"Please ensure your face can be seen by the webcam at all times." I jumped, I hadn't realised that I had stood up to stretch after finishing the last answer. I had been so prepared for the test, I made sure there was nothing on my desk, I made sure I was in a room with good wifi - how could I have forgotten the most basic rule. I was pretty tired though - it was 4 am here, maybe the invigilator forgot what time it was for me

"I'm sorry - I forgot!" I said to the invigilator. He looked stern, coughed, and said "don't do it again". 

On to the next section, this was the bit I dreaded. My writing wasn't great, so I needed all the luck in the world to get through this part of the test. I was slowly getting into writing a response to the second question when the invigilator interrupted "you must not have anyone in the room with you". I looked up from my exam to his face on the Zoom screen and nodded. (Why did he need to remind me of this basic rule in the middle of the hardest bit?) 

I kept going with the letter - I knew that I had revised how to compose a formal letter, but my nerves were getting the better of me. "NO ONE CAN BE IN THE ROOM WITH YOU DURING THE TEST". I jumped! "Yes, yes I know!" I replied - my English was starting to suffer a bit, it was offputting having to answer these questions throughout the hardest bit of the test. 

"This is your final warning". I looked up again - the invigilator looked cross. I quickly turned around to the darkness behind me, there was nothing there, no pictures, no figurines that could be confusing on camera. "There is ... no one here ... no one is in the room." In my nervousness, I was starting to trip over the simplest words. I gesticulated to the rest of the room to show there was nothing there - I was alone in the room at 4am in the morning. 

"You need to ask that person to leave the room, or your exam will be invalid". "NO, PLEASE" I cried "there's no one here I swear!!" "I'm very sorry, but we can not continue with the test". The invigilator abruptly disappeared from the screen and the test browser locked. 

I was feeling sweat trickle down my brow in panic - all that work for nothing, when there was nothing here, and no-one here - I started to feel the anger rise at the unfairness of it all, when I felt the deathly cold hand on my neck. 

I started to turn round to face whatever was waiting for me in the darkness.