2

Ladda

Shin acted strange yesterday…

"Ladda" or "Da" thought as she walked towards her boyfriend"s condominium. Wait, not her boyfriend anymore… he was her "fiance" and will soon be her "husband" in three months.

This condominium was their new home.

Da gazed at the twenty floors condominium in the heart of Bangkok. This was not the family home she dreamed of.

She wanted a white European style house with two floors. It didn"t have to be big, just a little s.p.a.ce around the house where you could see a lush garden from your living room.

The limited s.p.a.ce inside the condominium caused the rooms to be tiny, and a hundred people lived here in this giant beehive.

However, in the six months time she commuted to and fro his condominium, she never saw Shin"s neighbors once.

The only one aside from Shin she knew here was…

"h.e.l.lo, Miss Ladda!"

The day shift security guard.

Da smiled and asked how he was doing. Sometimes Da thought that this condominium selected only unfriendly people to live in.

But… she couldn"t exactly think bad of them. Even Shin said "New guard?" every time she said h.e.l.lo to this same security guy.

After she greeted the guard, she walked straight to the elevator and pressed on the number 3. As the doors closed, she sighed.

Da begged Shin for her dream house, but Shin told her that it was a strain on their financial situation. He had his car loan and condominium loan to pay. He got fewer customers for his freelance job by the day. Her family also demanded dowry from him, and where would he get the money to hold a great wedding that would not be an embarra.s.sment to her family?

Shin would go bankrupt.

But she never wanted Shin to quit photographing. His job was a cupid that brought them together.

Da was a florist who sold flowers around this condominium, and met Shin when he ordered flowers for his job. After that, Shin contacted her regularly. Eventually they started dating.

Da was a little miss pampered by her parents. The flower shop was opened from their money. She could not help but admire someone who feeds himself like Shin.

But… that was also his flaw.

Being too independent and compet.i.tive also made Shin someone who could think of nothing but surplus and deficit.

However, she was more than happy to overlook that and chose him as her lifelong partner, ignoring her family"s objections. They said the two were too young and his family"s wealth was not suitable for someone of her cla.s.s.

"Shin will never make Da sad."

Da smiled when she thought of her lover"s words.

Marriage life would come with many obstacles, but Da believed the two of them would make it through.

No matter what comes their way…

When the elevator doors opened, Da walked along the brightly lit corridor and stopped in front of room number 308. The bags of food was no longer a problem for her to open the door.

Da came to Shin"s room to cook or clean. It was to train herself to be a good housewife. When dusk falls, Shin would drive her home before her mother"s curfew.

"Shin, are you in? It"s me, Da."

The moment she called, Shin in a black shirt and grey pants appeared from his bedroom to the left. He looked at her with sleepy eyes. His hair was disheveled, and he looked so cute Da could not help but smile.

"What is this, Shin? It"s the afternoon. How long do you plan to sleep?"

"Hmm…? Yesterday I went to that graveyard clearing thing and I was tired. Then there"s this and that to do."

Shin answered, followed by a yawn. Meanwhile, Da placed packed food on a table in the kitchen across his bedroom. She perked her head up when he mentioned "graveyard clearing".

"Right. Da was going to ask. How was it?"

"Oh. It was good."

"It was good"…? Suspicious.

Da knew what kind of man Shin was. He was a pragmatist. His religion was the touchable and seeable facts. The Langpacha ceremony was his sworn enemy. When she tried to make him go with her, she had to ask heaven"s mercy to convince him. Moreover, she made him go alone.

Yesterday, she called in to ask how it went. Da was prepared to get scolded, but Shin replied "It"s okay. Come over tomorrow. I"ll show you something good." Da thought she called the wrong person.

What could possibly change him?

"What is the "something good" you wanted me to see?"

"Oh, that. Da, come here."

Shin waved Da over to his bedroom. She followed with confusion and peeked over Shin"s shoulders.

When she saw what was inside, she had to suppress her cry.

On the double bed was a sleeping woman.

The woman wore a frilly white dress that appeared like a bridal dress. The right side of her face was covered in bandages, but… her doll-like skin and her long, light-colored hair that framed her slim waist… Her eyes were not visible, but judging from the thick, long lashes, Da knew her eyes would be beautiful.

Not only her eyes… her face, her figure, everything was perfect.

A million times prettier than Da…

This woman… made Shin change…?

"How is it?"

Shin brimmed with enthusiasm as Da glared at him with reddened eyes and broken heart.

"How…? How could you ask that… what could Da say?!?"

Da held back her tears, but her voice trembled. Shin c.o.c.ked his head at her without a hint of guilt.

"You could tell me something like… is she pretty?"

"Pretty?!?"

Da screeched.

Her broken heart fueled rage, and tear streamed down her face.

"Yes! Pretty! Beautiful! Shin wanted Da to say that, right?! Are you happy now?!"

"Wait, Da… why are you crying?"

