GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Case File 39: The Sacrificial Ground

Breathing in and out rhythmically with the sound of the rain subsiding, Singha looked down at the metal rod piercing through his waist. There was no more bleeding now; the cold air turned the pain into numbness.

“Singha!!” Merk ran towards him, covered in mud, clearly having struggled to get there, “Are you going to die?!”

“Is that… your mouth is talking?” Singha retorted almost immediately, indicating he was still fully conscious.

“Hang in there, the medical team is on its way.”

“Thup… he got captured.”

“Focus on staying alive first.” Merk looked at the wound on his friend’s stomach with a tense expression. If he pulls it out, there would be certain death from bleeding.

“Will you help me pull it out… or should I do it myself?”

“Can you stop being so crazy, Singha?”

“If Thup gets there… he’ll start killing others for sure, both Rin, King, Lieutenant Khem.”

“But…” from working together before. The four of them faced a case so big they barely survived, but only he moved away because he was scared of fieldwork, and Singha still hasn’t changed, still cares more about work, about the case than himself. There’s hope he might pull this metal out by himself for sure.

Merk decided to open the first aid kit he brought along. Inside the surveillance van, there would be communication devices, life-saving equipment, and standard weapons. The only question was what could help Singha right now.

“There’s a staple gun for wounds!! There’s anesthetic!!!”

“Let’s do it.”

“There’s liquor too!!” Merk lifted a small bottle of whiskey with joy, “Damn, whatever, I’ll take a shot first.”

After downing enough to his satisfaction, Merk passed it to the one pinned to the tree. Singha took it and gulped it down like water while his friend poured alcohol on the iron rod and saline on the wound, followed by Betadine. Even though it wouldn’t help much, in this situation, living an hour longer was already a benefit.

“I’m going to inject it now.”

“Okay.”

“My knowledge is as small as a tadpole’s tail, I’m just recalling what Rin taught me, so this is going to hurt for sure.”

“Got a cigarette?”

“Now?”

“Yeah, just in case I die, I won’t regret not having one.” Merk rolled his eyes before pulling out a cigarette and a lighter from his inner jacket pocket. Luckily, being a leather jacket, it hadn’t gotten wet inside.

The rain had stopped, making starting a fire not so troublesome. Nicotine was packed into the lungs before turning into white smoke, floating away into the air. Singha slightly frowned as the needle pierced around his own wound. He knew well that what he was doing now wasn’t good, and might even be terrible, but if he waited for the medical unit to extract him properly, waited to go to the hospital, waited for a check-up, for treatment, by then there would be no one left to save.

Three minutes passed as the cigarette burnt out, the anesthetic took effect, and the moment of truth arrived. Singha dropped the cigarette butt to the ground before looking at the person in front of him.

“Hey, Singha. Are you sure you want it this way? You could die, you know.”

“Hurry up… we’re running out of time.” Merk sighed one last time in resignation before approaching closer. The thick hands of both men were placed on the iron rod. Merk was tasked with pulling Singha and pushing it out of his body. Every movement felt like it was ripping the soul out of the young inspector’s body. The anesthetic didn’t help much, causing Singha to cry out loudly, his voice echoing through the forest, “Argh, damn it!!”

“Hold on, hold on.” Merk pressed cloth onto the wound to stem the bleeding.

“It hurts like hell!!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but if we pull it out from the back, we can’t stop now. Otherwise, you’ll die before you can save that kid.” Merk peered at the back of Singha, seeing that the iron rod was almost free from the wood, now just needed to be freed from human flesh, “Just a bit more, kid.”

Singha took heavy breaths before looking at Merk’s face. This wasn’t the first time he was injured, but it was the first time he felt pain like he was about to die.

“Busybody, ugh.”

“Well, when you were conning that kid, I was on the line.” Merk had overheard the conversation between his friend and the young man earlier. Although he felt like vomiting, he was curious how his friend was going to deceive that naive kid in the end.

“After we get this iron out, I’ll use the mag to stitch up the wound on your stomach and back, then wrap it with cloth again, okay?”

