Horrorfest

18 - Columbarium

"Are you afraid of ghosts?"

The question threw me offguard but I knew the topic would come up sooner or later. I was afterall, in an interview at a columbarium, a place with niches where funeral urns are stored.

I willed my unsteady eyes to look straight at the man seated calmly in front of me. Beads of anxiety rolled from the nape of my neck and down my back. I could feel the nervous sweat slowly dampening my top.

I would be horrified if I ever bumped into an actual ghost but being unemployed for years, I was desperate for a job. It would pay well. It even had an extra one month's salary completion bonus if one successfully worked at the role for a month. That was two months' worth of salary! The turnover rate must have been really high for the company to resort to such completion bonuses. Another good thing was, I had to work only fifteen days a month. The downside? I was applying for the permanent night shift role.

"If I am being honest, humans are far more scarier in person," I joked, keeping my voice steady.

"Indeed. Indeed we are," the man gleamed at me, the sides of his lips twitched slightly in a crooked smile of their own. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"I noticed that the same job ad had been running for many years," I mumbled uneasily. "Has this position been empty for a while?"

"Ahhh," he sighed. "I've hired many potential candidates but not one of them lasted a month."

I blinked a few times, unsure what to make out of it.

"Perhaps they have seen something that they shouldn't. That's why I asked if you were scared of ghosts. I assumed they quit because of certain unnatural sightings. We didn't have a chance to do an exit interview on any of them. They left with such haste. The previous employee, employee #126 lasted the longest. She worked until her second week."

Employee #126? Damn.

"You said the previous employees left in haste?"

"Ah yes...You don't have to serve any notice of resignation if you work here. I allow all my employees to leave on the spot. Within reasons, of course. I can understand how working in such a setting might be unsettling for some people."

I gulped uneasily.

"Did that make you feel nervous?" He peered at me with a genuine worried look.

"Not at all," I faked a smile. "It motivates me even more to get this job and be the first to last at least a month in this role."

He laughed cherrily, pushed his chair back, stood up and extended his hand warmly. "Wonderful. Confident and brave. Congratulations. You're hired. You start tomorrow night."

*****

I fiddled with the staff card that hung from my neck in a loose lanyard. I dragged my heels behind me as I flipped the card over a few times.

#127.

I was employee #127. There was no picture ID or a name attached to the card. I was reduced to merely a number. #127.

"Why did the director request for a photograph then?" I sighed.

Confident and brave my ass.

I shuddered as I walked past hallways after hallways of niches that contained funeral urns. I was not prepared to learn that the 9x9x9 niches were made out of glass. Meaning, I could see the interior of each niche. I could see every urn, every photo and every memento that each niche had. Each niche had an engraved plate at the right side of it, bearing the name and other additional details of the deceased. On the left was a small nook where fresh flowers were usually placed by loved ones who visited. But the columbarium was closed to visitors at night so the place felt a bit too eeriely quiet for my taste.