I worked as a janitor in an office. I quit after I encountered a strange man working there at night.

Hello, my name is Jamison. I guess that’s a good place to start as any. I’m not very good at this online and internet business so I apologise if I get anything wrong here. I’m a little older than most and us older folk tend to struggle getting to grips with new trends. Not unlike all you young people here, who I hope, will be able to help me make sense of what happened to me.

I used to be a janitor. I’ve worked in many an offices and my career spans 20+ years and let me tell you, I’ve always been proud of what I do. There is more to it than just the job description and I have always gone above and beyond my usual responsibilities.

By my use of the past tense, I suppose you can guess that I am no longer employed. My last job, where I was for nearly 5 years, didn’t end well. That is because of the strange man that I encountered whilst on my night shifts.

Let me just delve straight in and I’ll start off by saying that I’m quite a friendly man. I always like to speak to the people I work amongst, I think it’s a good way to establish rapport and also, a good way to make friends. I’m old as I said, quite lonely and I don’t have many friends to speak of outside of the workplace so it was nice for me.

The world is a lonely place at the best of times but it is so much more isolating when you’ve got no one around you.

Anyway, I’m going off track here. My last job was in an open plan office, I’m not entirely sure what they did there but I think it had something to do with stocks and financial marketing. Quite boring stuff to tell you the truth. I used to do a mixture of day shifts and night shifts and you know what they say about people that work in finance - they never go home.

I never used to mind the night shifts, they were pretty quiet. Or they were until about 2 months ago. There were always a few night owls but most of them I knew and none of them ever stayed past 10pm, latest 10.30pm.

About 2 months ago, one of my night shifts started off as normal. I was cleaning, sweeping, fixing what needed to be fixed. Then, I saw a man that I didn’t recognise. He was hunched over his desk, typing furiously. I could hear his fingers slamming the keyboard. Ronald was still there so I thought I’d ask him.

‘’Hey Ronald, who’s that guy over there?’’

‘’Oh that’s John, new recruit. He joined this morning and has barely left his desk. No ones spoken to him I don’t think. He’s not one for casual talk.’’ Ronald replied, with a slight air of annoyance in his voice. He was a nice guy but just too involved in his work.

‘Hmm, yeah sure doesn’t look like much of a talker.’’ I said, walking away as I watched this John from afar.

Eventually Ronald went home and it was just me and this John. It was 1am and I was mopping the floors when I got the sudden overwhelming feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around but, there was nothing there. John was still hunched over his computer, and still typing ferociously.

I laughed nervously and when I’m nervous, I always talk. I decided to break the silence between us.

‘’Hey, I’m Jamison, you’re John, right? I heard you just started today. It’s getting late huh, why don’t you go home?’’ I said to him.

He didn’t reply. Just typed.

‘’Yeah, I think I’ll be heading off soon, shifts nearly finished. Hungry as a dog I am.’’ I laughed nervously again but this guy, he just didn’t say a thing!

I thought my attempts at light conversation were futile so I gave up. But I was feeling really...uneasy. I just couldn’t shake the feeling. Something about this guy was so off but I just couldn’t place my finger on it. Hell, I didn’t want to judge, he may just be someone who really really didn’t like talking but still, he made me feel nervous.

I went home shortly after my shift ended. John, remained. I don’t know what time he left that night.

I had the next two days off so I didn’t see or think about him until I returned to my night shift on the Friday.

Ronald wasn’t there and when it hit 9pm, it was just me and John. I was just getting on with my work, I assumed he was too and we worked in total silence for a while.

A few hours later, I was mopping the floors of the break area when I heard a quiet but distinct laugh. No, it was more of giggle, behind me. It pierced the silence, startling me.

I turned around. The office was engulfed in darkness aside from a few left over lit computer screens. I couldn’t see John though.

I slowly walked toward the exit of the break area. That was when I stopped dead in my tracks. I saw John. He was standing, behind the glass screen just outside the break area. He was standing, partially lit by the dim lights of the computers but otherwise shrouded in darkness. He stood perfectly still but it was his face that frightened me. He stared right at me and he was grinning. His white teeth fully visible.

‘’Hey John, buddy, you ok?’’ I said gingerly, annoyed at the terror that plagued my voice.

Then all of a sudden, he just ran. He ran so fast I barely had time to register it. I ran out but when I was back in the office area, he was gone. Just vanished.

What terrified me most, is that the area he ran toward, it had no doors. No windows. It was just an empty wall adorned by some picture frames and had a few desks in front of it.

I went home. I was so shaken up I couldn’t stay there any longer.

The next day, I felt a little better and had written off the previous nights experience as just a fluke, a one off. He was obviously playing some trick on me, trying to establish himself in the office. Well, it worked.

By the time I returned the following night, I’d had almost forgotten what happened. Almost.

