"Hey, Chang Kat! I heard that you are buying an apartment in Johor Bahru right?"

"yeah, it's really a good bargain. Where else can you find an apartment at such a cheap price?"

"True, but I heard that the area is very 'dirty'. People always tell me that they had seen pontianaks and ghosts around there. Are you sure you want to live there?"

"Haiyah, you read too much Asuras nightmares already. Pontianaks and demons normally hang around old places, buildings, and graveyards. New apartments are not for them."

I was very excited about my new purchase and took no notice of my friend's warning.

"Master Tien, so what do you think of the feng shui of this house?"

"The sha chi (negative force) in this house is very strong, and it can cause a lot of harm to you and your family. The corner of that building is pointing towards your front door. You and your family cannot stay here."

"Can you do anything about it, Master Tien? I paid a lot of money for this house. I will lose a lot if I sell now."

"Well, I can try, but there are no guarantees."

When my family together with my aged father moved into the newly brought apartment, bad luck befell me. My business started to perform badly, and I had to stay back longer to work everyday.

My friends suspected that the problem laid in the newly bought apartment. Listening to my friend's advice, I had engaged the help of a fengshui expert.

Master Tien moved a few things around the house, and also added crystal ornaments, in order to ward off evil spirits. Gradually, my failing business began to pick up. While I still had to stay back late, at least my business stopped making losses.

On a particular day, I came home late from a particularly busy day at work. Walking towards the building's lobby, I noticed a beautiful, young woman standing in the garden next to the block. It was about two a.m in the morning, making me wonder what she was doing out so late in the night.

Shrouded in a short white translucent dress, she was dressed to kill. Her skin was white like a smooth pearl and her features stood out prominently on her face, especially her luscious red lips. Her long hair flowed wistfully around her narrow waist.

As I approached her, she smiled at me, as if waiting for my return.

"Good evening, sir."

"Good evening, mam." I smiled warmly as I returned her greeting.

"What a pretty girl! Imagine her as my neighbour..wow!" I thought to myself as I walked past her. Her fragrance wafted to my nostrils. Frangipani. I didn't think much of it then.

As I approached the lift, the woman in white suddenly appeared in front of me, in my way!

"Excuse me, please," I said, wondering how she had got there so fast.

Suddenly, I froze when I realised that I had walked through her. I had met a ghost! Frightened, I ran into the lift quickly, and was glad when the doors closed in time.

It took forever to reach my ninth floor apartment. The lift was very slow that night. Suddenly, the scent of fresh frangipanis filled the air around me. It seemed to be coming from right behind me. With dread, I turned around.

The she was, smiling at me maliciously.

Startled, i jumped back and hit the lift door behind me. Opening my mouth, I tried to shout for help, but no sound escaped.

Slowly, she edged towards me and her eyes began to glow a bright orange! She touched my face tenderly, as the nails on her fingers elongated right before my eyes.

"Am I beautiful?" She purred into my ears softly.

Shocked, I closed my eyes tightly and began to pray. My lips were moving rapidly as I made that desperate appeal to God for help. I was beginning to lose consciousness from the lack of oxygen.

Suddenly, the pressure at my throat eased. I heard a snapping sound just before the door opened behind me. I dropped heavily to the ground at the lift landing. Looking around, the lift in front of me was empty.

"Hahahaha." The laughter came from above me. I looked up and saw her floating above me. Terrified, I got up quickly and made a run for my apartment.

Halfway there, I felt a sharp pain down my back. Her shrill laughter rang in my eyes.

When I reached the door of my apartment, I could feel something wet flowing down my back. I banged on the door frantically, screaming for help. The pain on my back grew in entensity, as something sharp dug in my skin and was dragged down.

Fortunately, my father was still awake then and he opened the door quickly when he heard me screaming. He was shocked when I slumped on the floor, my back covered with deep scratches. There was no one outside my apartment. I soon fell unconscious and ran a high fever for two days. My father knew something was wrong, and approaced a bomoh, who told me that I had met a pontianak.

When I recovered, I did not stay in the house long. A week after the episode, I managed to sell the apartment, and my whole family moved out immediately.