The 10th Floor Tenant

I don't know if it's paranoia or just my wild imagination turning against me but I sometimes feel other-worldly presence among us. It's a feeling of uneasiness that sometimes turns into a hunch and then a conclusion. I have this quirk that if I close my eyes, I can easily visualize and feel the environment around me.

I don't claim to have some ability like clairvoyance or any kind of magic. It almost feels like a hunch but having a hunch on something or someone is more like guessing with regards to the information available to you. To me, it's more like a vibration. It's the breeze in my face, the sounds that I hear, the sensations on my skin. That all leads to a conclusion. To support this, I must tell you my experience on the 10th Floor,

I worked for a Service Provider Company that covers almost all Telecommunications and other IT Infrastructure needs. So, I have been hired by this company as a Systems Engineer for over a year and a half now.

Let me tell you the place of where I worked. The company I have worked for owns the building in which our office takes place. We are located on the 11th Floor. Some floors down are occupied by other offices.

In the whole building, only 2 floors are not occupied - the 4th and the 10th. The 4th floor is always locked, and you can only access it by elevators. Now, for the 10th floor, it's quite different. It's accessible through the fire exits. The door that leads to it is always open and, of course, the elevator.

Sometimes, whenever I have so much work to do and so much stress is piled up, I go down to the 10th floor through the fire exit and just stand there. The 10th floor is quite a messy place, it's more like a storage than an actual office but it's clean enough for me to hangout there. So, I just stare on this transparent window on which you can see the road, the people, the vegetation and the sea.

It's quite serene if you ask me. It's my haven and I always go there when I'm pressured and stressed out. But every time I go there, there's this feeling of hot breeze on my face and static on my arms. I don't pay attention to it most of the time. Also, there is this pair of eyes always watching the back of my head. I can't see who owns it. But whenever I close my eyes, I can sense it lurking behind those locked doors. It doesn't mean no harm but sure creeps me out sometimes.

My work sometimes needs extra time to meet deadlines and that means late for home. I sometimes go home around 9:00pm wherein I'm one of the few people who remains in the office. At these times, whenever I'm using the elevator, I'm always alone.

One night, after a hectic schedule, I was ready to go home. I was alone in the elevator. I toggle the GROUND button then waited for the elevator to go down. To my surprise, it stopped on the 10th floor. Now, to my knowledge, I'm the only one who wants to go hangout on that place. So, the elevator stopped, opened its doors, and yes, no one is there. But I know something is there. So, I pay my respect and said "Come in, it's going down", after I said that, (you know that shaking in the elevator whenever someone steps in?), the elevator shakes and there this breeze on my face that I can't explain.

After the elevator reached the GROUND floor, I stepped out and looked back to see what is inside with me. But to my surprise, the 10th floor button is lit. I can see it through the reflection on the mirror. I just shrugged it off, then the security guard called me and said "Giubanan ka" which translates to "It accompanied you". I just smiled and replied "Oo, ana man jud na siya" which means, "Yep, that's what it does".