“Mhm.” Singha inhaled deeply to brace himself before gripping the blood-soaked iron rod and pushing it out with force, just as Merk used all his strength to pull it out, “Argh!!!”

When the foreign object was removed from his body, Singha almost collapsed immediately. Thankfully, Merk caught him before starting to stitch up the wound on his abdomen with staples, followed by his back. Though it wasn’t as neat as a doctor might do, it stopped the bleeding that had started to gush out. Merk used all the basic knowledge he had to provide first aid to his friend to the best of his ability, and managed to get him out to their surveillance van. Singha was laid flat on the floor and given portable oxygen to prevent unconsciousness from blood loss.

“What do we do next?”

“Turn on the 248 tracker.” Singha said, pulling off the oxygen mask to speak to Merk, who was sitting and scratching his head in front of the computer screen.

“Why turn it on?”

“I planted a tracker… in that damn kid’s jacket pocket during the fight.”

“Pretty resourceful, inspector.”

“You drive.”

“Huh? Drive where?”

“Drive to where the tracker indicates, right now.”

“But…”

“No buts.”

“I’m not a field agent, you know!”

“Well, you are now.”

“Damn it! You owe me, Singha. So if you die, I’ll follow you to curse you out, for sure!”

Thup walked up to the front of the abandoned mill, surrounded by a forest area, overgrown with tall trees in several spots. It wouldn’t be surprising if no one noticed this place. He scanned the area before looking down at the ground in front of him. Not because there was nothing to see, but because there was too much. Numerous spirits were clinging to the walls, the roof, walking around; more than he had ever seen anywhere.

“I bet you’ve seen a lot of ghosts, huh? Must be quite a sight.” The person holding a gun from behind said with a mocking tone before pushing Thup forward, “Tonight, you’re going to see even more, keep moving.”

The scent of incense, candlelight, and the sound of chanting were the first things Thup noticed. Upon entering, as he reached the inner courtyard, his eyes widened in shock because it had turned into an execution ground. The air was thick with the stench of both animal and human blood, the chants in Khmer echoed as if dozens were reciting, though only one man was there, sitting in the middle, drawing runes with blood on the ground. This man, dressed in a pitch-black robe, held a ceremonial knife, cutting his own hand to let the thick red blood drip into a silver tray. White cloths hung on four sides of the ceremony area, with frangipani flowers dangling from the edges. On the silver tray on the ground lay an orange robe, a razor, a rosary, and a sacred thread. Around were offerings of frangipani krathongs, various foods, white liquor, bananas, and betel nut sets. What made Thup’s hands shake uncontrollably was realizing this wasn’t just any sacrificial ceremony but one to appease ravenous ghosts, with heads of various animals and blood as offerings.

“I summon the spirits Vijitwaman, Wannongkran, Yakbrisut, Samolthat, Kalonthuk, Yaknongyao, Akalai, the Mae Sue Spirits to reside here and accept these offerings prepared.” Seven headless dolls were placed around, as if prepared for the residing spirits.

Thup’s eyes met those of the officiant, and he recoiled in horror as the abbot he once knew had now turned into a superstitious sorcerer. Rough hands grabbed Thup’s chin to inspect closely, those beautiful brown eyes with long lashes, a sweet face inviting fascination.

“Exactly like your mother.”

Thup hoarse voice said, “You must stop this, these practices are wrong. The Mae Sue spirits you believe in are just ghosts who died tragically.” Thup tried to reason, but the response was far from what he expected.

!!!

A slap across Thup’s cheek from the person in front made him taste blood in his mouth. Thup bit his lip hard to suppress the fear from showing to the two deranged individuals.

“You blaspheme.”

“I’m not blaspheming, do you really think suddenly you came up with these ideas on your own? Do you really believe the ghost told you these rituals to help you and your son get better? Do you think any good ghost would tell you to kill your wife and daughter? I’ve seen ghosts my entire life, and I don’t think what you’re worshiping is that good of a spirit.”

“Shut up! That’s my wife and my child!”

“You know that’s not true. At least, wearing the yellow robe should make you see things differently. You know it well.” Thup looked past the abbot to see the mother and child ghosts feasting on the offerings. “You know well that the true forms of those two ghosts are not your child and wife.”

