Looking for advice. I think I should've just minded my own business.

Hi everyone, my name is Selene and I'm posting this in hopes that someone can offer any sort of insight into my situation. Some strange things have been happening at the building where I work and it has come to a point where I don't think I can keep brushing it off anymore.

Let me provide you with some context. I'm 24 years old and currently live in the heart of Manila, Philippines. A small Southeast Asian country where, despite the domination of Catholicism since our occupation by the Spanish, still holds steadfast unto some of our more pagan superstitions and beliefs.

What do I mean by this? For example, I grew up in a strict Catholic household. Private Catholic Boarding School, Saturday Church outreach programs, and the Christian Youth Groups dotted my childhood. And despite all the sermons by our local priest and rigorous drilling of doctrine into my impressionable young mind, I also grew up believing that one should not point at things when walking at night.

"You'll offend them." My mom would say, holding my little hand as we walked home after a long day at the Church's Soup Kitchen. I had pointed to a sampaguita bush growing at the base of a large Narra tree that had been around the corner of the street I grew up on. I remember being so entranced by the tiny white petals and how small the plant was compared to the massive tree that was surely older than my mother at that point.

"Offend who?" I'd ask my mom and she would shake her head. "The things we don't see." She'd say and leave it at that, not wanting to drop a spooky story on a child, fearing I wouldn't be able to sleep when we arrive home. I grew up with stories just like that.

Stories of a kind of vampire called an 'Aswang' that could scent a pregnant woman from miles away. It's been told that they'd come in the cover of night to slurp the unborn fetus out of the mother's womb. Of 'Duwende', more commonly known as dwarves, to be living at the base of trees, especially the old ones that tower above residential houses. Dont point at them, dont look in their general direction at night, and most of all dont piss on their trees. Consequences vary from getting sick with no explainable reason, to being thoroughly cursed for generations.

Doctrine and superstition were the laws of my life growing up as I found balance between reverence for the Eucharist, and a healthy respect for the things that go bump in the night.

So why am I explaining this to you?

Well, going back to the situation at my office, I want to instill the idea that the supernatural is an almost everyday inconvenience for most folk where I'm from.

Got ghosts in your house and seeing their disembodied figures floating in your peripheral at night?

Call your local priest.

I assure you, you're not gonna be their last exorcism or house blessing for that month.

So when I was working overtime one night in my cubicle while on a video call with my friend, and she asked me who that was standing behind me, I didn't initially freak out.

You're not supposed to freak out. I've always been told that's how ghost get you.

I knew I was the only one left at the office, and I know for a fact that no one could've gotten in without setting off the loud-ass alarm that's supposed to let us know when a client has arrived. Not to mention, you cant even enter without the passcode or a keycard.

So when my friend asked me, while on speaker, who was that standing behind me, I kept my eyes resolutely on my spreadsheet. I knew the office had a couple of ghosts. Stories passed from department to department about a smoky visage roaming the halls. Or things being thrown across the room out of nowhere. Keyboards clacking away at empty cubicles. It was an occupational hazard that we had gotten used to after a year at the office.

I did what I always did. I ignored my friend's question and told them I'd call them back. I ended the call, put my earbuds on, and then proceeded to blast the loudest metal song I know into my ears. I finished my report and clocked out without turning around.

That was supposed to be it. Just another footnote to add to the little compendium of creepy shit at my office.

But then something weird happened.

See, we have a company Christmas dinner every year. It's a nice event where the company books catering and essentially thanks us for the year's hard work. You wear something nice, you drink, you eat, you snap photos, and just overall have a good time.

I was showing my friend photos from the dinner, the same friend who had been on a call with me. She frowned and pointed at the person standing next to me in one of the photos.

"That's the person I saw standing behind you that one time." She said and I looked, my brows furrowing in confusion.

Ashley and I weren't exactly close. But she was a nice enough coworker. She said 'Hello' whenever we passed in the hallway, which was often because her cubicle was right next to mine. She mostly kept to herself and her small group of friends from Accounting.

And I distinctly remember, Ashley had called in sick that one evening when I did overtime.

For some reason, that really bothered me.

Ghosts? Sure, sightings and hauntings were the norm. You'd ask for a house blessing from your local priest or call in the resident witch to sage the place.

But the idea of sweet quiet Ashley, just standing behind me while I worked alone at the office for a couple of hours really freaked me out. And she wasn't even supposed to be at the office. I had never encountered anything like that before and it just unnerved me.

So I did what I thought was best at the time. I talked to Ashley about it.

She surprisingly took it very well. We were standing by the communal water dispenser one morning, a paper cup in her hand while I sheepishly tried to ask if she was secretly a supernatural entity who liked looming over overworked staff's shoulders. She laughed but it wasn't convincing. I could see the tension in her shoulders, the quick frown that she instantly smoothed over with her laugh.

After some talking, I got her to fess up.

She said this kind of thing has been happening for a while now. It was even the reason why she quit her previous job. Coworkers would ask her why she was ignoring them, and upon her confusion, they'd say they had seen her in places she wasn't. Lunchrooms, hallways. It had even gotten so bad that her old supervisor had apparently misplaced some papers, certain that he had handed it to 'her' in her cubicle when in reality she was running late for work that day.

