The dyeing works had recently gone out of business. Everything was there to dye cloth except the workforce. Whoever was now in charge had decided that there should be a twenty-four hour guard placed on the premises to ensure that nothing was stolen.

Danny had just got a job as a security guard and Saturday night at the dyeing works, starting at seven o'clock, was to be his first twelve hour
shift. Dressed in his new uniform Danny arrived at the gatehouse at half past six, as arranged, to give the guard who had been on the day shift time to show him round and tell him the duties involved.

It was early in May so there was still plenty of daylight left as Danny was shown round. The main part of the job, apart from not falling asleep, was to walk round the building by a set route with a locked timing device. At certain points on the route there were keys securely attached to the wall by metal chains that had to be inserted into the timing device and turned. Each key registered a unique mark on a strip of paper in the timing device, recording the time when it was used. This ensured that the guard physically visited each point on the set route, which started at the top of the three storey building and made its way, floor by floor, downwards. After each patrol an entry had to be written in a notebook in the gatehouse with the
time and any observations that the guard needed to make. This would allow the supervisor, who Danny was told may or may not show up at anytime during the shift to checkup on him, to be able to see if the times written in the
notebook matched what was recorded in the timing device. The key to which only the supervisor carried. Apart from that, Danny's time was his own.

The day shift guard would be back in the morning. He said goodbye to Danny,
got into his car and drove away. Danny was alone.

As the fine May evening slowly ebbed away Danny took the opportunity to take a closer look at his workplace. The dyeing works was situated in picturesque surroundings. It was set back from the main road, approached by a lane which
had the feel of a drive leading to a large country house. This had caused Danny to initially think he had taken the wrong turning when trying to find
the place. There was a wood to the rear along with a dam. The building itself was large and had a castellated tower with prison-like bars on the
numerous windows, which gave it a slightly sinister feel. However, Danny dismissed this thought and decided to make his first patrol while it was still daylight.

He opened the door of the dyeing works and turned on all the fluorescent lights at the large panel of switches on the wall nearby. Danny made his way upstairs to the top floor to the first key on his route. Twenty minutes
later he was turning the lights off and closing the door, his first patrol completed with nothing to report. That was it. Now for a cup of tea. There
was an electric kettle, teabags, milk, sugar and cups in the gatehouse so Danny helped himself.

The evening wore on and the light faded. From where he sat in the gatehouse Danny could see the large building through the window, looming in the darkness. The sinister feeling that he had experienced earlier returned, and with the onset of night, the prospect of patrolling the building by himself was not appealing.

Once again Danny opened the door to the dyeing works and turned on all the lights. Another patrol began. He had made his way all through the building and was walking along the ground floor, past abandoned machinery, when he felt the air temperature drop. From the corner of his left eye he thought he saw a dark shape move on the opposite side of the building. Danny stopped
and looked around. There was nothing that appeared wrong. He moved on towards the exit. The air temperature rose.

Sitting in the gatehouse Danny stared at the dark mass of the dyeing works through the window. He knew he had to go back inside to do his job. For the first time that night he began to experience fear.

In the silence Danny prepared himself to make another patrol. It was now two o'clock in the morning.

Danny's right hand was shaking slightly as he opened the door to the dyeing
works. Lights on. He set off. Third floor. Second floor. First floor. Down to the basement. Only the ground floor to check. He felt the air temperature
drop at the same place it did before. His head jerked to the left so quickly he nearly pulled a muscle. Danny's peripheral vision had seen something move. But there was nothing there. Danny ran out of the building.

There were no more patrols for Danny that shift. At seven o'clock he greeted the other guard in silence and left.

Danny was not sent back to the dyeing works. The company he worked for had contracts at various premises. One was at a large mail order company. The building was so large that he had two other guards with him. They got talking. Danny mentioned that he had worked a night shift at the dyeing works. One of the guards said he'd also worked there, and without Danny
mentioning anything, declared the place haunted and then described everything Danny had seen. The hairs on the back of Danny's neck shot up.