Chapter 6

I considered myself pretty brave. I grew up in the sticks, and my grandma used to tell me all sorts of spooky old tales. I thought I'd heard it all.

But this time, it still scared the living daylights out of me!

"Alex, please, talk to Derek again. Let me go home, I want to go home, boohoo…"

I instinctively tightened my grip, clutching Chloe's soft hand.

"Chloe, don't do that, you almost scared me to death!"

Honestly, my head was buzzing too, a complete blank.

Even though I'm usually a rational guy and don't believe in ghosts, I was seriously creeped out.

Could it really be haunted?

"Everyone shut the hell up! The printer shorted out, the circuit breaker popped! I'll just flip it back on. Everyone, sit down! Mr. Harrison said if the project launches tonight, everyone gets a two-thousand-dollar bonus!"

Hearing that, the restless colleagues actually quieted down quite a bit.

*Click!*

As power was restored and the lights came back on, everyone looked at each other, unsure what to do.

Chloe pulled her hand back, glanced awkwardly at her bag, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't leave. She sat back down.

Money truly makes the world go 'round, or at least makes people forget their fears. Two thousand bucks was roughly a month's pay for Chloe as an intern before she even got her full-time offer.

Like puppets, everyone rebooted their computers and went back to work.

"Alex, look, who's that? Why is someone covered in blood coming back from outside?"

Chad pointed towards the entrance.

I turned my head and, sure enough, a man, covered in blood, stumbled in.

"Mr. Preston? What happened to you?" a colleague asked, startled.

Mr. Preston was our department head!

My boss's boss!

"It's real! Those rules are real! Everyone, don't run! Don't run, just stay here, don't move! It's real!"

With that, Mr. Preston crumpled to the floor.