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Horror tales에 의해Here is the translation of your text:
My name is Mark Lanes. I worked as a night guard for three years at a used car dealership outside the city. It wasn't the dream job, but it was quiet… until that night. I had a colleague named Jeff who worked with me. He was a good guy, but he was always falling asleep. I mean, always… no matter how hard he tried to stay awake, he'd collapse into his chair within the first hour of the shift. The place was a big open space… long rows of cars, and a small security office. And to make things worse… the cameras were out. Their wires had been cut a week ago when a car transport truck drove over the main cable. I knew it was dangerous, but I never imagined I'd pay the price for it that way.
That night started like any other. I sat alone in the office, monitoring the place from the window, scrolling through my phone to kill time. Time was passing slowly. Jeff, as usual, fell asleep within the first 20 minutes. There was nothing… until around midnight. I heard a faint movement between the cars. It was one step… but it was enough to make my heart stop for a second. I picked up the radio:
> "Jeff? Are you out there?"
No response. I thought he was sleeping, so I called him again… and a third time… nothing. My anxiety turned into a weird feeling… a feeling that something was off behind those dark rows.
I grabbed my flashlight and went out. The cars looked like walls of shadows, and with every step, I felt like someone was watching me from between the black doors and tinted windows. I walked towards Jeff's room. The door was slightly open… something I had never seen before. I pushed it slowly… and my feet froze to the ground.
Jeff was lying on the floor, his head tilted on his shoulder, his eyes wide open… and his chest full of blood. Three straight stabs to the heart. There was no sound… as if the whole place had stopped breathing with him.
My hand shook as I called the police:
> "My colleague… he's dead. I think he was killed. I need backup ASAP."
But the response was chillingly calm:
"Nearest patrol is 45 minutes out. Stay where you are."
I put down the radio and realized one thing: I'm not alone here. There was a killer… among the cars… in the dark… and he knew I had discovered the body.
I couldn't stand in Jeff's room. I slowly went out, looking around in all directions. The silence was suffocating, and every light reflecting off the car windows made me see Jeff's face in my mind.
I took five steps… then something I didn't expect happened. From behind me… and without a sound… a man attacked me. He pushed me hard onto the ground until I felt my bones hit the asphalt. He tried to stab me, but the flashlight that fell from my hand gave me a second to see his face: a dirty face, bruised, disheveled hair, and eyes that were completely empty… as if the man had no soul.
He was thin, but he moved with a ferocity unlike humans. His body smelled like a mix of old sweat and dirt… as if he'd been living on the streets for months.
I managed to grab his hand holding the knife. I tried to push it away from me, but he was pushing with all his might… we were wrestling like animals, not men. For a moment, I managed to slam his hand against a car, and the knife fell. And when he saw that… he ran.
He sprinted between the cars and disappeared into the black forest behind the dealership. I was bleeding from my arm and shoulder, breathing hard… but I was alive.
Minutes later, the police and ambulance arrived. I was sitting on the ground, shaking, trying to process what had happened. The police units cordoned off the area and headed into the forest. About an hour later, they caught him.
When I heard the news… I didn't feel relief. I only felt a heavier weight… because they started uncovering things about him.
The man wasn't a thief. He wasn't looking for a car. He was a mentally ill person who had been released from a treatment hospital… and had gone back to drugs. And he had a dark record:
– He killed a receptionist at a diner because she kicked him out.
– He killed an old man walking his dog.
– He injured a homeowner he was robbing
And that night… he didn't want anything but to kill the guard… like he did with Jeff.
I left the job after I recovered. I never went near any night shifts again. And even now… even though I know the man is in prison… whenever I pass by a dark parking lot, I feel like someone's behind me… someone walking softly… waiting for me to turn around.
