Chapter 24: Chapter 23: Samlathat

“Who is that child?” The older man's eyes turned to look. A low voice came from behind him, causing the figure to leave.

"Hello."

“Are you back yet, dad? He is police." Thup wanted to deny it, but if he said it wasn't, he didn't know if that would cause trouble for August or not.

"Police?"

“Yes, he came for Orn.” When he said his daughter's name, the father's eyes immediately softened.

“Have they caught the criminal yet?”

"Not yet."

“Then why did you come!!! Here you will not find the culprit who did this to my daughter!!! Why are you here?!" A voice shouted angrily and lunged forward grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Thup was surprised to the point of bewilderment.

“We are doing our duty sir, and it would be better if you cooperate with us.”

“Please let go.” The cold voice of Singha, who was still holding the doll, suddenly sounded.

The man in front of Thup still holding him by his shirt, Singha looked softly at Orn's father's face.

"Yes sorry."

Singha understood anger, resentment, dissatisfaction, sadness, but venting his emotions on others did not help. Anything else like this will only cause bad things to happen.

“All this only causes us headaches, but I have not yet seen the criminal who did this caught. And they still send someone breaking into my house?!!”

“Father, please calm down. “The police are trying to help.” The mother tried to calm her husband, to help improve the situation.

“We are doing everything the best we can. Is there any clue you can give us about his behavior before his disappearance? Or anything they can tell us about Orn.”

“Yes,” the angry man released his hand from Thup's collar at the same moment Singha entered and stood up to cover him. “A clue? That is your duty. Aren’t they the police?”

“Well, before she disappeared, my daughter was sick. He vomited often. He rarely ate rice or fish. Sometimes she would disappear for a few days, and she would seem depressed. The day he went to see that friend, I told him to come back quickly because I would make him his favorite meal..." The woman covered her face and sobbed pitifully without being able to finish speaking, then her husband said... "I had told him to stop dating, that those friends would only ruin his reputation. “I was afraid of one day losing her because of that.” The father's contempt-filled voice made Tup purse his lips, wondering why he would say something like that.

“Did you go out with friends often?” August began to ask more.

“Before he went once or twice a week, but two months ago, he started going to his friend's house more often. Some days I stayed over.”

“So, something else strange happened?”

“She didn't speak. Some nights, when I left the room to use the bathroom, I could still hear her murmuring in the room.”

“What was he mumbling?” Thup asked, when he saw a gap in the conversation.

“Well, I'm not sure, I couldn't hear her well.”

"Alright. Thank you very much for answering. If I get anything else I will let you know.” August bowed slightly before returning to the car.

“Phi, aren’t you going to tell them?” Thup asked when it was just the two of them in the vehicle.

“Let's wait for the case to be closed. If I tell them now, they will only blame themselves.”

Singha threw the two bags of evidence onto Thup's lap. One bag had a Sikban doll with the head of Mahingsa. Another bag had Orn's notebook... and a pregnancy test.

“Phi Sing, I have something to tell you. “My uncle called me from my hometown.”

"Tell me."

Thup began to tell Singha everything he had heard from his uncle, from beginning to end. There were times when the older one interrupted to ask a question, but when they received the answer, he would simply nod.

"That's all about it."

"A policeman?"

“Yes, uncle said that.”

“I'll have to check with the police again to find out where he asked to move twenty years ago. Right now we don't know his full name, so I don't know if I can get the information.” He said with an indifferent look in his eyes.

For now, the most urgent thing was to finish getting these dolls, and then investigate other matters.

The driver's car stopped in front of the next house for which they had the search warrant. But if the owner of the house was not here, who should the order be shown to?

August opened the door and entered, followed by Thup, who followed him clinging to his man's shirt, since he had not yet forgotten that the first time he saw the female ghost, it was here.

Upon opening the door of the house, a putrid smell immediately emanated from inside, causing both of them to have to raise their hands to cover their noses.

“Go wait in the car.” Thup immediately shook his head when he saw the older man turning him around to leave.