“Whether they are or not, me and my son aren’t dying. Tie him up like the others and take him to the sacrificial platform on Tuesday.” The abbot, or perhaps now he was no longer in that position, ordered his son before walking off to grab red thread and a needle.

“Move!” Thup was led away from the ritual area by a few steps, immediately looking away when he saw that both Dear and another had become lifeless bodies. The sacred threads wrapped around them clearly indicated why he couldn’t see their spirits at all.

“Phii Rin, Phii Rin.” Thup ran towards Darin who was tied up, her face pale and with blood stains at her waist, making him start to worry about what Bom was saying.

“She won’t die, she has to die on the sacrificial platform anyway.” True, as the wound on her stomach was bandaged as if to stop the bleeding, “If you keep fussing, I’ll put a few bullets in you. How about that, since you’re going to die anyway?”

“This time you won’t succeed, or even if you do, you’ll have to keep doing this, not waiting five years like before. Their hunger grows, and if you can’t give them what they want, you’ll be the one sacrificed.”

Bom licked his dry lips. Previously, they performed the ritual every five years and managed to escape, but having to do it twice because his father started vomiting blood last week made them panic and they got caught.

“I told you to shut up!!” Deep fear turned into violence for Bom, his gun-holding hand struck Thup’s face, knocking him down, but Bom continued to straddle him, using the gun’s handle to beat him until satisfied, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!!”

After venting some emotions, Bom stood up with a smile. He looked down at the young man whose face was covered in blood; his cheeks, mouth, and temples were all cut and torn. Just seeing that thick blood and hearing the labored breathing of someone he didn’t like made Bom feel better. He walked over to untie the ropes on Jump, and returned to his father at the ceremonial ground before whistling and dragging off.

“Cough-cough…” Thup coughed out before turning to spit the blood from his mouth. Pain spread throughout his body, but it wasn’t as painful as his heartache. Now, the image of Singha in that forest still haunts him, not fading away. He truly hoped Singha would survive to get justice against these people, whether he lived or not.

“Here he is, father.” Bom threw Jump’s body onto the ceremonial platform. The unfortunate victim’s arms and legs were bound tightly to the platform, while Anaphut stood above with a needle and thread.

“That kid.” before the former abbott could continue,

“He’s not dead. You said I could do whatever I wanted, so why worry now, huh?” The father and son argued briefly before falling silent, then bent down to focus on the doll’s head instead of the man tied in the center, representing the Mae Sue on Tuesday, placed beside Jump.

“I’ll… what are you doing, uh, don’t… please.” Jump, regaining consciousness, sensed the impending death, having heard Dear’s screams here before they fell silent with his last breath.

A gust of wind blew even though no windows or doors were open. Chants mixed with Jump’s screams of pain. The tip of the sewing needle slowly pierced through his eyelid, the red thread becoming stained with blood as it passed through the tissue over and over.

“Aargh!! It hurts, it hurts so much!!!”

Jump’s cries of agony were like those of an animal in a slaughterhouse. His eyes, before incense began to move because something was touching the sharp end, cried out until Thup had to close his eyes, tears streaming from the corners.

“Khun King!”

“Shhh, see that shard of glass?” King, with blood flowing from his temple, staining his expensive clothes, nodded towards Thup.

“I see it.”

“Go get it, move slowly so they don’t notice.”

“Yes.” Thup turned to look at the father and son who were intently chanting and sewing, threading through Jump’s body. He slowly crawled towards the shard of glass, which was not very large. Thup glanced back again, fearing Bom might turn and see him. When he was sure they wouldn’t notice, he reached out to grab the glass shard, but as he turned back, the space in front of him was no longer empty.

‘Naughty child, bad child’

   The ghost girl with bulging white eyes was grinning at him, her smile wide enough to see her uvula. She was squatting, tilting her head, looking at Thup with an amused expression.

‘Must be eaten’

   The night moved on, bodies hung in sacrifice,

Moth of death, accept the flesh,

Summon spirits everywhere to enhance the magic, the body healed.

 

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