HORROR GAMES:MY BOSS IS A GHOST

PROLOGUE: The first thing I learned about Vespera Corporation was that the building had too many floors. The second thing I learned was that nobody liked talking about the ones that didn't exist. I stood inside the elevator with my arms folded tightly across my chest, watching the numbers climb. Seven. Eight. Nine. The lights above me flickered. I looked up. The elevator stopped at twelve. That was strange. My office was on the tenth floor. I pressed the button again. Nothing happened. I pressed it harder. Still nothing. Then the elevator moved. Down. My stomach tightened. Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight. The numbers continued falling. I pressed every button on the panel. Nothing. The elevator stopped at four. The doors opened. A woman stood outside. She was wearing a black dress and holding a folder against her chest. She smiled at me. "You're late." I stared at her. "Late for what?" Her smile disappeared. "The game." The doors began closing. I stepped backward. "What game?" She didn't answer. Just before the doors shut completely, she whispered: "Don't let him see you." The elevator went dark. I couldn't breathe. Then a voice came from behind me. Low. Calm. Close enough that I felt the words before I understood them. "You shouldn't have gotten on this elevator." I turned. A man stood in the corner. Tall. Dressed in a black suit. His face was pale. Far too pale. I knew him. I didn't know how. I didn't know where I'd seen him. But I knew his face. He walked toward me. I backed away until my shoulders touched the elevator wall. "Who are you?" He stopped. His eyes met mine. For a moment, he looked almost human. Then the lights came back on. There was no reflection of him in the metal doors. My heart slammed against my ribs. He looked at the elevator panel. Then at me. "Rule number one." His voice was barely above a whisper. "Never trust anyone who tells you the rules." The elevator doors opened. I screamed. ************* Monday morning arrived with a grey sky and the kind of rain that seemed determined to make the whole city miserable. Elena Carter stood beside the window of her bedroom, watching water slide down the glass in crooked lines. The street below was already awake. Cars crawled through the wet road, umbrellas moved between buildings, and somewhere downstairs, a woman was arguing with a taxi driver loud enough for half the neighborhood to hear. Elena barely noticed any of it. Her eyes were fixed on the email open on her phone. Vespera Corporation. She had read it six times since waking up. The position was permanent. The salary was more than she had expected. There were medical benefits, transportation allowances, paid leave and enough other things listed beneath the offer to make her suspicious that she had somehow applied for the wrong job. She checked the sender again. It was real. She opened the attachment for the third time. Her name was there. ELENA CARTER Administrative Assistant Executive Division She sat on the edge of her bed. For the past three months, she had sent applications to almost every company she could find. Most never replied. A few sent polite rejection emails. One had invited her for an interview and then disappeared completely. Vespera had been different. They had called her two days after she submitted her application. The interview had lasted twenty minutes. The salary had been discussed before she even had time to become nervous. And now they wanted her to resume the following Monday. Today. Elena looked at the time. 7:14 a.m. She was already late. "Great." She jumped from the bed and hurried toward the bathroom. By 7:47, she was standing in front of her mirror, fastening the last button of a simple cream blouse. She studied herself for a moment, then reached for her handbag. Her phone buzzed. Maya: Tell me you're awake. Elena smiled. Elena: Unfortunately. Three dots appeared almost immediately. Maya: Today is the dayyyyy. Elena: Don't remind me. Maya: You're going to be fine. Rich company. Good salary. Beautiful building. Mysterious CEO. Elena stopped typing. Elena: How do you know the CEO is beautiful? Maya: I searched him. A second message followed. Maya: Don't judge me. Elena laughed under her breath. She slipped her phone into her bag and hurried downstairs. The rain had become lighter by the time she stepped outside, but the air was still damp and cold. She pulled her handbag closer and joined the small crowd waiting beside the road. She tried not to think about the job. That lasted approximately thirty seconds. Her mind returned to the interview. The woman who had interviewed her had barely smiled. She had asked unusual questions. Not difficult questions. Unusual ones. Are you comfortable working after hours? Do you have any problems with enclosed spaces? Would you describe yourself as easily frightened? Elena had laughed at the last question. The woman hadn't. She had simply written something down before moving to the next question. At the time, Elena had assumed it was one of those strange interview techniques designed to test confidence. Now, standing in the rain with the Vespera address glowing on her phone, she wondered why she remembered those questions so clearly. A bus finally stopped. Elena climbed aboard. The journey took nearly an hour. By the time she reached the city center, the rain had stopped completely. The clouds remained thick overhead, turning the morning light dull and silver. Then she saw it. Vespera Corporation. The building stood several streets away from the busy shops and smaller offices surrounding it. It was taller than most of the buildings nearby, its dark glass reflecting the cloudy sky. Elena slowed down. She had seen pictures online. The pictures hadn't done it justice. There was something imposing about the place. Not frightening. Not exactly. Just... quiet. The street around it was busy, but the building itself seemed strangely detached from everything around it. Elena checked the address. Correct. She took a breath and walked toward the entrance. The glass doors opened automatically. Warm air touched her face. The lobby was enormous. A polished stone floor stretched beneath rows of