“I can help you find the doll.”

“If you see a ghost again, don't come calling me for help.”

“Okay,” Thup went from clinging to the hem of his shirt to clasping his hand with Singha’s, “then if it happens, I won’t be fooled by a ghost.”

"This is necessary?" Singha raised his hands that were clasped together and waved them back and forth with a bored expression.

"Just for a moment. Until we find the doll.” Thup gently squeezed the person's hand for emphasis as he smiled until his eyes closed.

“If you are a burden, I will definitely leave you.” Singha sighed before pulling the boy's arm aside so he could follow him into the house, which was immaculate. Every piece of furniture is still intact. But everything smelled bad. They didn't know where that smell of rot came from. The two looked around, cautiously. No matter which direction Singha walked, he dragged the boy behind him.

A creak from above made them both look up. Singha turned to look at Thup, before ascending the stairs step by step. The smell of rot and dampness grew stronger as they reached the last one. The door that was once closed began to slowly open, like an invitation.

“Wait here,” Singha let go of Thup's hand before walking towards the door of the open room, on the right side.

The bedroom should be the most comfortable place, but here, there were talismans, dolls, and blood stains on the floor. Singha took the phone and started taking pictures of everything, including the blood carved in patterns on the floor. “Come in here, please.” Singha turned and looked towards the door, but as Thup was about to enter, the door slammed shut.

“Thup!! “Damn…Thup!!!” August kicked the door hard. But there were no signs that it would open. The same thing happened with Thup, who tried to force the door to be with the oldest, but suddenly, he felt a pair of eyes looking at the stairs.

The sound of nails scraping the wooden floor and laughter made Thup turn around and slowly look at the figure of a young girl with white eyes who was staring at him, with a smile that widened from ear to ear, sticking out her long tongue. and thin. He began to climb the stairs, crawling. Thup felt fear in his heart.

“Thup!! Damn!!" The older man's voice and the knocking on the door stopped. Thup took his hand off the knob. Not only was he the one she was worried about, but just before the door closed, her eyes saw a talisman and a blood stain on the floor. It was not just a normal talisman.

It's a talisman for summoning ghosts!

Gag, gag, gag.

The sound of nails scraping the stairs became closer and closer. The female ghost crawled until she almost reached him.

Saturday Saturday Saturday

His deafening laughter made Thup raise a hand to cover his ears. He immediately closed his eyes because he didn't want to see anything else.

Look at this, you can see it, right?

Please help.

Think of the father.

Hehe, it's full of ghosts. It's full of ghosts.

“Get out, get out.”

More than one voice made Thup tremble until he could sense that there was more than one person in front of him at that moment, and they were probably looking at him as well. The atmosphere was so oppressive that I could barely breathe. The feeling of discomfort he felt, plus the cold that ran down his spine, was not good at all. It's going to crash.

Pull!!!

Thup was so surprised that he accidentally opened his eyes, and in front of him was a very familiar woman. One of his eyes was sewn with red thread. On the other hand, although there were still pieces of thread connected, the eyeball inside could be seen. His lips held a thread, which, although it seemed to be about to break completely, blocked his lips. His body was behind the dozen ghosts.

"Damn!!! Are you surrounded by ghosts?!!! Bastard, run away!” The sound of Singha's voice seemed to catch him and he came back to his senses. He hurriedly ran out the door as ordered.

Pull!!!

It wasn't long before the door that had once been closed was violently kicked open.

“Thup!!” Singha left the room before approaching and pulling Thup's hand to his feet, both of them running out of the house. They didn't want to stay there just one more minute, it wasn't good at all.

"Let's go home. Then we will look for the missing dolls.” August stopped walking along with Thup, and when he stopped talking, the boy suddenly fell to the ground and hugged his legs.

"Thank you."

“Will you just sit here? Or do you want to go home?” Singha squatted in front of Thup, before raising his hand to hold his chin and lift his face. “Come on, let's go back home. Get up, I’ll take you back.”

