GODDESSBLESSYOUFROMDEATH, Case File 9: The Doll with a Broken Head

Thup stood on the ring with white gloves in hand, while in the other corner stood Singha, wearing black gloves and looking directly at him.

“Phii, but I… I’ve never boxed before.”

“The simple principle is if you don’t punch, you get punched. Ready or not?” The young man did nothing except put on the gloves on both hands and nodded to the young inspector, “Good, then keep your guard up, cover your face. If you get hit in the head, it’s over. Got it?”

“Y…Yes sir.” Thup raised his hands to guard as Singha was doing, feeling even more nervous as the older man approached.

“Don’t close your eyes.” Singha said in a deep voice before he started to bob on his toes back and forth, then lunged forward, throwing a punch at the young man in front of him. Even though the punch was slower and less forceful, it still hit Thup squarely on the cheek, knocking him down. “I told you, Thup, don’t close your eyes.”

“Sorry.” Thup rubbed his cheek lightly, shaking his head a bit to clear the dizziness from the punch.

Singha squatted in front of the young man, lifting Thup’s chin with his hand.

“If you close your eyes, you won’t see the incoming punch. When you can’t see, all that’s left is you can’t defend or dodge; it’ll just hit you in the face. Do you understand?”

“I understand now.”

“Again.” Singha stands up, watching the young man get into position once more. The black gloves trade a couple of blows before another punch is thrown at the same spot.

“Ouch!!” Thup cries out loudly before falling to the ground again, his prominent nose now bleeding slightly from the nostrils.

“This kid! I said don’t close your eyes, don’t stare at the punch without dodging. I’m going crazy.” Singha removes his gloves and throws them to the ground, then walks off the ring to grab some tissues, pressing them against the young man’s nose. “Don’t tilt your head back, keep it down.”

Thup lets this senior dab the blood from his nose without pulling away, his beautiful eyes still shining despite just being punched. Even with gloves and holding back, he’s in this state. Without gloves and full force, what condition would he be in? Singha looks incredibly cool.

“How have you even lived your life so far?” Singha asks, pressing the tissue to stop the bleeding.

“I’ve never fought with anyone before.”

“Never at all?”

“Yes.” Thup sat cross-legged, looking at his older brother with admiration in his eyes.

“So, what do you do all day?”

“I study, clean the monk’s quarters for the venerable, go back to university, study some more, then return to my room to draw.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.” said Thup.

“No friends at all?” Thup shook his head, but Singha held his face still, not allowing him to move. “Why don’t you find at least one friend? You said you had a Buddha amulet, right?”

“When I was a kid, I couldn’t tell them apart. Which one was a ghost, which one was a person, right? Because of that, I often talked to ghosts, making people think I was weird. They gradually drifted away. When people started to fear, all they did was push away. At first, they just wouldn’t come near me. They wouldn’t let me play with them, then they saw me as something to avoid. My bag was often thrown outside, and things were frequently thrown at my head when I wasn’t looking. After a while, I forgot how to talk to people.”

As Thup spoke, Singha listened quietly. “Once you get used to being alone, you don’t know how to start again. That’s probably why I don’t have friends.”

“And how do you handle talking to clients about your drawings?”

“Mostly, I draw online. No need to meet face-to-face. For framed pieces, I have them transfer the money, then send the artwork.” Thup explained in a flat tone. Actually, he just realized he hadn’t talked to anyone at length since the old monk passed away. The first person to break that silence was sitting right in front of him. “Today at the temple… I met a ghost.”

“And?”

“He wore a tattered blue uniform, his body twisted out of shape, half his skull caved in, and the other half of his lip torn up to his ear. He mentioned a motorcycle and money. I know you don’t believe in these things, but let me prove it to you. You might not believe it, but could you check it out, please?”

The two looked at each other, smoking, until Singha noticed that one of Thup’s eyes was brown, like Khem, but the other was slightly lighter brown.

“The bleeding has stopped.” Singha stood up, looking at the young man once more before walking down from the ring. He turned to look at Thup, who still sat there looking dejected, “Want to go check out that ghost of yours? If you’re coming, let’s go.”

