Goddess Bless You From Death

Case File 40.

Thup continued to reach for the glass shard, never taking his eyes off the ghostly woman in front of him. Whatever happened, let it happen after he had what he needed in his hand. The woman's blank white eyes rolled until her deep black iris met Thup's hand as it grasped a piece of glass.

"Got it!"

'Hee! Hee! What are you going to cut? Eyes, mouth, arms, or legs?'

Thup clenched the shard in his hand before turning back to King. But then he saw the ghostly woman trailing her sharp, long nails along Darin's body.

'This one...'

King glanced at the long nails gliding over Darin's abdomen before they began to dig in.

"Ugh!"

'Or this one?'

The woman ghost reverted to her true form, no longer appearing as Chaba. She moved to caress Lieutenant Kem's face with a wide grin that reached her ears.

'Which one will you stab..?'

"Let them go," Thup said, standing up to his full height. Despite his body aching all over, he could only grind his teeth and endure.

'Which one? Which one will you kill? Which one will you kill? Which one will you kill? Which one-

"Me!" Thup declared confidently.

The already wide smile on the ghost's face widened even more upon hearing this. She withdrew her hands from the others and looked at Thup with satisfaction.

"Take it off!'

Her pointed finger indicated Thup himself. He knew exactly what she wanted. Slowly, he raised his slender hand to remove the holy amulet Singha had given him. He held it tightly in his hand before looking up at the fear he had carried his whole life. Spirits, ghosts, wandering souls-everything that should vanish after the body returned to the earth. He had always been afraid of them. But not today.

Thup threw the amulet precisely at the ghostly woman in front of him. Her agonised scream echoed long before fading away, giving Thup the chance to rush to King and start cutting the ropes with the glass shard.

"Give it to me and run!" King urged Thup hurriedly as he saw the father and son preparing to carry Jump's lifeless body from the ritual site.

"No."

"I said run! Go get help, go find Singha!!"

"P'Singh..." Thup hesitated, his eyes welling with tears. The bandaged hand started to bleed again.

"Hey!!!" Bom shouted, preparing to charge at them.

"Go!! Run!!" King shouted again, but the boy in front of him seemed not to listen at all. "Thup!!"

"Almost there. Just a bit more."

Thup ignored the pain in his hand, sawing at the rope with increased strength and speed. As Bom was about to grab Thup by the neck, the rope binding the young detective finally snapped.

"It's cut!!"

"Go help the others!" King shouted before kicking Bom in the chest, sending him sprawling. Thup immediately went to help Darin. Her soft groans warned him

to proceed carefully.

"It hurts so much."

"Hang in there, P'Darin."

Meanwhile, King was mercilessly kicking Bom. He landed another kick to Bom's side before dragging the boy back to the ritual site, where the former abbot still sat calmly.

"Get down on the ground, or your son dies." King choked Bom, tightening his grip to cut off the boy's air supply.

"Dad! C-C-Cough! Da. cough!"

"The ritual must continue."

"I said your son will die!!" The former abbot merely glanced at them before setting aside the thread and picking up a clay doll.

"Someone like you dares to touch my family?" The abbot twisted one of the doll's arms until it bent.

"Ugh! Aahhh!!!" King's painful scream prompted Thup to look over immediately.

"P'Darin, sit here for a moment. If you have any strength to run, you must run, okay?" Darin nodded, then looked up at Lieutenant Khem.

"I'll leave this with you." Thup placed the shard, now showing cracks, into Darin's hand before rushing to King's side, who had collapsed in agony.

"Mr King! What did they do to" Thup looked up to see the former abbot holding a blood-smeared clay doll inscribed with some scripts. More importantly, there were bloodstains all over. They were using black magic on King!

"You dare oppose me, you damned cop!!!" Bom, seemingly losing his mind, showed his fury in his expression and actions. He pushed Thup aside and began punching King in the face.

"Call your mother out," Isoon, the former abbot, said in a flat tone. 

"No!"

"Alright then." The old man's wrinkled hand lightly touched his frenzied son's shoulder, causing Bom to stop immediately. "Bring him to the altar."

"But you said we had to follow the order."

"No need anymore."

Thup tried to crawl away but didn't get far. Bom grabbed his hair, dragging him to the altar. His arms and legs were bound to the stakes in the ground, and his head was held by Isoon, who used blood to write the mystic scripts on his forehead.

"Take your son," he intoned, preparing the needle and red thread once more. As it neared Thup's eyes, his heart pounded harder. The unknown chanting made him clench his fists.

Stay away from my son!!!

"Finally show yourself? You annoying b*tch!"

"M-Mother.." Thup lifted his head. At his feet stood a frail woman with pale skin, long black hair, and a tattered sarong. One of her eyes was sewn shut with red thread, while the other eye, filled with rage and sorrow, was visible through the broken thread. Her lips bore similar broken red stitches.

It was the ghost he had seen all his life, the ghost who often watched from a distance, the ghost he feared and wanted to avoid, the ghost who had once been his mother.

"So, the thread finally broke. I should have drowned you that day to get things done!" Isoon drew a magic-inscribed knife and slashed Thup's shoulder, making him thrash in pain.

'Don't hurt my son!!!

The scream was followed by a gust of wind, scattering the plumeria flowers and offerings. Bom shielded his face and moved behind his father.

