Hello. Can you hear me? Good. I know this is going to sound strange, but I need you to listen carefully. My name is Michael, and I need to tell you something about your station. About the overnight shift. I worked at Across The Airwaves for two years. Same shift you're doing now, midnight to six AM. Taking calls from people who'd seen things in the dark. I know that booth you're sitting in. I know the equipment. The old mixing board with the faders that stick. The coffee maker in the break room that only works if you hit it on the left side. The parking lot with eight spaces and that one streetlight that flickers. I know it all because I was there. I sat in that chair. I took those calls. Night after night, listening to people tell me about things they couldn't explain. And then one night, something happened that I still can't explain myself. Something that made me realize I wasn't just taking calls anymore. I'd become one of them.
It started on Memorial Day weekend. Late May of this year. The holiday had just passed and I was back to the regular overnight slot. The station was quiet like it always is at that hour. Just me and the equipment and the callers. Around two thirty in the morning, I got a call. Guy said his name was Robert. Said he was calling from Pennsylvania. He told me this story about seeing something in the woods behind his property. Tall figure, glowing eyes, the usual sort of thing. I listened, I thanked him, I moved on. That's the job. But about fifteen minutes later, I got another call. Different voice. Woman this time. Said her name was Sarah, calling from Oregon. And she told me almost the exact same story. Same figure, same woods, same glowing eyes. Not identical, but close enough that it felt weird. I remember thinking maybe they'd heard each other's call and one was copying the other. Happens sometimes. Then a third call came in. Different person again. Same story. And that's when I started feeling it, this cold sensation at the back of my neck. Like someone was standing behind me. But I was alone in the booth. I could see the entire station through the glass. Empty hallways. Dark offices. Just me.
The calls kept coming. Every fifteen, twenty minutes. Different voices, different names, different locations. But the same story, over and over. The figure in the woods. The glowing eyes. And each time, the story got a little more detailed. A little more specific. By 4 AM, I'd taken maybe twelve of these calls. calls in one shift is overwhelming - Olivia' I wasn't putting them through anymore. I'd just listen, thank them, and hang up. But they kept calling. The phone would ring, I'd answer, and there'd be another person telling me about the figure in the woods. And then one of them said something that made me freeze. She said, and I remember this exactly, she said, 'It's watching you right now. Through the window behind you.' I spun around in my chair. The booth has windows on three sides. One looking into the station, one facing the parking lot, and one that looks out at the back alley. There's a streetlight in the lot that keeps it pretty well lit. And I swear to you, I saw something move. Just for a second. A shape. Tall. Between the cars. I told myself it was nothing. A trick of the light. Exhaustion. You start seeing things when you're tired enough. But my hands were shaking when I went back to the board.
[ Story continues in the full game... ]