GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Case File 23: Samolthat

“Who’s that kid?” the older man’s eyes turned to look as a deep voice came from behind, causing Thup to turn.

“Hello.”

“Back already? He’s a policeman.” Thup wanted to deny it almost to death, but if he said he wasn’t, he wasn’t sure if it would cause trouble for Singha.

“Police?”

“Yes, here about Orn.” as the father mentioned his daughter’s name, his eyes immediately darkened.

“Have you caught the culprit yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Then why are you here!!! Instead of catching the bastard who did this to my daughter!!!.” he shouted angrily and lunged forward to grab Thup by the collar, startling him.

“I… I…”

“We are doing our job, and it would be better if you cooperated, starting by letting go of my man.” a cold voice rang out before the wrist of the man in front of Thup was gripped tightly. Singha looked at Orn’s father impassively. He understood the anger, revenge, dissatisfaction, and grief, but lashing out at others like this would only lead to more trouble.

“Running around like headless chickens, yet haven’t seen the head of the culprit, and you still have the face to come to my house?!!”

“Calm down, dear, the police are trying to help.” The mother tried to soothe the situation with calming words.

“We are doing everything we can. If you have any clues about her behavior before she disappeared, or anything about Orn, it would be very helpful.”

“Huh.” The hot-tempered man released Thup’s collar, coinciding with Singha stepping in to shield him, “Clues? Isn’t that the police’s job?”

“Well, recently my child was sick. She vomited often, barely ate, and she lost a lot of weight in the last few days before she disappeared. Sob, I told her to come back early that day because I was going to make her favorite dish, but…” She covered her face and wept bitterly.

“I told you to stop her from hanging out with those friends, they’ll only spoil her, I was afraid one day she might lose her way.” The father’s mocking tone made Thup press his lips together. Was it because of this kind of attitude that Phii Singha…

“Would Orn go out with her friends often?” Singha continued to inquire, “Before this, she would go once or twice a week, but this month, Orn went to her friend’s house frequently, sometimes even staying overnight.”

“Was there anything else unusual?”

“She didn’t say much, but some nights when I come out to use the bathroom, I can hear murmuring from her room.”

“Is it… a chant or something?” Thup asked when he found a gap in the conversation.

“Probably, yes. I couldn’t hear it clearly.”

“That’s all I have to ask for now. If I find out anything more, I’ll let you know.” Singha gave a slight bow before walking back to his car.

“Phii, aren’t you going to tell them?” Thup asked once it was just the two of them.

“Let’s wait until the case is closed to tell them. Telling them now would just make them blame themselves for nothing.” Singha tossed two evidence bags on Thup’s lap; one contained a damaged doll, its head shattered, and the other had Orn’s notebook… and a pregnancy test.

“Phii Singha, I have something to tell you.”

“About?”

“I called my uncle back in my hometown.”

“Go on.” Thup started recounting everything he had heard from the beginning to the end, with Singha occasionally interrupting with questions, but mostly just nodding.

“That’s everything.”

“A policeman?”

“Yes, that’s what my uncle said.”

“We’ll need to check with the police again about where he was transferred to twenty years ago. Without a full name, we can’t really verify anything clearly.” Singha looked ahead with a blank expression. It seemed he needed to find these dolls as quickly as possible, so he could move on to investigate other matters.

Singha’s car stopped in front of the same townhouse they had visited before. Even though they had a search warrant, with no homeowner present, there was no need to present it to anyone. Singha opened the gate and walked inside, with Thup clinging to his shirt’s edge, still haunted by the memory of seeing the ghost girl there when he first opened the house door. A foul, rotting smell immediately wafted out from inside, forcing both of them to cover their noses.

“Go wait in the car.” Thup immediately shook his head when he saw his older brother turning to send him off.

“I can help you find the doll, you know.”

“Next time you see a ghost, don’t come crying for my help.”

“Well then…” Thup switched from clinging to the older man’s shirt to clasping hands with Singha, “This way, I won’t get haunted by ghosts anymore.”

