about what I saw, and told him that I didn't know if they saw us. Bill looked frightened and confused, but we didn't stop making our way to the door. We finally made it out…

Thump…

We heard the thump and shut the doors as quick as possible, looking through the doors which were glass to see the figure trying to hide behind a small filing cabinet. Luckily the first police vehicle showed up not long after this. Bill ran down to meet them, telling them to hurry and where the person was. It took them about ten minutes before they came out with a tall, average built man. He must have been around eighteen or so by how he looked. He was wearing white clothing that were dirty, which could explain why he didn't stand out. One of the officers came over after the man was gently put into the vehicle. 

He thanked us, and informed us that the person escaped from the psychiatric ward from a hospital in a nearby county, and that authorities were searching for him for a while now. He disclosed that he was harmless and that actually he was most likely more afraid of us than we were of him. 

This made some sense, but still left us with more questions that didn't get answered. We were advised to go home and take it easy, and that they will let our boss know what happened. We were given some time off because of this, but when Bill and I returned; we dreaded the late hours, trying to avoid staying there too late. We were always paranoid because of that night. Nothing could change what was always on our minds though. We hoped that the person was getting the proper help now, but it felt like there was more that the officer wouldn't tell us...