Thup did not follow immediately, because his legs felt so numb that he could barely move them. He simply pressed his forehead against his knees.

"Only a moment. “I just need a moment.” August did not press him or make any sound showing his annoyance like before. Instead, he raised his thick hand and placed it on the soft hair to gently caress it.

The previous incident should not have happened. There wasn't even a breeze passing through the door, it was so closed that no matter what I tried, I just couldn't open it like it was sealed. August tried again and again, but what made him most nervous was when he saw that there was not only one shadow under the door, but many more. And I knew Thup wasn't alone.

After comforting him, and improving his mood a little thanks to August, Thup got up and they left. Singha knew that if he had gone alone he would not have been able to find the doll, but he felt that he had forced the boy to face his fears. For now, I didn't want to leave him alone.

“Phi. “What was the doll you found at Khun Min’s house?”

August glanced briefly at Thup, who, even after being harassed by so many ghosts, was still worried about the investigation. Did he still care about the dolls and the ghost? His strong hand picked up the evidence bag and tossed it into the young man's lap.

“What head does this have? There are many and I am not sure which one this is.”

The young man looked at the doll in his lap for a long time before gently nodding his head. His beautiful eyes looked at her; The doll had a human body, with its head turned, its long wings spread, flanked by beautiful fangs.

“Yes, the head is from an elephant, this doll is called Samlathat. It’s Wednesday Mae.”

“What about the talisman and the stains on the floor?”

“It was a yantra… a yantra for summoning ghosts. I have seen Luang Pu put it in a chest after villagers came for help. I think the figures on the ground were not very different.”

“But why would I write something like that?”

“I think it's possible that… they didn't know what it meant.”

"What do you mean?"

“It is possible that all the victims did not know who they were paying homage to, they may not know what they themselves were worshiping.” Thup looked away from the doll in his lap and looked at the person's face with lowered eyes. and said in a low voice: “They did not know that what they invoked and worshiped was consuming them.”

…

August stopped by the station again to hand the two dolls to Say for examination, as well as the notebook and pregnancy test from Orn's house, and the photographs of the blood stains from Min's house.

“Come on, come down.” This time, Singha did not tell Thup to wait in the car again, since after the events that had happened, he did not dare leave him alone for a fraction of a second, and for no less than a meter away, since he felt that if that happened, he would end up torn apart by a ghost.

“Say, Darin, I brought something for you.”

“Aren't three enough? You brought more here, you bastard!!” Darin shouted immediately when he saw his friend carrying a new bag of evidence.

“Oiiii.” August was too lazy to argue, so he only responded like this.

“Oh, what the hell is wrong with you?!! So what happened to you now? “Your face looks so tired, like you’ve run eighty laps of the field.”

“Oh, I ran away from a ghost.”

“You escaped?!”

“Bringing a new experience?” Say asked, not too seriously.

"Lets talk later. I'll take Thup home first. This was the hardest to obtain.”

“Wait a minute, how?”

“King came to me and said if you come back, please look for him.”

"The same history."

“He summoned me tonight to come to his condo.”

“Your condo? And why the hell did he ask you to go there? Couldn't they meet somewhere else?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?”

“Anyway, be careful.”

"Yeah."

“You can endure mild pain, but not intense pain. It will test you again,” Say warned first. He collected all the evidence and put it on the table.

“If I call you, it's because I'm in intense pain.” Singha and Thup walked out of the forensic department room leisurely. But when they walked a few steps, the young man tugged at the hem of the older person's shirt.

“Are you really going to go?”

"What are you talking about?"

“On the date with Phi King.”

"Okay, yes."

"But…"

“What's wrong... Are you afraid of being alone at home? You are protected there.”

“I'm not worried about that.” Thup muttered to himself.

“I'll leave for a moment and then come back.”

"Yes that's fine."

Because of the state of the two, Thup felt a little worried in his heart. He didn't know what it was, but he was sure he didn't want Singha to leave. He didn't want me to go see King. I didn't want the two of them to be alone.

I didn't want him to go with that person...