I asked if she ever went to see a priest or maybe a local witch doctor. And she said yeah, and that it did help for a while. Maybe a month or so of peace until it started up again. She eventually just learned to live it.

I didn't really know what to say to that.

When she told me that it was kind meh at this point because it wasn't really hurting her. A mild inconvenience, sure, but what else was she going to do? Let it stop her from living her life?

I wish I said something more then. Even when she tried to brush it off, I could see how tired she was. That light in her eyes somehow dimmer than before. She thanked me then. Apparently, she had never really opened up about it to anyone else before. That it helped to get it out of her chest finally.

I never really saw her after that.

Granted, we never really talked to begin with but still. I wish I could've done something to help her somehow.

She didn't come to work the following day. We figured she was sick or something, but it became apparent she had gone AWOL when the following week the HR bulletin posted about her. They couldn't contact her or any of her listed emergency contacts. They wanted any of her friends at the office to let her know about her immediate termination due to breach of contract.

I tried talking to them too, the people from Accounting. And they also sounded just as confused as I was. She wasn't checking her messages on any social media sites. She had apparently deleted her Instagram, and had stopped posting on any other platform.

Work was hectic that time, the holidays were rolling in and we had numbers to crunch. So I kind of just let it go and tried not to think about it too much.

And then came the sightings.

I was having coffee in the breakroom, it was still early so I got to have some rare peace while people slowly trinkled in. Jen from Accounting came in from the main hall, grabbed a bit of coffee and we made some small talk.

"Ashley's back." Jen said. "Saw her sitting in Conference Room B. Probably about to get chewed out by HR." I frowned. I had an important client coming in, and we were scheduled for Conference Room B. Why hadn't HR told me?

So I went to HR, politely and professionally asked what the fuck is going on with their scheduling, and only got confusion in return. Ashely wasn't there.

I had a buddy working in Security. After a bribe of free lunch for the following week and the promise of absolute secrecy, he checked the CCTV footage for me.

He looked visibly shaken when I asked about the footage the following day.

"I saw her, you know Jen from Accounting? She just walked into that empty conference room and was like, talking to the open air for a couple of minutes before walking out like it was nothing."

Things got weirder after that. Ashley would be sighted in the halls, in random conference rooms. My coworkers and I would gossip about it over lunch. But like most things in the office, we tried to ignore it. Creepy shit happens all the time. We have bills to pay, families to feed, and finding a new job in this failing economy wasn't worth the hassle.

That was until I was coming home late one night and caught Ashley in the elevator.

Well, it was more of she caught me.

It was late. I was the last to leave after doing more overtime than usual. The elevator doors were already closing when I heard her say, "Wait!" Her hand coming up to stop them.

I cannot even find the words to explain the absolute dread I felt as I watched those worn elevator doors slowly open. My exhaustion immediately leaving me as I was greeted to the sight of her standing there.

"Thanks." She said with a smile as she walked in. She looked exactly like how I had last seen her at the water dispenser. The same white blouse, black pencil skirt, and polished flat shoes. She had a stack of papers in her arms, her purse slung over her shoulder.

I should've walked out of that elevator then. But I was too stunned by what I saw, it all seemed to be happening so fast. The elevator doors closed and I realized I would now have to spend the whole trip from the 18th floor to the Ground floor with whatever this thing was that was wearing her skin.

"Your supervisor got you rushing for your quota too?" She asked me. I didn't turn to look at her. I kept my gaze resolutely forward, but in my peripheral I could see that she had turned to me with that shy smile she used to always have.

"Christmas is coming up. I can't wait. I thought I'd take some time off. Be with family, ya know?" I kept trying to ignore her, my mouth shut and my hands going clammy at my sides. My heart and my mind raced as I watched the numbers go slowly. 18. 17. 16... It felt like it was going on forever.

"Thanks, by the way, for the talk back then. It's nice that you cared." Her tone was soft, almost genuine. It made me want to throw up. It felt like the room was spinning as I fought to keep my breathing even. I was scared. I wanted to cry. It felt like I was going to have a panic attack.

"Really, Sel. Thank you, I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for noticing me." I couldn't stifle back my sob of terror. I could see her in my peripheral vision, her face suddenly so close to mine, her kind smile but blank eyes. I don't really remember much after that. Next thing I knew, the elevator doors opened to the Ground floor. Security ran over to find me crumpled into a corner, sobbing into my knees.

I sent my resignation in through email the following day. I didn't even come in to pack up my stuff. I wont respond to any messages or calls from any concerned coworkers.

I don't really know how to go on from here. I cant eat. I can barely sleep. I have nightmares about her. Always back in that elevator, always stuck with her talking to me. I went to church for the first time in a while yesterday. Met with a priest and cried to him in a confessional booth. He gave me some reassuring words, a blessing, some prayers to pray. I'm going to talk to a psychiatrist soon. A part of me is hoping that maybe the stress just got to me and my mind broke. I don't know.

I'm posting this here because maybe one of you guys can tell me I'm just crazy. I think I'd prefer that. Crazy means you can get fixed. But this? How do you fix this?