**"Scream in the Vents"**

The office was eerily quiet as Rachel and Mark worked late into the night, the usual hum of conversation and ringing phones replaced by the soft clicking of keyboards and the distant buzz of fluorescent lights.

“Almost done?” Mark asked, glancing over at Rachel, who was hunched over her desk, eyes squinting at the spreadsheet on her screen.

“Just a few more numbers to crunch,” Rachel replied, stifling a yawn. “You?”

“Yeah, just wrapping up the last of the emails. This new project is really kicking our butts, huh?”

As the minutes dragged on, Rachel noticed it first—a faint, almost imperceptible noise coming from above. She paused, tilting her head to listen. It sounded like a distant scratching, a soft, repetitive noise coming from the ventilation system.

“Mark, do you hear that?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mark frowned, listening intently. The noise was growing louder, more pronounced, like something was moving through the ducts.

“Yeah… what is that?” he replied, standing up from his desk. The sound was becoming impossible to ignore, a rhythmic scraping that seemed to be getting closer, echoing through the vents.

“Maybe it’s just a rat or something,” Rachel suggested, though her voice lacked conviction. The building was old, after all, and they’d had issues with pests before. But this didn’t sound like a rat—it was too loud, too deliberate.

The two of them exchanged uneasy glances. The noise continued, growing louder with each passing second, as if something was crawling through the ventilation system, making its way towards them.

“Maybe we should check it out,” Mark suggested, though he didn’t sound too eager.

Rachel nodded reluctantly, grabbing her phone to use as a flashlight. Together, they made their way across the dimly lit office, the sound of their footsteps echoing eerily in the silence. The noise from the vents seemed to follow them, like it was aware of their presence.

They reached the maintenance closet, where a large ventilation grate was set into the wall. The scratching was louder now, almost deafening, as if whatever was inside the vents was right on the other side.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked, glancing at Mark.

He didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on the vent as if entranced. Rachel swallowed hard and, steeling herself, slowly unscrewed the grate. It clattered to the floor, the sound reverberating through the empty office.

She aimed her phone’s flashlight into the vent, the beam cutting through the darkness. For a moment, all they could see was dust and the metal ductwork.

“Did you see that?” Rachel gasped, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Yeah… what the hell was that?” Mark whispered, stepping back, his face pale.

The noise started again, more frenzied this time, as if whatever was in the vents was agitated by the light. Rachel’s hand shook as she tried to keep the flashlight steady.

Suddenly, a face appeared in the beam of light—pale, gaunt, with hollow eyes that seemed to stare right through them. Rachel screamed, stumbling backward as the thing in the vent let out a guttural hiss, its mouth opening impossibly wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Mark grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the vent. “Run!” he shouted, and they bolted, the sound of the creature’s pursuit echoing through the vents above them.

They didn’t stop until they were out of the building, gasping for breath in the cool night air. The office behind them was silent again, the lights still flickering dimly in the windows.

“What the hell was that?” Rachel panted, her voice shaking.

“I don’t know,” Mark replied, his face ashen. “But I’m not sticking around to find out.”

They both knew one thing for certain—they wouldn’t be staying late at the office again.