Thup immediately smiled, at least Singha chose to consider his words. The young boy ran down from the arena before coming to stand beside his elder. His beautiful eyes gazed at the tattoo on Singha’s right forearm without looking away. He tried to focus and saw that it was a tiger amidst red needle flowers.

“Your tattoo…”

“Why?” Singha draped a gray towel around his neck before heading towards the shower room.

“A tiger with needle flowers, huh?”

“Yeah, got a problem?”

“Not at all, it’s really beautiful.” Thup followed the older guy, his eyes still on the tattoo. There’s a belief that both the tiger and the red needle flowers can ward off evil spirits. He didn’t know if Singha knew this, but for him, it made him feel safer being close.

“I’m gonna take a shower. Wait here.”

“Phii, can I ask one more thing?”

“You’ve got too many problems, what now?”

“Tonight… where do you want me to stay?”

“Just sleep in the guest room here for now. Anyway, that bastard won’t let you go back to your place.” When mentioning this third person, Singha seemed to get annoyed again.

“Well… can I… stay with you?” Thup spoke softly, almost whispering.

“What did you say?”

“Can I… stay with you, please? I… I can wash dishes, clean the house, and cook. I can sleep on the sofa; you can use me for anything. But please, let me stay with you. Without you… I’ll get haunted by ghosts for sure, Phii Singha. I’ll be a good boy, really.” Thup spoke quickly, fearing he might get yelled at before he could finish. When there was no immediate response, he slowly looked up and saw Singha leaning against the door, arms crossed, watching him with a calm gaze.

“Okay.”

“Yes?”

“But if you make yourself annoyed even once, I’ll chase you back to sleep at the station.”

“Will… really, sir!!”

“Yeah, but there’s one thing you need to do.”

“Wha… what is it?”

“When that guy King interrogates you, absolutely do not mention ghosts, spirits, or anything like that. Agreed?”

“Why, sir?”

“Because it will make my job harder.” Singha tossed a water bottle to the boy in front of him, then walked into the communal shower room. Thup smiled, before his heart raced as he sat down on the floor in front of the shower room to wait for his elder to come out.

While sitting and looking at the water bottle Singha left, Thup felt the air grow inexplicably cold. He could sense someone staring at him. When he looked up, he saw a tall girl, about 178 cm, standing in the wide yard of the gym. Her skin was pale, almost bloodless. Her jet-black hair was long and messy, matted into clumps. Her eyes gazed at him vacantly before suddenly her dark pupils trembled and slowly rolled up, leaving only the whites of her eyes. Her originally smooth face began to contort as if in anger, her body, once still, started to twist. Her neck gradually tilted to the side until there was a cracking sound, and her soft sobbing turned into a gurgling in her throat like something was stuck. She made a motion as if to vomit thick, clotted blood with a foul stench, causing Thup to cover his nose. Then she fell to her knees, neck arched in agony, hair and nails falling to the ground, crawling around until whatever was blocking her windpipe came loose. She began to cry again, pitifully.

“Khun… Khun Meen, are you Khun Meen?”

‘Sob, uh uh…’

   She couldn’t stop crying. Gathering his courage once more, Thup, seeing this, tried because he too wanted this to end. He wanted to know what had happened, both now and what had occurred to the ghost girl more than twenty years ago.

“Uh… Khun Meen, can you tell me what happened?”

As she was about to speak, a red thread slowly emerged from her lips and began to sew her lips together until fresh blood spilled all over the floor. Similarly, her eyes were being sewn shut with the same red thread, little by little. Thup recoiled against the wall in terror as the spirit of Khun Meen fell to the floor. Then, another female ghost he had seen in her house appeared. Before the ghost of Khun Meen could yank hard enough to tear her neck, the haunting laughter made Thup, who was sitting hugging his knees, try to cover his ears because he didn’t want to hear those sounds anymore. She was smiling with a mouth stretched wide to her ears, her pale hand reaching out to grab his hair.

“Thup.” Both spirits vanished instantly after Singha nudged the frightened young man with his knee. “I just went inside for a moment.”

“Phii Singha… Phii.”