“But it’s in the way.” Singha lifted their joined hands, swinging them back and forth with an annoyed look.

“Just for a moment, until we find the doll, please?” Thup squeezed the older man’s hand gently to emphasize, smiling until his eyes closed.

“If you become a burden, I’ll shake you off for sure.” Singha sighed before yanking the arm of the kid beside him to follow into the house.

The house was clean, all furniture intact, but there was an awful, rotting smell from somewhere. Both scanned the surroundings cautiously. No matter where Singha went, he dragged the kid behind him. Singha turned.

A creaking sound from above made them both look up. They exchanged looks before heading up the stairs step by step, the foul, decaying and musty smell intensifying, forcing them to grimace. As soon as they stepped onto the last stair, the previously closed door slowly opened as if inviting them in.

“Stay here.” Singha released Thup’s hand and walked straight towards the open door on the right.

Inside what should have been the coziest bedroom, there were talismans, dolls, and bloodstains on the floor. Singha took out his phone to photograph everything, including the blood patterns drawn on a pin.

“Thup, come here for a second.” Singha turned back to the door, but as Thup was about to enter, the door slammed shut abruptly. “Thup!! Hey, Thup!!!”

Singha kicked the door hard, but it showed no sign of opening. On Thup’s side, he tried banging on the door to help , unaware the older guy that a pair of eyes was watching him from the stairs slowly every time.

The sound of nails scratching against the wooden floor and laughter made Thup turn to see the figure of a woman with stark white eyes, smiling widely to her ears, her long tongue licking the stairs as she tried to crawl up. Thup felt fear gripping his heart.

“Thup!! Hey, Thup!!” The voice of his older guy and the sound of knocking on the door made Thup hesitate; he let go of the doorknob. It wasn’t just him who was of concern; just before the door closed, his eyes caught a glimpse of a talisman and blood stains on the floor. It wasn’t just any ordinary talisman.

It was a ghost-summoning talisman!

Hee-hee-hee.

The sound of nails scratching against the stairs grew louder, closer and closer, the ghost girl crawling towards him until she was almost upon him.

“Thup!!”

‘Saturday, Saturday, Saturday…’

   The taunting voice that pierced his eardrums forced Thup to cover one ear with his hand, shutting his eyes immediately because he didn’t want to see anything else.

‘You see this, you see it, right?’

   ‘Help me, please help.’

   ‘Think… of… think of dad.’

   ‘Heh, heh, full of ghosts, just full of ghosts.’

   “Get out, please get out.”

The presence of more than one voice made Thup’s hands shake uncontrollably. Right now, in front of him, there was more than one ghost; perhaps they were even staring at him. The stench, the oppressive atmosphere making it hard to breathe, the nausea he was feeling, the chilling cold reaching his spine, and the goosebumps all over his body – this was not good. Not good at all.

Bang!!!

Thup startled and inadvertently opened his eyes. In front of him was a woman, very familiar, one of her eyes sewn shut with red thread. The other eye, though still connected by some thread, allowed a peek at the eyeball inside. Her lips were also held by thread, looking like they could tear at any moment. She was standing in front of him, using herself as a shield between Thup and the dozens of ghosts.

“Damn it, what the hell are these ghosts? Thup, dodge!” Singha’s voice brought Thup back to his senses. He quickly moved away from the door as instructed.

Bang!

Bang!!

Bang!!!

Soon enough, the previously shut door was kicked open so hard it swung wide.

“Annoying.” Singha muttered as he emerged from the room, then walked over to pull Thup up by the hand, urging him to get up, and they both rushed downstairs. They exited the house immediately; staying inside for even one more minute wasn’t a good idea.

“Pee.”

“Let’s head home; we’ll find another time for the other two.” Singha suddenly stopped walking and speaking when the kid in front of him collapsed to the ground and hugged his leg.

“Thank… thank you.”

“Are you going to sit here or go home?” Singha squatted in front of Thup, lifting his chin with his hand to make him look up.