"Catch her, Dad!!" The wind wreaked havoc on the ritual site, destroying everything in its path. With no one holding him down anymore, Thup tried to free himself. 

"Damn it! Kill them all!!!"

Bom shouted, pulling out a gun and aiming it at King. But before he could shoot, a bowl carried by the wind hit his hand, knocking the weapon "You're dead!!!" Bom straddled Thup again, raising a knife above his head. However, before he could strike, his neck was squeezed so hard he felt it in his bones.

"You hurt my son! I'll break yours!

"Chaba," the former abbot said calmly, unfazed by the situation. Two ruthless female spirits appeared behind Thup's mother, pulling her arms apart.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Bom's body was thrown against a nearby pillar with great force. The scream echoed, and then everything fell silent. Isoon chanted over a magical cloth, placing it on a charmed clay pot. His violent coughing signalled that his time was running out. 

Standing tall, he took the enchanted knife toward Lieutenant Kem, plunging it into his neck, spilling blood everywhere. Though frail and disease-ridden, he had the strength to drag Khem's body next to Thup and began sewing the eyes and mouth to bind the spirit. Close the eyes to see no sight and find no trace. Seal the lips to let no insult or curse take place. What had succeeded before would succeed again now!

"You can't escape. Without black magic, without any protection, you'll become the offering yourself," Thup said, attempting to distract the deranged man in front of him from noticing that one of his hands had slipped free from the rope.

"Never, until I die!"

"Is that what you think? Didn't you see the look in the eyes of those two ghosts and how they looked at you?" Thup continued to untie the other hand while speaking to divert his attention. "Those two ghosts don't see you as their master. They see you as a provider of victims. And when you're of no use, the next life they take will be yours."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Why should I care? All I know is that you have no humanity left in you.”

"Ha! You know what? When my son was dying, no one cared. Not even my wife thought he could be saved. And now look, he's alive. He survived!" Isoon began to pierce Lieutenant Khem's lips with a needle, the red thread passing through the flesh and turning even redder with blood

"What did you do to my mother?"

"Your mother will become a ghost, never to be reincarnated! She'll serve under my feet because she cursed me!"

"No..."

"Because of her, I'm sick like this! Because of her!"

"My mother didn't do anything."

The day she fled, she cursed me to die like a homeless dog. She cursed my family, saying they would never be happy, just because I left her. Because of her!!!" Thup broke free from the bindings and grabbed a knife lying nearby, stabbing it into Isoon's foot. 

"Argh!!! You brat!!! You're just like your mother. I should never have let you be born!"

"What did you say?"

"Hold him down."

Thup, not watching his back, was grabbed by Bom, who had just regained consciousness. Despite the blood flowing from his temple and his dazed state, Bom still obeyed his father's orders.

"Stay still!"

Thup struggled, but his previous wounds and the new cut on his shoulder drained his strength.

"Mmmph!" Thup writhed in pain as the needle pierced his lips.

Bang!!!

But before it could go all the way through, a gunshot rang out from the entrance.

"If you push that needle in any further, I'll bury a bullet in your skull, whether it hits or not."

Tears of relief streamed down his cheeks when he saw that the person who came to save him was the one he had always hoped would survive... P'Singh was really here!

"Why is it so hard to kill him?!" Bom cursed upon seeing Singha, who should have been dead, still standing with a gun in hand.

"Lie down on the ground! Both father and son!" Seeing that neither the father nor the son showed any sign of moving as he had ordered, Singha sighed wearily.

Bang!!

"Argh!" A bullet hit Bom's leg, causing him to release Thup and fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

"You have no right to shoot MY SON!" Isoon, trembling with rage, stood up, knife in hand, facing Singha.

"Really? I didn't know that. I thought it was okay since you take lives without asking first," Singha approached as if he had no fear of the knife in the hands of the villain at all.

Bang!!

Another shot rang out, embedding a bullet in the former abbot's shoulder, causing the knife to drop. Singha's cold, unfeeling expression was the scariest thing Thup had ever seen. The young man slowly stood and ran to Singha, tears streaming down his face, not just from the pain but from seeing Singha alive.

"P'Singh, how are you? Sob, are you hurt badly?"

"Who messed up your face like this?" Singha asked irritably. Lifting Thup's chin to inspect the wounds.

"Singh! Pant! Pant! The search team will arrive in half an hour."

"Yeah, go check on King and the others." Singha took out a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket and began performing his duties as a police officer. "Mr Anuphap, no, Mr Isoon, you are under arrest for serial murder, assaulting an officer, destroying state property, attempted murder, and numerous other charges that will ensure you and your son spend the rest of your miserable lives in prison. If you have a lawyer, please call them; otherwise, the state will provide one. But with this much evidence, no good lawyer would take your case."

"You think this ends here?"

"Yes."

"I never lose. I will never die."

"Oh, really?" Singha stood to his full height, aiming his gun at Isoon's forehead. 

"Want to test that?"

"You caught the two of us, but what about the others?" Isoon smirked, laughing maniacally.  Thup looked around the warehouse, realising something was wrong. The mother and daughter ghosts were gone. They hadn't disappeared because of Singha's arrival.

"P'Singh!" Thup pointed to a pillar. A bloody hand slowly reached out, followed by the familiar figure of a woman.

"Darin," Singha called out, though deep down, he knew that malicious smile wasn't Darin's.

"I-AM-NOT-DARIN."