3

Shinabutr

Shin drove aimlessly on the road as slow as a turtle crawling. There was a honk from the cars behind as all the cars pa.s.sed him. The man didn"t care. It was past 1 am., but Shin did not want to go home.

"Did not want to go" was not as accurate as "too scared to go".

But the man had nowhere else to be and no one else to depend on. He didn"t know how to explain to others that "a corpse in my room turned into a Pop". Instead of getting an advice, he would be the joke of the century.

The only one who would believe him was Da, his ex fiancee.

But because of pride and ego, he could not go back to his ex.

If he called, she would say "see, I told you." Deep in his mind, he was more afraid of being an embarra.s.sment than confronting the Angel"s Corpse.

The only thing he could do now was buy clothes for the Angel, since every time he went home, she would be waiting for him on the sofa even though he knew she was in her coffin.

Her white clothes were also always dirty, like naughty children who played until they get covered in mud.

But eating a dog or cat is not what a child does…

Shin was worried. Listening to that guard, it seemed n.o.body saw his Angel walking around killing animals yet, but he could not be confident n.o.body would eventually discover her.

Shin looked at the chain he just bought.

"Just lock her in until tomorrow."

The man mumbled. A few blocks to his condominium. Fear choked him, and it took a lot of energy to shove it away.

"Calm down, think of the money, Shin…"

Shin consoled himself. His sweaty hands clenched the wheel.

"Tomorrow, that Vakin guy would come take the corpse…"

Yes, just keep the corpse until that Vakin or whatever came to buy it. After selling the corpse, what happens to that man was none of his business.

"One day more… just one day…"

Shin mumbled the whole way until he turned into his condominium. The night shift guard, a different one from the guy he talked to, was on the phone as he pressed the b.u.t.ton to let Shin"s car through.

Shin didn"t care about anything, but if he lowered his windows, he would hear the conversation that could make him think twice about returning to his room.

"Gosh, Tadphum suddenly disappeared during his shift. He didn"t even bring his stuff back. Maybe he saw a ghost and ran away…Where did you go, buddy?"

Shin stood in front of room 308, preparing his mind. No matter how strong one"s nerves was, it was hard to get used to coming home to see a bloodstained corpse every day.

But one step into his room, Shin almost slipped from sticky fluid that pooled the entrance.

"What"s this?"

Shin turned to the bathroom, thinking a pipe broke, but the pool of red liquid wasn"t from the bathroom.

It was from a headless corpse.

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

The man screamed and leapt away from his room, pushing his back against the opposite wall outside. His eyes stared at the state of his own room.

A corpse in security guard uniform laid face down on the ground. His blue shirt was stained from bite marks, as if a wild animal tried to eat him. Not to far away was his Angel"s Corpse, bloodstained on the sofa as usual, her hands holding something as if it was a present for him.

It was the head of that guard he met.

What the f.u.c.k is going on!?! Why did it turn out this way!?!

"Is something wrong? I heard someone scream."

The woman who lived across emerged from her door.

Shin rushed to close his door so no one would see.

"N-Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Huh? But you were screaming?"

"I said it"s nothing! Don"t stick your nose where it doesn"t belong!"

Shin yelled at his inquisitive neighbor"s face. The woman twitched her brows and yelled back in the same volume.

"If you don"t want me to stick my nose, then don"t holler so late at night, you psycho!!!"

She slammed the door shut, a sign for Shin to dash into his room before anyone decided to come. He locked the door carefully.

"s.h.i.t! s.h.i.t! s.h.i.t! Why did it turn out this way!?! Why?! Why?!"

Shin paced restlessly, his hands pulling his own hair.

Seeing a dead body in his own room made him lose it.

"What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do? What to do?"

The first thing to do was to call the police, but how could he ever explain this situation? A corpse stood up and killed people? Who would believe that? He didn"t even believe it himself. Worse, he might be suspected of murder.

What if I was arrested…?

Shin thought before looking at the Angel"s Corpse from the corner of his eyes, trying to get answers from her serene face.

Then, Shin heard an answer from the deepest part of his mind. A conclusion he could never get away from.

…Eliminate it…

Shin head straight for the sofa and carried the Angel"s Corpse, then placed her in the black coffin. After that, he closed the lid.

He opened the small opening where he could see the corpse"s face.

In the dark, he saw the pale face of the Angel"s Corpse. It appeared to be dreaming. Her long lashes, her pink cheeks, she was a beautiful Angel when asleep.

But a bloodthirsty beast when awake.

If he was arrested for murder, the Angel"s Corpse would be here forever.

And his sell tomorrow would be cancelled.

No, he can"t let that happen…

He needed to sell this corpse no matter what.

Only one choice left…

"..That guard"s body…need to get rid of it…"

If that guard"s corpse wasn"t here, he would be free of suspicion. He was not the real culprit anyway.

Shin dragged the headless corpse to the bathroom. Since it started to harden, it was twice as heavy. It took him long to drag the corpse to the bathroom.

After putting the head in a garbage bag, he planned to mutilate that corpse to pieces, then load all of those into different bags and throw them somewhere far away. However, the knife he found in his kitchen was to small for such a big piece of meat.

Shin looked at the clock. 3 am. Nowhere he could find the weapon he wanted.

Shin felt like he was walking towards a dead end, losing himself in the darkness, stepping deeper into a labyrinth of evil.