Shin was taken back and touched her shoulders, but Da slapped his hands away.

"You want Da to be happy when her boyfriend brought another woman into his bedroom?! Why did you show this to Da?! Why do you hurt my feeling?! Shin, what am I to you?!?!"

Da cried, her voice getting higher and higher.

"Da knows. Shin hates Da, right?!? Shin has financial problems because Shin wanted to earn as much money as Da"s family!!! With Da, Shin is pressured, so Shin wants a new girlfriend!!!"

"Da, what are you saying?! You"re straying way too far! Calm down!"

Shin shook his girlfriend.

"Look!!! That"s not a person!!!"

"Huh?"

Da stopped and stared at Shin. He took her hand and placed in on the doll-like woman"s arm.

Cold…

That was her first thought when she touched the sleeping woman"s skin, which was tender like a baby"s but cold like ice. She was so pale no blood flowed under her skin.

…She didn"t have blood.

She didn"t breathe either.

"This…this is…?!?"

Da glanced at Shin for denial, but Shin smiled, proud of himself.

"Yes, Da! This is a corpse."

Da fainted in an instant.

Da woke up from a tingling sensation on her cheek.

When she opened her eyes, she was on a sofa with a black cat licking her face.

This cat"s name was "Nil" from "Nilrat", a cat commonly a.s.sociated with good luck.

It had totally black fur, black eyes, and long tail. Da"s mother bought it for her when they went to a fortune teller (also called family errand). The fortune teller said misfortune was approaching her, and they should keep the cat for protection.

Today, she would show this cat to Shin.

"How did you get out of the bag?"

Da sat up and caressed the cat on her lap. It purred sweetly.

"I took it out. Your bag was moving and purring, so I opened it. I hope you don"t mind me touching your stuff."

Shin came in and poured Da a gla.s.s of water.

"If I didn"t get it out, it"d have died."

"Umm… Da was going to hurry and let him out, but…"

When Da remembered the reason she fainted, she shuddered and questioned her eyes.

"Shin… your room… a corpse…?"

Da could not organize her words into a sentence, but Shin understood what she meant.

"Yeah. Found her during the ceremony. Shin thought she was cool and took her here."

Shin replied without a thought. It"s as if he went to the beach and found a cool seash.e.l.l, so he took it home without thinking of the consequences it had to the environment.

"Shin, you stole it?"

"Nope! Just took her without telling the guys there."

"That"s what you call stealing."

Shin scratched his head, frustrated from being cornered by his girlfriend.

"Come on. These corpses are going to get burned anyway. She"ll be put on display for those credulous idiots to ask her for lottery numbers. She"s not going to do any good being with those fools. Shin will make better use photographing her."

"Photographing? A corpse?"

Da asked. She didn"t know if she was more scared of the corpse or her boyfriend"s tastes.

"Da, have you heard of "memorial photography"?"

The woman shook her head.

"It"s a way of photographing dead people by making them appear the same as when they were alive. It"s a form of art. There"s n.o.body doing it in Thailand, so I thought I would take the initiative and create a new market. Who knows, maybe it"ll boom?"

"No. Shin, Da"s scared."

Da warned.

"Give her back to the temple or something. And we don"t know how she died. They say keeping a corpse of someone who died a violent death is bad omen."

"How could she have died a violent death? She"s beautiful."

Da felt frustrated when he used the term "beautiful" to describe the woman"s corpse.

"Da"s more scared of any curse she might carry on her. Throw her away. Please."

"Why"re you scared of something so superficial? You should be more afraid of having no money."

Shin argued, and turned on his laptop. He showed Da his website. The page was filled with photographs of the dead woman from different angles.

"Look. Last night I took her photos and presented them to different buyers. Tons of people are clicking my site. See?"

Da watched Shin"s enthusiastic expression as he talked about how he took the different photos. His eyes brimmed with motivation and determination.

Da knew that when Shin had those eyes, nothing could stop him. Every time she would be the one backing down.

"Ok then. Promise me, Shin, that once you sell your photographs and got some money, you"ll give her to a temple."

"Promise." Shin accepted.

"And another thing. Shin, let me keep Nil here."

Da held Nil to her chest, because she knew Shin hated animals as much as he hated ghosts.

"What? I didn"t tell you to give your cat to the temple, why are you trying to keep him here?"

"Gee, Shin! Mine is a normal cat, not a dead body!"

Da pouted as Shin hugged her.

"Fine. I"ll give you everything you want, Da."

Sakhda

I shouldn"t have… I shouldn"t have seen "that thing".

A man over age fifty hugged his trembling body. After returning from the cemetery, he was sick for days on end. His fever was not from spirits but from an intense fear his old body could not handle.

Sakhda believed in the supernatural, but he was never afraid of them. He grew up in a society filled with superst.i.tious beliefs about ghosts and spirits. His house was next to a temple. He used to play around the crematory when he was young. It was his playground.