I was relieved when I saw that Ronald was there. I knew that Ronald wouldn’t leave until at least 10pm so I knew I wouldn’t be left alone with John, for a while. I decided to see what else I could find out about this guy.

‘’Hey Ronald, you alright man? Just wanted to ask what you knew about John?’’ I asked, light heartedly, hoping that Ronald wouldn’t catch the apprehension in my voice.

‘Well, not much, like I said, he isn’t much of a talker. He just sort of appeared. I’m not even sure who hired him. I was just told by others, just like I’m telling you now. No one seems to know anything about him.’’ Ronald replied, barely taking his blood shot eyes off the screen.

‘’Huh, how funny. Guess he’s just a bit of loner then. It’s just....’’ I trailed off.

Ronald looked up. ‘’Jamison, what’s up?’’

‘’Oh it’s nothing, ignore me. I’m just being a silly old man.’’ I said jokingly, shrugging myself off. I didn’t want Ronald thinking I was losing my mind. I was certain the other night was nothing to worry about. Just a prank.

Ronald soon left and I was left alone with John again.

I tried to distract myself with work, I wanted to be as busy as possible so that time went quicker. I had that strange feeling again, of complete and utter unease but I tried to dismiss it. I told myself to keep working.

I was sweeping and cleaning some of the desks, with my back to John, when I started feeling like I was being watched again.

I turned around, John was crouching behind his desk but I could see his eyes over the little wall. They were staring intently at me. Expressionless.

I stood still for a moment, watching him. Then he started to...move. But he moved so strangely. He moved slickly from desk to desk towards me, still staring at me with that blank expression. It was then I noticed that he was crawling, like a crab. He was making long deliberate movements with his arms and legs.

‘Look John, this isn’t funny anymore, I don’t know what you think you’re playing at.’’ I said sternly, I had hoped that the anger in my voice would deter him.

That’s when he started giggling again. I couldn’t see him anymore, but I could hear him. He must have been moving so fast around the room because I heard his unsettling laugh all around me. I’d had enough by this point.

‘’Fuck this. Listen, John. I don’t know what your problem is but I’m going to report you right now, I’m leaving.’’ I said out loud. I knew he could hear me. It was then that I heard a quick shuffling of feet, right behind me. It was such a bizarre noise, the tapping of his shoes on the carpeted floor. I turned around and that’s when I saw him again.

He was crouching on his legs and arms. Swaying to and fro still staring at me. Then he started to shuffle towards me, smiling again, sporadic giggles escaped his lips. I was so creeped out that I began to move backwards, not wanting to take my eyes off him for a second. Then he started whispering something over and over again.

‘’It made me do it. It made me do it. It made me do it.’’ He whispered over and over again.

‘’Who made you do what, John?’’ I asked him, terrified at this point. He didn’t respond. Just kept on repeating himself in between his laughs.

‘’John, I’m going to leave now, okay. I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. I just want to go home.’’ I said, and I really really did. I just wanted to get out of there.

I started to move quicker, toward the exit. That was when John started to run, dog like. On his arms and his legs. I had never run so fast in my life.

I turned around only once and what I saw I will never forget. John was hurling himself across the floor towards me, on his feet now. I had never seen anyone move so fast. But it was his mouth and his eyes that were the most terrifying. His eyes were completely black and his mouth was covered in blood. I didn’t know if I could get away from him, I was an old man after all and my worn out legs were already burning with pain. I ran to the janitors cupboard and I locked myself in there.

He ran past me. I don’t know where he went. I could barely breathe. After an hour or so, I couldn’t hear anything so I had unlocked the door and slowly moved out into the hallway. There was no one there. John was gone.

I went home.

The next night came around too quickly and I was so scared of going into work but I didn’t really have a choice.

When I didn’t see John that night, I was relieved. I asked Ronald where he was.

‘’John? Who’s John?’’ He asked, puzzled.

‘’You know, that guy that recently started. The one that wasn’t much of a talker. Stayed late in the office at night. That guy?’’

Ronald looked at me then. ‘’Dude, you need to take some time. There isn’t anyone here called John. Never was.’’

I quit my job that night. I knew that I wasn’t going insane and that what I saw, was real. Who was John? Where did John go? And what in the world happened to me? Ronald sent me a few text messages on my phone asking what happened and where I’d gone and why I quit my job but I never told him. I knew that he wouldn’t believe me, I didn’t think anyone would. So I started to scour the internet and that was when I found this reddit page. I was hoping that someone on here would be able to help me understand, help me make sense of what happened.

Then again, you might all think that I’m a crazy old man, at the end of his tether. But you might believe this. A few weeks after I quit, I began to experience unsettling dreams. Horrible dreams. I dreamt of being stuck in that office, pursued by the John entity. I’d wake up, terrified and covered in sweat. Every night this happened.

A few night ago, something or someone left me a note outside my apartment. I haven’t been able to sleep since. The note said;

It made me do it.