Ed's Logs

I work security at a factory that makes cab enclosures for tractors. Nice, easy, boring job. All we really do is make patrols through an empty plant and fill out log sheets. The logs are done more as a formality than anything else, and as far as I know, no one reads them unless something happens that requires the guard writing an accompanying incident report. And even this is usually at the guard's discretion.

So they just get filled out and filed away. The company doesn't take security too seriously. "Lax" is the correct word I believe.

Since we're considered part of the Human Resources department, sometimes we get stuck doing the odd project for them overnight. "Office bitch work" as we call it. Recently my boss wanted me to head over to the storage facility (actually just a residential house next to the factory which the company owns) and alphabetize a couple box's worth of old employee files kept in the basement.

God do I hate going down there. I always have to hold my arms way out ahead of me, at the ready for clearing away the million cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. Plus it smells moldy. So, risking fungal infection and walking like an arachnophobic Frankenstein monster, I lumbered down the stairs and to the far corner where the boxes were piled.

I found the two my boss was talking about, and was relieved to see they weren't as full as I'd expected. I finished in less than an hour. With some time to kill before my next scheduled round, I couldn't help snooping around in some of the other boxes. A few at the bottom were soggy and falling apart, but I figured I'd give them a try. And that's how I found the old security logs.

They spanned a period of 1978 to 1998. It was interesting to compare them over the years, watching our security routines evolve (or should I say devolve) into their current form. At the end of the stack I got to Ed's logs.

Far as I could tell, they were the last of the batch. He'd written a few month's worth, from April to July of '98. They started out as dull as you'd expect, but took a gradual turn for the bizarre during his last month. Maybe he had mental issues, maybe he was messing around, I dunno. None of the current guards were around back then, so they don't know anything either. All I know is, I was kind of rattled when I saw the last entry. I've scanned what I think are all the relevant logs, starting with July 2nd:

Date: 7/2/98

   Round 1: 2300-2346
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -contractors have been knocking down wall
   in hallway at SE employee entrance -door
   removed + covered only w/tarp, will monitor

   Round 2: 0100-0135
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -found hall off construction site leading to large room not covered
   in rounds - NE from door S42. What appears to be compressor in corner.
   Per maint's request that ALL compressors be running overnight, turned on.

   Round 3: 0300-0331
   -fire pump house OK
   -dip tank temp at 91 F
   -compressor in new room emitting high-pitched whine -
   left note for maint.

   Round 4: 0500-0530
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift
   -cannot cover new rm until maint. fixes compressor -
   headache even w/earplugs!

i.imgur.com/Tmz4awQ.jpg

Date: 7/6/98

   Round 1: 2300-2345
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 91 F

   Round 2: 0100-0132
   -dip tank temp at 91 F
   -someone has been leaving red fingerprints on newly painted
   cabs in finishing area

   Round 3: 0300-0330
   -fire pump house OK
   -dip tank temp at 92 F

   Round 4: 0500-0531
   -dip tank temp at 91 F
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift
   -office thermostat may need looking at - reads 70, feels colder

i.imgur.com/tatIaDi.jpg

Date: 7/11/98

   Round 1: 2300-2347
   -plant empty + secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 91 F

   Round 2: 0100-0131
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -compressor still whining, no maint?

   Round 3: 0300-0333
   -fire pump house OK
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -around 0324, heard what sounded like someone humming over PA system -
   kids messing around w/outside phone? Looked around parking lot, nobody sighted

   Round 4: 0500-0530
   -dip tank temp at 91 F
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift

i.imgur.com/PELWkZr.jpg

Date: 7/15/98

   Round 1: 2300-2345
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 91 F

   Round 2: 0100-0134
   -dip tank temp at 92 F

   Round 3: 0300-0340
   -fire pump house OK
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -while passing door S40, noticed someone (lady) standing in hourly parking lot.
   Ran to salaried lot to get car and drove up to approach, but was already walking out
   by then.
   Will monitor lots closely

   Round 4: 0500-0532
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift

i.imgur.com/IJvGIVv.jpg

[By now I'd been squatting a while and was getting pretty uncomfortable. I stood up to stretch, and as if to satisfy a cliché, the lights flickered a few times. Goddamn basement. I continued reading.]

Date: 7/20/98

   Round 1: 2300-2346
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 92 F

   Round 2: 0100-0130
   -dip tank temp at 92 F

   Round 3: 0300-0338
   -fire pump house OK
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -saw what appeared to be face looking in thru SW window
   in drill press area. Went outside to investigate but nobody there. Window
   too high to reach w/out ladder, and nothing to climb on either. Called
   police, who will help monitor parking lot on reg. patrols

   Round 4: 0500-0531
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift

i.imgur.com/XMYoahA.jpg

Date: 7/27/98

   Round 1: 2300-2347
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 92 F

   Round 2: 0100-0132
   -dip tank temp at 91 F
   -someone still leaving red fingerprints all over cabs + other things
   throughout plant -would recomend installing at least one camera in Dept. 14

   Round 3: 0300-0330
   -fire pump house OK
   -dip tank temp at 92 F

   Round 4: 0500-0530
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift

i.imgur.com/5vMcVh7.jpg

Date: 7/28/98

   Round 1: 2300-2349
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK w/no leaks
   -dip tank temp at 92 F
   -why is there an old house sitting in compressor rm now??
   Windows bricked over/door boarded shut -am I supposed to go in?

   Round 2: 0100-
   -dip tank temp at 91 F

   Round 3: 0300-0331
   -dip tank temp at 91 F

   Round 4: 0500-0530
   -unlocked doors for 1st shift

i.imgur.com/xyoABuq.jpg

Date: 7/29/98

   Round 1: 2300-
   -workers leaving, plant secured
   -fire pump house OK
   -house all quiet -would investigate further but compressor gives headache
   -its not the first

   Round 2:
   -dip tank temp at
   -its not the first
   -there is an [anomaly?]

   Round 3:
   -door is open -think shes inside, hear her humming again
   -called police + awaiting arrival

i.imgur.com/7JQ5hZA.jpg

[end of logs]

Needless to say, a dingy old basement wasn't the best environment in which to read these. When I'd finished I rushed back upstairs, trying my best not to notice the flecks of red paint on the handrail. Oh, right – the red flecks. I'd forgotten those were there. I still have the bruise on my knee from tripping on the last step. Fuck this place.