I own a janitorial business that specializes in cleaning Office Buildings for mid to large siiz companies due to the nature of the job we start our shifts at 6 pm. on weekdays because most offices didn't want us inside during business hours while their employees were working so on this day I got to the scheduled office building at 6:30 putting in the keypad passcode and getting on my equipment in then locking the doors behind me the building was only two stories which was smaller than most but both floors were really long and there was a smaller basement level I started on the Second Story to work my way down I went around grabbing all the trash and getting anything off the floors that would get in my way then I tied up the bags and brought them out to the dumpsters at the back of the building to toss them while I was out there though I saw two parked cars neither of them were on but what was really odd about it was that this was the only nearby building and supposedly nobody was supposed to be here right now I just didn't know why they would be parked out in the back of the building or where they could even be if not in their cars I went back inside and just double checked that all the doors were locked up then continued with my work but occasionally I checked out the windows to see if there were any changes with the cars out there but it was the same I finished up with the top floor and moved my way down to the first floor doing the same process but this time when I went out to toss the trash in the dumpster I noticed a single light was on in one of the cars almost as soon as I stepped out though it turned off this made me uneasy so I quickly tossed everything and went back in seeing that someone was actually in there made it a lot more odd I tried to work faster finishing the floor by 11:00 p. m.
which was much quicker than the previous then it was just the small basement level and I'd be done I moved everything down and got to work this level was mostly full of boxes it was more of a storage Warehouse area while I was down there I heard a thud echo through the building it came from one of the floors above me so I couldn't tell much of what the sound was or where on those floors it sounded from I put down my things and started walking up the steps but stopped halfway through when I heard voices coming down the upper hallway two men talking back and forth at a regular volume like they weren't even afraid of meeting me being in here I started to back down the stairs and moved behind some of the boxes then dialed 911 before I had a chance to say anything though footsteps began making their way down to the basement I only saw the man's shadow on the wall before I completely hid myself behind the shelf of boxes I heard him walk around a little bit then yell upstairs to the other man no I don't see anyone I think we're good he walked up the steps and I peered out one more time seeing his shadow again but I could tell he was holding something small in his hand which just made me even more scared than I already was I reconnected with 911 and explained what I could then waited there for several minutes during this time I think the men were mostly on the top floor but then they moved back to to the first and suddenly one of them yelled their van is still here both of their footsteps started rushing around but not leaving they were looking for me it was hard to control and quiet my breathing hearing them running throughout the building and moving things around right above me then heavy footsteps rushed down the basement stairs as one of them started tossing boxes around and looking everywhere but the faintest sound of sirens approaching caught the other man's attention who alerted the one in the basement and both of them ran away I stayed hidden until an officer came down to get me it only took 2 hours for the two suspects to get caught they declined to share why they'd broken in but a few stolen items were found in their cars it's safe to say they weren't the smartest as they seemed seemed to just guess whether I'd left rather than just starting by looking for my van to see if I was there regardless them not leaving after finding out I was inside was probably the scariest thing I'll ever experience but thankfully I don't have to know what would have happened if they found me I've been a police officer for my county for almost a decade I've seen some crazy and disturbing things sometimes making me question why I even chose this career path but what happened on this night still sticks with me and is often the event that I think about the most it was nearing the end of winter but where I'm located it stays cold until about mid spring this night I was set to be on patrol of the major highway for most of my shift on a typical night I would probably stop two or three cars for speeding and otherwise wouldn't do much else sometimes a call for backup would come in but usually Patrol shifts were the most boring and uneventful I was driving along the highway doing the usual Circle until about 2 a. m.
