Horror stories

Do you want to play with me?

Marta looked at the clock on her computer desktop: it was twenty-three and fifteen minutes. He cursed herself again for not having made a back-up of her hard-disk as she had been advised: a virus had canceled the work of the last three days and now had to re-enter the data of almost three hundred customers. She was alone in the office, sitting at her desk, in the light of a floor lamp that lit up her desk and part of the corridor behind her. Without his screaming colleagues and the constantly ringing phones, the office rooms were in a surreal silence. The only noise was the computer fan and the ticking of his fingers on the keyboard. He took a card and placed it on the desk. He was about to start entering the data when some noises behind him made her jump in the chair. Noises of a ball bouncing on the floor.

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He turned abruptly. The corridor behind him was in the dim light. "Is anyone there?" He shouted into the darkness.

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He got up and rushed over to the switches located behind him, turning on all the lights as he reached them. The office lit up and the noise stopped abruptly. Marta did not see anyone."Noises from the floor above," he thought, taking a little courage. He went along the corridor to the exit. At the bottom he looked around: on his left was the room with the printer and the photocopier, to his right the office of Dr. Alessi, his boss. He headed to the left. The door was ajar and from the dark room the printer's LEDs flashed. The only noise that was heard was the flickering of the power supply. He turned on the light and lit up the empty room. He turned and went to his employer's office. He tried to enter, but he was locked up. He put his ear to the door.No noise came from inside. He relaxed and returned to his desk: there were still seven cards left to be included in the database. "Okay, let's finish this job and let's go home," he said to the empty room. He resumed his work and in ten minutes he managed to enter the data of six customers. He saved the file (this time in duplicate, even on his USB stick) and took the last sheet. Behind him he clearly heard the voice of a child.

"Hi!" Marta remained motionless, paralyzed with terror, one hand resting on the mouse and the other suspended in midair above the keyboard.In his monitor he saw the reflection of a figure behind him. The hand with which he held the mouse began to tremble and the pointer arrow on the monitor began to move quickly from right to left.

"Do you want to play with me?" She heard herself ask from a little voice behind her.

He slowly turned on the swivel chair, his heart pounding in his veins. There was no one behind him. He stared at the exit door at the end of the corridor. "Keep calm. You're tired and your mind can play tricks on you, "he thought." Now take your jacket and rush out of that door. You can also insert the last card tomorrow morning ». He wanted to move fast, but terror slowed down every movement. He turned off the computer, took his jacket, and thought it took a lifetime for him to walk down the corridor. She seemed to be in one of those nightmares in which you would like to run, but all the movements seem to be slow-motion and the more you try to approach a door, the more distant you seem. She had come almost halfway down the corridor when she heard the noise again.

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Marta si bloccò e quello che vide la fece barcollare. Dovette appoggiarsi al muro per non cadere a terra. In fondo al corridoio, da sinistra verso destra, una palla arancione rotolò davanti all’uscita e sparì verso l’ufficio del  suo capo. «Se è uno scherzo non è affatto divertente!» urlò sperando in una bravata di qualche suo collega. Non ottenne  risposta. Si precipitò verso l’uscita, infilando le mani nella borsa per prendere le chiavi e non le trovò. Cercò invano anche nelle tasche dei pantaloni e della giacca. «Merda! Dove le ho lasciate?» urlò. Si guardò intorno e le vide sul pavimento, all’ingresso dello stanzino della stampante. «Mi saranno cadute prima» pensò. Nel momento in cui raccolse le chiavi udì il rumore della fotocopiatrice che si metteva in moto. Vide il movimento della lampada passare sotto il coperchio e un foglio A4 uscire dal retro. Lo prese e quando lo guardò sentì le gambe cederle. Questa volta non fece in tempo ad aggrapparsi a nulla e cadde a terra. Il foglio le scivolò dalle mani e si posò sul pavimento al suo fianco. Fotocopiata sul foglio, con una calligrafia infantile, appariva la scritta: