GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Case File 32: The Help That Never Arrived

Singha was sitting beside the bed of a patient who had just come out of the emergency room minutes before. His sharp eyes watched Thup’s pale face before he sighed. After leaving that house, he came straight to the hospital, right when the young man was wheeled into the ER. He could only curse himself because he knew this would happen, yet he let it occur anyway. Singha stepped outside the hospital to smoke one of the three remaining cigarettes in his pack, nicotine filling his lungs like it was the only stress relief with no side effects. After handling various matters, he secured a recovery room for Thup and didn’t leave the patient’s bedside thereafter.

Singha quietly looked at Thup’s palms before diverting his gaze to the charming face of the sleeping man. He took out his phone and called Say, but there was no answer after a long wait.

“Why aren’t you picking up?” Singha decided to call Darin instead, thinking the two might be in contact. Not long after, the call was answered with a worried voice.

“Hello?”

“Is Say with you?”

“He said he had to check out a crime scene because they found Song’s body.”

“Where?”

“At the temple, right in his residence.”

“And where are you now, with whom?”

[Uh… I’m in the nurse’s office with the kids from before, Singha… The kid named Bom has disappeared. That kid is gone now.]

Uh… but…

“Is there a police officer guarding the front of the room?”

[Yes, there is.]

“Then stay in there, I’ll find a way to contact Say myself.”

[Uh huh.]

Before hanging up, Singha was sure he heard a knock on the door, but if he was still at the station with an officer guarding, he could feel somewhat at ease.

The situation was getting tenser by the moment. From the information he had, Song born on Sunday was dead, Dear, who was just rescued, was born on a Monday, Jump, born on Tuesday, was still locked in the nurse’s office, Darin, born on Wednesday, was also there, Lieutenant Khem who had disappeared seemed to be the Thursday victim, Bom, born on Friday, had vanished, for now. And Thup was still with him here. If the killer wasn’t looking for a new Saturday victim, there’s no way he could get to this kid if he stayed put.

The abbot who was initially a suspect was still detained in a cell. Meanwhile, Uncle-Khuean had become the main suspect because the evidence pointed clearly at him. King was chasing Uncle-Khuean, Say had disappeared, and he was stuck here without any further progress.

“Damn it!” Singha cursed as he thought about this. The young inspector stood up to his full height before walking out of the room. He walked outside, past the hospital area, pulled out a cardboard box from his pants pocket along with a lighter, but threw them on the ground because he remembered the last cigarette was used less than an hour ago.

“Would you like one of mine?” A cigarette box of the same brand but a different blend was offered to Singha. At this moment, his frustration was greater than his annoyance with the person in front of him, so he took it in his hand.

“Thanks.” Singha lit the end before inhaling the cool nicotine. White smoke drifted up into the pitch-black sky, mingling in the cool air. “Thought doctors were supposed to be health-conscious.”

Singha glanced at the person smoking next to him. His annoyance towards Thup’s companion lessened partly because Charn was in charge of the case.

“You wouldn’t want to see doctors lose their minds and do everything they tell patients not to.”

“It’s enough to drive anyone mad.”

“That kid just went into shock and lost some blood; the wound wasn’t deep. But what I want to know is what happened to that kid.”

“As you see it.”

“I think your skills that got you to this position should tell you that the wounds are unusual.” Chan said, taking a drag of her cigarette as well.

It’s not that he couldn’t see it; he noticed it from the scars on Thup’s palms at the front of the house, even then. The direction of the knife was odd; it didn’t come from someone else. The wounds were self-inflicted by that kid.

“Hmm.”

“Should I tell Uncle about this?”

“He’ll find out anyway, so you might as well tell him.”

“I heard you’re investigating a murder case from decades ago.”

“Hmm.”

“I think I have some information you’d want to know.”

Singha glanced at the person beside him.

“That house, the one in the middle of the forest.”

“Know it?”

“I’m somewhat familiar with it. As a kid, I was the curious type, I guess. I went to that house at night thinking I might see a ghost like the villagers said, but what I encountered was stranger than that.”

“What did you see?”

“I’m not sure, even now I’m not certain if what I saw was real or not.” Charn spoke with a flat tone before stubbing out her cigarette in the sand. “Someone dragged something into the house… something I’m sure looked human-like.”

“And why didn’t you say anything back then?”

“I saw a man.”

“Because when I went to look inside the house, it was gone. I only saw him playing with his son.”

“What about the others?”

“I’m not trying to mislead you, Inspector.” Charn turned to face Singha with a serious look, “But I watched there for half an hour, and I only saw the father and son. I didn’t see anyone else.” Singha returned to the room again, the tall figure stopping beside the bed, his dark eyes on Thup reflecting the bright full moon from outside. His strong hand gently stroked the soft hair, his fingers trailing down to the temple and smooth cheek, whispering close to the ear once more with a calm expression.

“It took you long enough to call, your case has been a damn headache.”

“Merk, I’ve got some information for you to look up.”

“Didn’t King already catch the culprit?”

“He did, but I’m not sure if he caught the right one.”

“Alright, tell me.” The phone was lifted.

“Before, at the Kantharalak Police Station, there was an officer named Aisuan. I need all his information, and I also want to know his son’s name, and if there’s any record of name changes.”

“Where are you?”

“Sisaket.”

“Why not just ask there?”

“It’s slow, and I have urgent things to do.”

“Hold on then.” The sound of keyboard typing came from the other end. Meanwhile, Singha gently stroked Thup’s head; waiting for Thup to wake up would take too much time for this investigation. Plus, he didn’t have much time left.

Singha left the room, got into his car, and drove towards the route given by Dr. Charn. The well-lit roads with traffic lights gradually turned into dense forest on both sides. The further he drove, the scarcer the lights became, with only the moonlight providing illumination now. And if Thup were here, he would’ve kept his eyes shut the whole way due to the road Singha was driving on, filled with wandering spirits watching the car with hungry faces.

Inside the police station’s infirmary, Darin was sitting, taking a breath…she sat on the sofa. She looked tiredly towards the doors of the two recovery rooms. The first room housed a young girl who had escaped the clutches of a murderer, just moments ago, while the other room was for a young man who had been unconscious for quite some time. Three people in one room, or in other words, three victims, were now together to survive this ordeal.

“Ugh.” Darin sighed again before leaning back on the sofa, her beautiful eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Currently, everyone was doing their own duty. She should do the same. As she was about to get up to check on the two children in the room again, the lights in the room flickered on and off before returning to normal, which was enough to make Darin’s heart race.

“Scream!!” The sudden ringing of the phone made Darin scream in shock. When she picked it up, she saw the name displayed on the screen was one of her close friends.

The conversation with Singha lasted for quite a while until they were about to hang up.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking on the front door made Darin turn around. She placed the phone on the table and walked over to open it immediately, thinking it might be something important.

“What’s the matter?”

“Ah, Dr. Rin, here’s some rice and water for you. It’s late, I thought you might be hungry.”

“Thank you, officer.” Darin said as she took the box of rice and the glass of water. Having someone looking after her like this made her feel relieved. “How is everything at the front? Earlier, I heard some commotion.”

“Oh, villagers are protesting at the station. Right now, all the officers are out there dealing with them and should sort this out soon.”

“And… What about the abbot?”

“He’s still in the cell. He seems very calm, like he’s truly innocent. Also, I heard that King’s investigation team is close to locating the temple’s caretaker. They might have to interrogate everyone again.”

“Ah, okay then. And any progress on the children who disappeared with Lieutenant Khem?”

“Nope, still haven’t found either of them.”

Darin nodded in understanding, “Thanks again.”

“If you need anything, just call me.”

Darin gave the officer a friendly smile before returning inside. But as she turned back, she was so startled that she accidentally dropped the box of rice on the floor.

“Dear! You’re awake? Why are you walking around like this? How do you feel?” Darin hurried over to support the young girl who was standing with her head bowed at her room’s door. She led Dear to sit on the sofa before quickly fetching a glass of water, “How do you feel? Does it hurt anywhere? I’ll get the scanner, wait here.”

Before she could go anywhere, Darin’s wrist was grabbed, a shaky grip that made her look down at the girl who had been bowing her head all this time.

“Will…”

“What did you say?”

“Monday.”

“Dear… I’ll go call-”

“Wednesday.”

Darin recoiled. She tried to free her wrist but couldn’t; despite being smaller and just recovering from medication, where did the girl get such strength? Darin took a deep breath before shaking off Dear’s hand. She stepped back, not taking her eyes off the girl in front of her, but instead of emptiness, Darin bumped into a warm chest that shouldn’t be there.

“Ac…ka.” Dear’s voice continued. The once bright light bulbs flickered and went dark again, accompanied by a deep voice that made Darin’s legs weak.

“Tuesday.”

The lights, now completely out, started to flicker rapidly, just enough for Darin to see that in Dear’s hand was a statue of Phra Vaisravaṇa, and she was about to throw it out the window. Those lifeless eyes on that face made Darin collapse in tears; it wasn’t an expression a normal human should have, it was too vacant, like there was no soul left.

Without the deity idol to protect the station, it was as if the night of hell had broken loose at this police station. The lights throughout the station flashed briefly, giving a clear view one last time. They were so bright that Darin saw Jump standing behind her, who shouldn’t have been free from his handcuffs. Then, all light was snatched away, leaving only darkness… both in the atmosphere and in the hearts of people.

‘Ghost’

   ‘Ghost’

   ‘Heeheehee’

   ‘Ghost’

   ‘Ghost’

   ‘Heeheehee’

   The voices speaking in a language Darin didn’t understand, and the laughter made her scramble towards the front door, hoping to get out. If she could make it out, she would find the sergeant waiting there.

“Ouch!!! Ugh.” as she was about to escape, her ankle was grabbed by someone’s hand. The pain from the sharp nails digging into her flesh caused tears to stream down both her cheeks. Darin scrambled to grab her phone from the sofa, turned on the flashlight, and shone it on her leg.

“Screech!!!” Dozens of spirits were fighting to lick the blood from the wound on her leg in a horrifying manner. The clanging noises in the room came from Jump and Dear, who were hurting themselves, banging their heads against the wall until blood flowed, stabbing their hands with a knife until the flesh opened, but neither showed any sign of pain. Instead, they were smiling as if they felt nothing at all, “Namo, hic, Namo Tassa, sob, Na-mo Tassa Bhagavato Namo Namo.”

Darin prayed with mistakes while crawling her heavy, numb body towards the door. The chilling cold she could feel made her cry until her vision was blurred by tears.

‘You are chanting wrong, I’ll help chant, Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Aamma, Sambuddhasa’

   ‘Chant it’

   The mocking voice recited the chant emphasizing every syllable fearlessly. Darin bit her lip hard before trying to stand up to reach the doorknob, with spirits and ghosts still clinging to her leg like a delicious meal.

Knock, knock, knock

The rapid knocking on the door gave her the strength to pull herself up with all her might, and finally, the door opened. Darin quickly pushed herself out of the room. Once past the door, all sounds fell silent.

…too quiet

She turned around to see that all the ghosts had vanished. Both Jump and Dear were unconscious on the floor. Darin tried to move away from that room as far as possible, but the wet feeling on her palm made her stop. Her breath, which had calmed down, became rapid once again. The light from her phone slowly moved to reveal a figure lying on the floor, tracing from the feet upwards to the torso, covered in a red fluid. The smell of blood was overwhelming. When the light finally reached the softly breathing face, Darin burst into tears immediately.

“Lie… Lieutenant, hic, Lieutenant Prom.” Lieutenant Prom, his face and head drenched in blood, was breathing faintly. Fear gripped Darin’s heart until she nearly lost consciousness. Stricken by fear, Darin tried calling Say, Singha, anyone who could help, but all calls were futile, unanswered, no help forthcoming. Her chances of survival were nearly gone.

‘Hee, hee, hee, heeheehee’

   The mocking laughter from behind made Darin slowly close her eyes before angrily throwing her phone in that direction. Since she wouldn’t survive, she no longer needed to fear anything.

“What do you want!!!! What do you want, you damned ghost! You shouldn’t have been reborn!! You’re just one ghost!!” Darin yelled furiously. The ghost girl, once cheerful with a broad smile, now let her smile fade, “Angry, huh! Good!! Be angry. If I die, I’ll become a ghost, I’ll curse you!!!! Do you hear the anger in my words?!!”

“Doctor Darin!!!” A voice called from behind along with a force that supported her up, making Darin feel like she had been doused with water on her heart once more.

“Bom!”

“Get up quickly. We have to run, we must escape now!!”

“Y…You, why…”

“I went out to buy some supplies, and when I came back, the station was completely dark, with police officers lying in pools of blood out front. What on earth happened here?!!!” Bom said while helping Darin run away through the connecting path.

“The monk! Is the abbot still in the cell?”

“I didn’t see anyone there.”

“I…I need to call, need to tell someone that the killer is the abbot!” Darin muttered to himself, as her fleeting anger caused her to throw her only communication device at the ghost earlier, “A phone, I need a phone!”

“Use mine for now?” Bom offered his phone before quickly helping Darin to continue walking with a worried look, “Call Khun King right now!!”

They took shelter in the forensic department room. Bom placed Darin on the couch and then locked the front door, also hurriedly pushing a table to block it. Meanwhile, Darin was waiting for King to pick up.

[Hello]

   “King!! There’s trouble at the station, sigh, the killer got out…and there are injured officers” and…the abbot

[What? Where are you now!]

   “I…I’m at the forensic room with Bom.”

[Bom?]

   “Y…yes, come quickly, come right now.”

[I’ll hurry there.]

   “What about Say, bring Say too, there are injured officers”

[…Can’t do that]

   “What do you mean?”

[On the way back, I saw Say’s car overturned on the road. Officers are prying the car open to get him out.]

   “No… no, that can’t be true…”

[I’m on my way, stay there.] Darin was in shock, unable to do anything.

“What the hell is happening here? Where’s my friend?! Where is my friend!!”

“…We’re all going to die.”

Darin has no idea how she’s going to survive this.

   And at the same time, the thing itself was about to face something equally terrifying–

  

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