“Go… go home.”

“Then get up, I’ll take you back.”

Thup didn’t immediately comply; his legs were numb to the point of feeling nothing. He just rested his forehead on the knee of the older man.

“Just a moment, please. Just for a second.” His voice carried the same irritation as before, but Singha’s big hand simply rested on his soft hair, not pushing him away but gently stroking.

The previous events shouldn’t have happened. There wasn’t even a breeze, yet the door shut so tightly it wouldn’t budge no matter how they tried to open it. The shaky voice at the door made Singha try over and over to open it, and what made him even more anxious was the shadow under the door that suggested there was no one else in the room with Thup, just one shadow as it should be.

After comforting each other until they felt better, Singha drove out of the village immediately. If he had come alone, finding the next doll wouldn’t be difficult, but dragging along the kid who was still trembling in the passenger seat wasn’t exactly ideal.

“Phii?”

“Yes?”

“What about… the doll at Meen’s house?”

Singha glanced slightly at Thup. Despite being scared by a ghost, he was still worried about that haunted doll. Singha pulled out an evidence bag from his coat and tossed it onto Thup’s lap.

“Is this the one? Meen had several, but I wasn’t sure which.”

The young man looked down at the item on his lap for a while before nodding softly. His beautiful eyes gazed at the doll with a human body, an elephant head with a long trunk, and magnificent tusks, its head twisted backward.

“Yes, it’s an elephant head, named Samolthat, a Mae Sue for Wednesday.”

“And the talismans and scripts on the floor?”

“The talismans are for summoning spirits. I’ve seen the old monk put them in a chest after villagers asked for help. As for the scripts on the floor… I think they’re similar.”

“Why would Meen do this?”

“I think… they might not know.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the victims might not know what they’re worshiping. They don’t realize what they think they’re bowing to asking for peace of mind… is waiting to devour them.”

Singha stopped by the station again to hand over the two dolls to Say for examination, along with a notebook, a pregnancy test from Orn’s house, and photos, as well as bloodstains from Min’s house.

“Get out.” This time, Singha didn’t tell Thup to wait in the car. The events had proven that even a split second and less than a meter could nearly get this kid’s chest ripped open by a ghost.

“Hey Say, hey Rin, I brought you some stuff.”

“Three items aren’t enough, now you’re bringing more, Singha!!” Darin exclaimed as soon as he saw his friend carrying in four new evidence bags.

“Yeah.” Singha replied lazily, not wanting to argue, just a simple acknowledgement.

“Yeah, what do you mean ‘yeah’!!! And what have you been doing, looking exhausted like you’ve run eighty laps?”

“Yeah. I was running from a ghost.”

“Huh?!”

“Trying out a new experience?” Say asked, not too seriously. “We’ll talk later, I’m taking Thup home first. This case is the heaviest.”

“Wait up, Singha, King came looking for you, told me to tell you when you come back I should remind you.”

“Remind me?”

“Meeting this evening, at the condo, with him.”

“The condo? What the hell, can’t he meet somewhere else?”

“That’s why it’s messed up, that’s why you’re meeting there. Just be careful.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t just get hurt lightly; you can’t afford to get your ears chewed off, or you’ll be interrogated again.” Say warned, before placing all the evidence on the table.

“If I call you, it means it’s serious. See ya.” Singha said, and he and Thup walked out of the forensic department room without haste, but not far along, the younger one tugged at the older man’s shirt.

“Are you really going, Phii?”

“Going where?”

“To… meet Khun King.”

“Uh, right.”

“But then…”

“Didn’t you say you could not stay at home, even if there’s a monk?”

“I’m not worried about that…” Thup muttered to himself, “I’ll be back in a flash.”

“Yes.”

From both their statuses, Thup felt a slight unease in his heart, not knowing what it was, but one thing was certain: he didn’t want this older man to go. He didn’t want him to meet you, King. He didn’t want them to be alone together.

   He really didn’t want to see things if he went back to that person…

  

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