One night, I was up till late studying for my exams. I was feeling rather sleepy, but I kept myself awake as I still had a lot to revise. I drank lots of coffee to keep myself awake. And I munched on keropoks and twisties to keep myself alert. Everyone in my house was asleep by then. I was alone; the time was around midnight. I thought I was falling asleep when the clock suddenly struck midnight – ding, dong, ding dong, ding dong, 12 times.

I was shaken up, only to realise almost immediately that it was just the clock.

Then, I felt a sudden cool breeze blowing towards me, coming from nowhere in particular. But it got stronger and stronger. And the hair on my arms began to stand on its ends! I suddenly felt cold. But I ignored it, dismissing it as just the night air. So I continued studying. Just as I began to feel more comfortable and more alert with the books, I heard some faint voices behind me. But I couldn’t quite make out what was being said. The voices grew louder and clearer. I almost could make out my name being called: “Nuruuul, Nuruuuul, Nuruuuuuuulllll…”

How could this be? No one was awake at that time! And actually my family called me by another name, a pet name.

I turned around to see who it was. But there was no one behind me. I thought someone’s fooling around with me. I said: “Jangan kacaulah…” (Don’t disturb me, in Malay..)

Then I turned back to my books and continued reading.

A moment passed. Then, again: “Nuruuul, Nuruuul, Nuruuuuul”.

Oh my God! That voice is unfamiliar! It’s beginning to scare me. The hairs on my neck stood on end. So I said my prayers: “God, please give me strength. Please protect me from whatever that is behind me.”

For a while, the voice was gone. And the room was warm again. Gone was the cool breeze. I thanked God and went back to my studying.

I think I must have fallen asleep.

Suddenly, I felt someone, or something touching my head. It was cold, almost freezing cold…

I was afraid to look up. Soon, I felt the thing stroking my head, back and forth, back and forth. Then, I felt something cold and thick dripping on my head. I wiped it away, and when I looked down at my hand, I saw a red, thick liquid. It looked like blood. I was freaking out. I jumped out of my seat, I looked up and saw….

The white fan above me dripping some more red liquid. And above it.

Something was hanging, looking down at me…with big read eyes, almost burning through me. In my moment of panic, I saw that it had no body. I screamed: “Ahhhhhhhh………”

Then something beside me touched my hand. I turned sideways, and I saw the body that belonged to the head. I think at that moment, I fainted.

For I woke up the next morning in hospital, with my family looking worriedly at me.