Task 1 - Writing Online Entries (40%)

Short Story - Overtime

The evening sun casted long shadows on the ground. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a sort of warm orange tinge to the sky, making the school grounds look less lively as it usually was during the day. The deafening silence made the surroundings feel even more uncanny, but Ustaz Rahman paid no mind to all this.

He did shivered a bit as soon as he stepped out of his car from the parking lot, but he shrugged off the weird feeling. He had to come to school to finish writing his paperwork due tomorrow. There was no other way. Reciting a small prayer to lift up his spirits and ventured on inside the school, heading towards the office. He felt a little assured as he knew he wasn't alone in the school. The security guard was around the grounds, doing his usual patrols. 

Ustaz Rahman went to unlock the office doors, when he noticed that the door was already unlocked. He quickly disregarded it by assuming perhaps one of the teachers who went home late earlier had forgot to lock it. He made a beeline towards his desk and wasted no time to start on his task. 

After a few minutes, something peculiar happened. Ustaz Rahman was using the printer to photostat a few papers, when suddenly the payphone nearby was ringing. How odd, was that even possible? After some time, the ringing stopped. He resumed on his work when it rang again. Curious, Ustaz Rahman went to the payphone and picked it up. He said hello, but the only thing that he could hear was a faint crackling sound. Through all the stating sounds, he could have sworn that he heard a soft whisper,

"Working late?"

Ustaz Rahman immediately hanged up the phone and uttered Astaghfirullah and convinced himself that his mind must have made up nonsense. Ustaz Rahman quickly resumed his work, trying to finish it so that he can go home as soon as possible. Gazing through the window, he saw the security guard starting to do his patrolling, giving one another a nod of acknowledgement. The Ustaz felt a little relieved that there was at least someone to accompany him.

He was almost done with his paperwork, the only thing left to do is filing all the papers. He was humming a small song, trying to ease the tension wafting through the air. Suddenly, he heard the office door opening and closing, following a few thumps of footsteps. Judging by the sounds, Ustaz Rahman assumed that it was the security guard, so he didn't bother to turn around to look at the man, since he was already too invested in the task in his hands. 

He heard the person behind him clear his throat and asked "Why are you still at school?". Ustaz Rahman just chuckled a little, "I just have some work to do for tomorrow", while arranging the papers neatly in a file. At the same time, Ustaz Rahman suddenly gazed at the window and saw that the security guard had just walked down the stairs from the second floor, heading towards the guard post ahead. 

He froze.

Then who was he talking with?

An eerie long giggle was heard from behind him, chilling his whole body to the core. He didn't dare to turn around, but quickly uttered a few words of prayer until the giggling stopped. Ustaz Rahman made up his mind to go home and continue his work in the morning, since his work was almost finished anyways. When he turned around, there was no one around, only him. He quickly went outside, locked the doors, and headed straight to his car to go home.

That was the last time that he will ever come to school during late evenings.

-based on true events xD