modern lights. Tall windows covered one side of the room, while the opposite wall displayed the Vespera Corporation logo in silver letters. Employees moved across the lobby with coffee cups and phones in their hands. Everything looked normal. Perfectly normal. Elena relaxed. Maybe she had been overthinking things. She approached the reception desk. A young woman looked up. "Elena Carter?" Elena blinked. "Yes." The woman smiled. "You're expected." Something about the way she said it made Elena pause. Then the woman extended her hand. "I'm Clara. Reception." They shook hands. Clara handed Elena a temporary identification card. "Human Resources is on the fourth floor. They'll finish your registration and take you to your department." "Thank you." Elena clipped the card to her blouse. As she turned, her eyes caught something on the wall behind the reception desk. A large framed photograph. It showed a group of people standing outside the building. The photograph looked old, though the building itself looked exactly the same. Elena moved closer. There were about fifteen people in the picture. Men and women dressed in suits. Most were smiling. One man stood slightly apart from the others. He wasn't smiling. Elena stared at him. Tall. Dark hair. Sharp features. His expression was calm, almost severe. Something inside her chest tightened. She didn't know him. She was certain of that. And yet... "That's the old executive team." Clara's voice made her turn. Elena pointed toward the photograph. "Who is he?" Clara's expression changed. Only for a second. Then the smile returned. "Adrian Vale." "Is he still here?" Clara looked at the photograph again. "No." The answer came too quickly. Elena frowned. "Does he work here?" Clara's fingers tightened slightly around the pen in her hand. "He used to." Before Elena could ask anything else, the elevator doors opened. A group of employees walked out. One of them glanced at Elena's temporary card. His expression changed. He looked toward Clara. Then toward the photograph. Then quickly walked away. Elena watched him go. "Was that weird?" Clara smiled again. "What?" "Nothing." Elena decided to let it go. She entered the elevator. The doors closed. For a moment, she was alone. The elevator began moving upward. Fourth floor. She watched the numbers change. One. Two. Three. Then four. The doors opened. A woman from Human Resources was waiting for her. The rest of the morning passed quickly. Forms. Identification. Company policies. Computer access. A tour of the executive division. Elena listened carefully, though most of the information blurred together. She learned where the cafeteria was. Where the restrooms were. Which conference rooms were available. Which areas were restricted. The last part caught her attention. The HR representative pointed toward a corridor at the far end of the executive floor. "That area is restricted to senior management." "Okay." "You'll never need to go there." The woman said it casually. Elena nodded. But as they walked away, she glanced back. The corridor was empty. At the very end stood a dark wooden door. There was no sign on it. No name. Nothing. Yet Elena had the strange feeling that someone was standing on the other side. She turned away. Her new desk was beside a large window overlooking the city. The woman introduced her to two other employees before leaving. One was a quiet man named Ethan. The other was a woman named Clara's colleague, Nina. They welcomed her politely. Neither seemed particularly interested in conversation. Elena sat down. Her computer had already been prepared. She logged in. A folder containing her schedule appeared on the desktop. She opened it. Monday. Orientation. Tuesday. Administrative training. Wednesday. Executive procedures. Thursday. Records management. Friday. Review. At the bottom was a note. Employees are required to vacate the premises by 11:00 p.m. unless authorized otherwise. Elena read it twice. She glanced at Nina. "Is everyone actually required to leave before eleven?" Nina looked at her. "Yes." "Why?" Nina's eyes moved toward the corridor at the end of the floor. Then back to Elena. "Company policy." She returned to her computer. That was all. Elena leaned back. There were plenty of strange companies in the world. She wasn't going to start imagining things on her first day. She spent the next few hours learning the system. Around noon, the floor became busier. People moved between offices. Phones rang. Printers hummed. Someone laughed near the kitchen. Gradually, Vespera began to feel less intimidating. Then, at exactly 2:17 p.m., Elena's computer screen went black. She waited. Nothing happened. She pressed the power button. The screen returned. A document was open. She hadn't opened it. There was no title. Only one sentence. WELCOME TO VESPERA, ELENA. Her fingers froze above the keyboard. She stared at it. A second line appeared beneath the first. FOLLOW THE RULES. Elena stood abruptly. Her chair rolled backward. "Ethan?" He looked over. "Yeah?" "Did you open something on my computer?" He frowned. "No." Elena looked back at the screen. The document was gone. Her normal desktop had returned. She sat slowly. For several seconds, she didn't move. Then she closed the folder and decided she needed coffee. As she walked toward the kitchen, she passed the framed photograph again. This time, she stopped. Her eyes found Adrian Vale. The same cold expression. The same dark eyes. She couldn't explain why the photograph bothered her. Maybe it was because Clara had looked uncomfortable when she asked about him. Maybe it was because everyone seemed to know his name. Or maybe it was simply because she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen that face somewhere before. Elena reached toward the glass. Her fingertip almost touched the photograph. A voice behind her stopped her. "Don't." She turned. A man stood several feet away. Black suit. Dark hair. Pale face. Calm eyes. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Elena recognized him immediately. The man from the photograph. Adrian Vale. He looked exactly the same. And somehow, that was the first thing about Vespera Corporation that truly frightened her.