“What?” Singha observed the young man still staring forward, his gaze unwavering, but when he followed his gaze, he saw only an empty gym.

“Doll…”

“What?” Thup spoke so softly that Singha had to ask again.

“A broken-headed doll.” What Thup had seen before, he remembered it well. The thing that Khun Meen had vomited was a broken-headed doll.

Singha walked out of the gym and looked for his subordinate. Seeing Lieutenant Khem eating a late meal at a table, he approached him immediately, with Thup following not far behind, still not recovered from his fright.

“Lieutenant, have we ever had a motorcycle accident case before?”

“Plenty, inspector.”

“Find one for me. The deceased is male, riding a motorcycle, with injuries to the body, a crushed skull, torn lips, deformed body, wearing a blue uniform, possibly a gas station worker.”

“Just a moment. Why are you suddenly looking into an accident case?” Lieutenant Khem asked while searching for the accident case data on the computer.

“I want to know something, has the search I requested been completed yet?”

“It’s done, Inspector, but… the head of the investigation team has already taken it.”

“Hmm.” Singha expected as much; that bastard wouldn’t let him get ahead by more than one step.

“Oh, found it, Inspector. Looks like it was from the beginning of the month, yes, there was an accident at the intersection, a motorcycle was hit by a truck that ran the red light, the driver died on the spot. The relatives have filed a case. Huh? But how did you know, Inspector, how he died, you are exactly spot on.” Singha turned back to look at Thup, who was also looking at him.

“And what about his motorcycle?”

“It’s in the evidence storage. The relatives didn’t take it back.” Lieutenant Khem handed over the documents with both the storage number and pictures of the bike to Singha.

“I’ll go take a look, and Lieutenant, check out Santi Thammaram Temple for me, get me the history of both the monks and all the workers there.”

“Why do you need that, Inspector? I know the abbot.”

“Just bring it.”

“Yes.”

Singha walked towards the back of the station where there’s a warehouse connected to the building for storing evidence and larger items that can’t be kept inside. But before opening the door, he turned back to look at the kid who had been quietly following him.

“Close your eyes.”

“Pardon?”

“Half the stuff inside is from fatal accidents, so close your eyes.” Thup looked at Singha with pleading eyes, but seeing the serious look from the older man, he was quite certain Singha wouldn’t leave him alone if it wasn’t necessary. The young man slowly closed his eyes, slightly startled when he felt something covering his eyes another layer, the faint scent from it familiar to him; it was Singha’s scent. “Follow me carefully.”

Singha opened the door, and the chill from inside the warehouse didn’t faze him, but the kid behind him was certainly unnerved. This was evident from the hand that reached out to clutch his wrist. Singha stepped inside with Thup following closely behind, almost glued to his back. No matter where he dodged, the young boy followed without issue, which was a good thing. When they reached the motorcycle storage area, the young inspector looked around for the motorcycle as shown in the picture, and there it was, parked further inside the lot.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” Thup immediately grabbed Singha’s wrist.

“Just a moment, it’s inside. You can’t dodge everything.”

“Don’t leave me, okay?”

“I said I’ll be right back means I’ll be right back.” Thup pressed his lips together before letting go of the older man’s hand.

His eyes were covered, so he couldn’t see the scary things, but the clattering sounds and whimpering cries still echoed in his ears, making both hands tremble. The cold at his spine made him aware he wasn’t standing here alone.

‘Is he dead yet?’

‘It hurts so much.’

‘I want to go home.’

‘Why don’t we go together?’

‘Yak’

‘Yak’

‘Yak’

‘Yak’

‘Yak’

‘Yak’

The repetitive voices and the same words made Thup furrowed his brow until a pair of hands reached out to hold him. The young boy was so startled he jumped.

“It’s me.” Singha said as he walked a young boy out to the door before removing the handkerchief that was covering his own eyes. He showed what was in his hand to Thup, then tapped it on the boy’s forehead.

“What’s that?”

“Paycheck.”

“Pardon?”

“The salary of the motorcycle owner.”

“Ah… he probably wants this money to be returned to the family.”

Singha didn’t respond. He just looked at the boy’s face.

   This kid is right… he really saw something he shouldn’t have.

  

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