GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Case File 12: Akalai

The condition of the four teenagers sitting in the interrogation room varies: boredom, fear, anxiety, and indifference. When the door opens, Singha walks in with an expressionless face, placing a seized digital camera, various items, and a stack of documents on the table.

“You four broke into a murder scene while the case was still open. That’s quite the bold content move.”

“We didn’t do any real damage, right?” Song nudged his senior beside him for an opinion.

“True. We just went in, filmed for a bit, and got out.”

“Just your footprints at the crime scene count as damage. Not to mention fingerprints. You might end up suspects without realizing it.”

“That’s a bit harsh, officer. We just went in to shoot a clip for our channel. Plus, we were live streaming the whole time, so the viewers could vouch for us. Don’t believe me? Ask our channel owner, Jump.” The only woman in the group turned to ask her quiet friend who’d been silent since the police brought them here.

“Anything to add?” Singha asked the spaced-out young man. “Nope.” The guy replied without even looking over, his gaze fixed on the wall.

“And the phone you used for live streaming?” The three teens turned to Jump. “Give the phone to the police, Jump.” Dear insisted, showing signs of anxiety.

“Don’t have it.”

“What the hell, Jump?” Bom looked at his friend, annoyed.

“Phii, we’re all gonna get arrested if you don’t hand it over. You were holding it.” The youngest, Song, shook his friend’s arm in distress.

“I told you, I don’t have it!” Jump shook off Song’s hand forcefully before standing up, leaving the other three bewildered by his sudden change in demeanor.

Singha wasn’t surprised. He just checked his watch, stood up, and pushed the young man back down, his sharp gaze scanning the stained figure before asking,

“Filming a ghost challenge, were you?”

“Yeah.” Bom answered for him. “How long has the channel been up?”

“About a year.”

“Strange, the news hasn’t been published anywhere about this, yet you all know the details.” Singha said as he turned on the big camera, even though he had already glanced at it before, “Where did you hear about this?”

“Via email. Someone sent us an email saying there’s a location and suggesting we should go ghost hunting there.”

“Can I see it?” Two hurriedly pulled out his phone and handed it to Singha. He looked at the email address and realized it wasn’t one used for daily life, before pressing a button to call Lieutenant Khem, who was observing from another room, to come in and take the address.

“Understood.”

“Take it to trace the origin of the email and the IP.”

“As for you four, another officer will come in to take your statements and handle further proceedings.”

“Huh! Proceedings? Are we really going to be charged, officer?”

“Oh no, my mom’s going to kill me for this.”

“Damn it.” curses and laments filled the room, except for one person still sitting quietly in his spot, Jump.

“I have something to ask.”

“The… doll, you mean?” At the scene… Did anyone find any dolls?

“Yes.” The three exchanged puzzled looks before turning to the person sitting at the far end.

“Well, it was me. I found a doll, and Jump said it was a cursed doll.”

“Tell me you didn’t touch it.” Singha furrowed his brows, knowing it could be a clue with the culprit’s fingerprints.

“We did… touch it. Jump picked it up to play and then threw it at Phii Bom, and it fell and broke, but we didn’t bring it back with us.”

“Damn it.” Singha muttered quietly before the interrogation room door opened once again. This time, it was King who walked in with a displeased look, both from the morning’s events and the issue with the suspects sitting outside the interrogation room waiting for Singha, “You handle this, I’ve got stuff to do.”

“Where are you going?” King grabbed Singha’s arm, but he shrugged off anyway. “Do your job and stop being annoying, it’s irritating.”

Thup was sketching the ghost girl from his memories. He had never seen her face, due to his own fear, making it hard to remember her clearly. As he pressed his pencil on the clean, white paper, the door opened, causing him to look up. Seeing it was Singha, about to leave, Thup prepared to stand up. Just as the door was about to close, Thup’s eyes caught sight of a young man sitting at the very edge. Not only that, there was a woman in tattered, ragged clothes; her skin was so pale it seemed bloodless, with purple and nearly black bruises, and occasional green marks all over her body. Importantly, she was sitting astride the young man’s neck, and her head slowly turned backward to stare at Thup with a sinister grin!

“Come, Thup. We have things to do.”

“Phii Singha.”

“What now? You’re not going to pick up that dropped pencil, are you?”

“The man sitting at the very edge…” Singha squinted at the boy in front of him without arguing back, “What did he do?”

“He trespassed on a crime scene.”

“A… murder scene?”

“Yep.”

“And did he bring anything back?”

“Why do you ask?” He brought something back with him.

“I saw… I saw the ghost of the woman which I saw at Meen’s house… riding on his neck.” Singha turned back to look at the interrogation room door again before opening it to go inside.

“You four will have to-” King paused as the person who had just left suddenly burst back through the door, “I thought you said you were going outside.”

“Did you take anything from the crime scene?” Singha walked straight up to Jump and asked in a stern voice, but the young man just stared blankly, still not answering the question. “I asked, did you take anything?!”

“What are you doing, Inspector Singha?” King asked seriously.

Singha yanked the young boy’s collar without holding back, then began to search him swiftly amid the others’ surprise. King, seeing this, was about to intervene, but Singha pulled something out from the boy’s inner coat pocket first.

“Damn! Phii Jump, why did you bring that?” Two exclaimed in shock before backing away to the wall.

“I didn’t take it.” Jump said quietly, “I didn’t take it!!!”