When he got older, he moved to an urban society where superst.i.tion was a mere children"s tales. He volunteered for a foundation and saw the most violent deaths which he eventually got used to.

But it was Sakhda"s first time seeing "that thing."

He saw countless corpses, but the girl"s corpse was different. Compared to other bodies, she was not gory. If he must say, she was beautiful as the name "Angel"s Corpse" suggested.

But Sakhda sensed something. Something under that pretty facade.

It was an abyss, darker than imaginable.

"If she opened her eyes…if…if she…"

Sakhda repeated over and over again.

His instincts warned him that "the thing" was dangerous.

"Dad, I"m going to work. Don"t forget to eat."

His daughter entered. She looked at her father, insulting him in her mind, which was unacceptable in Thai society.

The daughter did not like that her father volunteered for that foundation. After the event the other day, her respect for her father deteriorated.

He tried to tell her to take care, but the daughter left in a hurry. He didn"t mind. A young girl would be bored taking care of her old father everyday.

Especially an old father that had a mental illness, as the others said.

n.o.body believed him. They said the reason he was frantic over the Angel"s Corpse was because it was too hot and he was seeing things.

But Sakhda knew it wasn"t because of the weather or because he hallucinated. The corpse was there. He saw it with his own two eyes. In that coffin, there really was an Angel"s Corpse, and it will bring an unfathomable catastrophe to the one who took her.

He only saw it for a moment, but he was already this scared.

What would be the fate of that person who took her?

"Old man, were you the last one to see "her"?"

A tall man in a lab coat stood at the door.

Sakhda looked at the man, who was about eighteen or nineteen, with confusion. He dressed like a doctor, but he was too young to be one. His eyes were scornful, but the hate was not directed at the old man, it was directed at the entire world. Sakhda could not help but wonder what kind of experience molded him into someone like that.

But the point was Sakhda never saw him before.

"Who are you? How did you get in?"

"The door"s unlocked, so I came in."

He replied curtly. The young man didn"t feel a tad bit of guilt for intruding. It seemed he was the type to get whatever he wants without caring for other people.

"Heard from the foundation that you saw the Angel"s Corpse."

"Yes…"

The old man replied hesitantly, but the young man nodded and resumed questioning.

"And what do you know about how the corpse disappeared? Was there anyone with you when you saw it?"

That moment, Sakhda"s head perked up.

"You think I really did see her? You don"t think I"m crazy?!?"

"If someone knows "she" existed, that person would be in the same condition as you. But most of them don"t live to catch a fever like you, though."

The young man smiled sarcastically.

Don"t live… what does that mean…?

Sakhda thought but had no courage to ask.

"In short, I believe what you said, old man. Now answer me."

"I… I don"t know. I was scared to death, so I asked a young man to look after her and ran to get the shaman. When I came back, the corpse"s gone… The corpse… it"s haunted…"

"You asked a "young man" to look after her, hmm?"

The man in white leaned in.

It was the first time those eyes ever showed any sign of anxiety. He mumbled, "don"t tell me it"s that guy" and shot questions at Sakhda.

"What does that young man look like? Did he wear black? Did he disappear with the corpse?"

"I didn"t know when he was gone. He complained that his girlfriend wanted him to come, but she had an errand so they weren"t together. If I see him again, I"d remember, since there were few young men that day…"

The old man told him as much as he remembered. Something made the intruder feel more at ease.

"You have his contact?"

"Umm… the foundation has a list of people who attended…"

The intruder grinned.

"Boy, are you looking for that Angel"s Corpse?"

Sakhda called out. He didn"t know what the boy was thinking.

But that Angel"s Corpse… that corpse was more dangerous than anything he ever knew. People should leave her alone if they still wanted to live.

"If you want to mess around with it, stop. The Angel"s Corpse has strong black magic. I don"t know why, but I feel you should not look for it. Even though her sleeping face was serene, but… but if she…"

The old man said and curled himself up into a ball. His already small body appeared even smaller.

"If she wakes up, there will be casualties!!!"

"Heh. If there are casualties, that means the guy hasn"t struggled enough."

The young man shrugged the older man"s words off.

"What do you mean…?"

The intruder waved his hands as if to say "not something you should worry about".

But something about him stirred a feeling inside the old man.

The boy had the same aura as the Angel"s Corpse, but his aura wasn"t dark.

A white lab coat, an empty expression, a white aura so bright nothing inside was visible… the white light of the sun that burned everything that came near.

"Don"t worry. She"ll never hurt me."

"You know the Angel"s Corpse?"

"Hey geezer, the word "Angel"s Corpse" sounds nice and all but would you please just stop calling her a "Corpse"?"

Sakhda watched the back of the young man as he walked away.

A smirked spread across the young face. It made him appear like the leader of a cult summoning evil from another world.

"Lilith"s still alive, after all."

[Comment: Hail Shin for keeping a corpse in his bedroom.]

>>