Haunted: A man who wasn't there

Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away....

What if the little man exists in reality? What if the little man is near you? What if the little man is standing next to you? Or behind you? What if the little man hangs around in the office, behind your desk, and waits for you to turn around? Scary thought isn't is? What if, this happened? Will you turn around and face the little man? Or will you close your eyes and wish that he would go away? My friend, Siddhant (pseudonym used for protecting the identity) had answers to all these questions. This is Siddhant's paranormal experience.

Siddhant, an IT professional was working in a reputed firm. Just like most IT firms, he used to work in a multicultural team which was spread across several regions. Siddhant and 7 other members were from India, however only Siddhant was working from the firm's Mumbai office.

Siddhant was in a customer facing role. His customers were from European and North American countries, he used to work in afternoon shift. His shift would start at 2 PM. Based on the workload Siddhant would leave from office anytime after 12 AM. If he had a lot of work, he would continue till 3 AM as well. Siddhant was a self-proclaimed "night owl" who enjoyed working in late evening. He did not mind working late even though he was all by himself in the big office. He would rather enjoy working alone; he used to love to think that the huge office is his personal cabin. The silence in the empty office never bothered him, until it did one night.

Siddhant had started working on a new project. This project was important for firm's growth as well as his own professional growth. He was determined to complete it before the deadline and win praise from his superiors. Siddhant had immersed himself into the work and would stay late almost each day. Most staffers used to leave by 10 PM but Siddhant would stay in the office till he was satisfied with his work. He was willing to sacrifice his sleep and personal time for a better future.

It was a regular work day for Siddhant. He was working alone in the office. He had planned his work for that day, rather night. After dinner he had a planned meeting with his project team and then another meeting with the customer. After the meeting he had planned to work on the project documentation. Siddhant's both meetings ended that is when he checked the time. It was 11:50 PM. He thought he would execute his plan and work on the project documentation. 

He started working, got completely engrossed, and lost the track of time. While working, his eyes started hurting; he blamed the blue light. To continue to work, he switched to dark mode on his laptop. To apply the dark mode, his laptop screen went blank for a few seconds. In these few seconds, Siddhant saw a reflection on his laptop screen. He saw his own face and a silhouette of a man behind him. Siddhant blinked and the silhouette was gone. He knew he was not hallucinating. He had seen a man standing behind him. The laptop settings were updated with the dark mode. Siddhant was not ready yet. He wanted to verify if what he had seen actually happened. He locked his laptop, so the screen would go blank again. The screen went blank and it happened again. He saw the reflection of the same silhouette; this time little closer to him. Siddhant knew he was not dreaming and this was real. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. After opening his eyes, he switched off his laptop, packed his bag and left from the office in hurry. When he left the premises, he checked the time. It was 1:40 AM. 

Next day, he reached the office on time. He wanted to know if anybody had any similar experiences. He spoke with few of his seniors, most of whom either denied the occurrence of such incident or laughed at him. However, one colleague told him quietly that his friend had similar experience. His friend got so scared that he left the job. Nobody knows anything about that apparition. The history of the office building is not known too. Some people said that it was a old employee who died while working, but there was no evidence to prove it (corporates know very well how to brush the accidents and incidents under the carpet). However, it was well known that paranormal entities did exist in that building. This information was neither reassuring nor helpful. It was purely unsettling. 

That night onwards, Siddhant decided not to wait in the office all alone. He was relived when he was granted the permission to work from home due to the shift in global working conditions. Even today when he works late night, he still remembers his encounter with the apparition. Sometimes he still feels a presence behind him while working. He never turns around to see who or what is behind him. He believes it is better to be a coward than be possessed.

[Note: Above image is generated with AI]