Jump protested before pushing Singha’s chest and running out of the interrogation room, only to collide with Thup who was standing anxiously at the door. Both fell to the ground. As Thup slowly opened his eyes, he saw the ghost girl he noticed earlier clinging to the neck of someone inside the room, now straddling him. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes white and filled with veins, her bright red lips stretched wide to her gums. Her laughter grew louder before her long tongue licked Thup’s face frame.

‘You have a Mae Sue too.’ [1] Mae Sue is a Thai folklore goddess or a female ghost who buys the spirit of born babies to prevent them being attacked by malevolent spirits, but also she is a ghost who causes illness. There are seven forms when she appears and the form she takes depends on the day of the week

   “Are you okay, Thup?” When Singha grabbed Thup’s arm, the ghost in front of him vanished. The young man trembled with fear but still kept his eyes on the person King was restraining.

“He… he got something.”

“A doll.” Singha showed Thup a doll with its head separated from its body, now in an evidence bag.

“Don’t struggle!” King said as he locked Jump firmly, “What now?”

“Lock him up for now. As for the others, process their cases properly, and call their guardians too.” Singha said while helping Thup up, “Damn, it’s getting late!”

“What happened, Inspector?” Lieutenant Khem and the Lieutenant Prom rushed over as soon as they heard the commotion.

“Help handle this, and here’s another piece of evidence, give it to Say for examination as much as he can.”

“Uh, roger that.”

Singha dragged Thup, who was still in shock, to follow him to the car. He had no idea what the kid had seen to be so shocked, but asking now would probably yield no answer. The black car sped along the road at the maximum speed allowed by law. Inside the car, only the sound of the air conditioning was audible because the two men inside weren’t speaking a word to each other.

“Phii.” Thup suddenly spoke up, sounding dazed.

“What?”

“That doll… its head wasn’t human, was it?” Singha furrowed his brows slightly, thinking before he replied.

“Yeah.”

“What shape was it?”

“A tiger.”

“A tiger shape…” Thup mumbled to himself before turning to face Singha, “Akalai.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The doll is a Mae Sue, with a tiger’s head… it’s called Akalai.”

“I don’t get it, what’s Mae Sue, Thup?”

“Phii, can we talk about the ghost story I told you?”

“The ghost you saw over twenty years ago?” Thup shook his head rapidly, even though Singha wasn’t looking.

“No, the ghost I encountered at Meen’s house.”

“And why does that matter?”

“Just now, when I bumped into that man, I saw her, and she mentioned Mae Sue.”

“And?”

“The broken-headed doll you found also has a tiger’s head on a human body, just like the legend of Mae Sue.”

“So, what benefit do I get from knowing this?”

“Well… what if… what if they’re connected? What if the culprit is using this doll for something?”

Singha frowned even tighter than before. He didn’t have much knowledge in this area, and it was quite beyond his understanding.

“Explain this ‘Mae Sue’ thing to me.”

“It’s an old belief. I’m not even sure if people still believe in it these days. Each region has its own legend about the ‘Mae Sue’, but from what I’ve heard from the old monk, ‘Mae Sue’ is a deity or spirit who takes care of newborns. They say she plays with the child, helps with healing illnesses, or sometimes teases them to make them cry. When the child grows up a bit, they perform a ceremony to separate the spirit child from the human child, and then the child can no longer see ‘Mae Sue’.”

“Couldn’t the crying just be because the child might have colic?”

“That’s why I said it’s a belief.”

“So what?”

“What I’ve heard is that there are ‘Mae Sues’ for each of the seven days, with different characteristics and names. One of them is Akaai, who has a tiger’s head. She is the ‘Mae Sue’ for Saturdays.”

“Hand me the file from the back.” Singha paused before glancing at the backseat.

“Which one?”

“The black one.” After Thup grabbed the file and placed it on his lap, Singha instructed, “Now, open it and check the list of victims to see who was born on a Saturday.”

Thup nodded and flipped through the file until he found what he was looking for.

“Girl named Kachakorn.” he read out the victim’s information.

“Kaew, huh… Kaew disappeared on a Friday.” Singha murmured to himself, “Open to the autopsy results.”

“Yes.” Thup continued flipping through until he reached photos and autopsy results of each victim. He squinted and turned away slightly out of fear but tried to find Kaew’s name as quickly as possible, “I… I’ve found it.”

“What does it say about when Kaew died?”

“Uh… Saturday.”

“Seriously?” Singha immediately turned into the gas station ahead, and parked the car to check the documents again in case Thup got it wrong. But upon careful reading, he found it was absolutely correct. The young inspector pulled out his phone and made a call; it didn’t take long for the other end to pick up.

“Hey King”

[Where are you?]

   “Not there, go check the houses of the seven victims first, see if there’s a clay doll similar to the one that kid picked up at the crime scene.”

[Why?]

   “I’ll explain later, go do it now, urgently.”

[There hasn’t been a reason since earlier. It’s just a doll.]

   “The doll might tell us how the killer chose the victims. Call me if you find anything.”

[Wait, and where are you now?]

   “Heading to the prison.”

[Why there?]

   “To see how badly the police screwed up before.” Singha hung up before handing the file to Thup and drove away from the gas station towards his next destination. “Hey Thup, check who was born on which day.”

“Yes.” Thup eagerly flipped through the papers because he didn’t want Singha to worry while driving. When he found it, he started listing out:

“James, born on Sunday

Jom, born on Monday

Orn, born on Tuesday

Meen, born on Wednesday

Nai, born on Thursday

Thee, born on Friday”

“Kaew, born on Saturday”

All seven victims were born on different days.

 

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