Just an axe or a machete will do…

That"s right, he heard Da said the guard"s booth had axes and fire extinguishers for emergencies.

Shin found a light in the dark. He changed his soaked shirt, grabbed the key, and rushed the the guard"s booth.

As he rode the elevator, he drafted his plan.

When he came in, only on night shift guard was there. If he was asleep, then good, but if not, how would he get that axe?

Shin thought of a rough plan as the elevator doors opened. He stepped out in a hurry.

In the brightly lit guard"s booth, Shin saw a man in that white little building, listening to a radio program in midst of darkness.

"Excuse me."

Shin called softly, but the guard heard and turned around.

"Well, my tires are flat and I need to get to work early tomorrow, so I want them fixed tonight. Can you help me?"

The guard nodded without suspecting anything, before rummaging through a toolbox that the condominium prepared in case the residence needed anything. Shin pretended to walk towards his car on the third floor parking lot.

The lights were dim. Moths flew around the bulbs. Shin walked over to his car"s back compartment as the guard asked him.

"Which one"s flat?"

"The front."

Shin answered, staring at the guard who nodded and stepped between Shin"s car and another person"s car, bending down to look at the tires.

"Huh? None of them are flat, sir…"

Pow!!!

Shin used a crowbar he had in his car and swung it right in the security guard"s head. The middle aged man sank to the ground with a thud.

He whimpered before he fainted.

"I"ll buy you a drink afterwards."

Shin spoke to the fainted body, and planned to run to the guard"s booth, but he heard a car approach. Shin rushed to look. A pink taxi was coming in.

s.h.i.t!

Shin hid in the dark. If that car came into the parking lot, what would happen? His fear subsided when the car drove away.

That taxi must be here to drop someone off.

Even so, Shin was not entirely confident. He did not want to confront anyone who came in, so he used the stairs instead of the elevator.

Shin walked down the the first floor. n.o.body. He walked into the guard"s booth and look for an axe without a care for anything else. When he heard the radio, he stopped in his track.

[Wow, the number one ghost story for tonight was terrifying, don"t you think? There are lots of messages from our listeners. Let"s read some of their comments.]

Shin remembered it was the program Da often listened to. He heard the DJ"s voices or the stories being told as the two of them talked over the phone.

Shin always said she listened to nonsense c.r.a.p, but Da told him she couldn"t sleep without listening to it.

His heart longed for Da. If he sold the Angel"s Corpse, he promised he would be a good man to atone for his wrongdoings.

As he was thinking, he opened the cabinet and took an axe.

When Shin turned around to leave, he paused to listen to the DJ"s voice.

[Another comment said "Sis, an animated corpse is not a Pop but a zombie. If you want to get rid of it, sis, you need to aim for the head and blow up the brain so it would stop functioning.]

The DJ emphasized every word.

Zombie…?

Shin felt anxious.

He rushed back to his room. As he unlocked the door, he dropped his keys twice.

"f.u.c.k! Calm down!"

Shin cursed as he rushed in, looking around for any abnormalities, but everything was just as he left it.

The coffin was closed.

Shin stomped into the room, still in his shoes, then turned right for the bathroom. When he reached for the k.n.o.b…

Beeeeep!!!

His phone rang. Shin left the k.n.o.b be and looked for his phone. Before he changed, he didn"t remember where he threw it.

He found it on the sofa.

He was surprised someone would call at this hour, moreover a number he didn"t recognize.

"h.e.l.lo…?"

Shin answered the call, then a low, smooth voice replied.

He didn"t know why, but he felt the speaker was a student government president or a top student that gave speeches to parents.

The voice was surprised Shin took the call.

[Hmm? You must be Mr. Shinabutr, owner of the Angel"s Corpse?]

"You want to buy her? Sorry, too late at night. Call again tomorrow."

Shin struck him down, but the other end still replied.

[Not too late for "killing", right?]

The second Shin heard the word, he almost dropped his phone.

Maybe…this guy knew…?

"Don"t you mess around. I killed no one."

[Hmm? Oh, that means you have a corpse in your house.]

The tone was not investigative. He didn"t sound like a police, but more like a psychologist trying to detect his patient"s lies. However, to the listener, it was horrifying.

[The point is, when I talked about "killing", normal people would think I am a psychopath or a delusional man, but you denied of killing anyone. That means you have something to do with that word, plus you have the Angel"s Corpse with you. I guess you are in a pinch because a stranger"s corpse is in your room.]

Shin did not answer. The other end took that as a yes.

[I see. She killed again…]

The words were coated in sorrow.

"You…you know something?"

Shin asked. Listening to his words, this man must have known the corpse for a while. He knew more than Shin did, and if there was a way to fix the situation, Shin would gladly follow orders from a stranger.

"You know of a way to make that corpse not hurt anyone…"

[There is none.]

The other man answered before Shin could finish.

[The only way to stop her is to kill her.]

"But…"

[Hesitant?]

The voice seemed to read Shin"s thoughts.

[She is dangerous, yet you will keep her?]

"d.a.m.n! What can I do!?! You too, who are you to talk? Come here and kill her yourself!!!"

[If possible, I would gladly kill her with my own hands, but I am somewhere very far away. I am afraid I would not reach you in time.]

Shin heard the man clenching his teeth as he replied, but the word "kill" wasn"t from hatred or vengeance, it was from longing. This man talked about killing or corpse like it was a small talk.

[The Angel"s Corpse… her name is "Lilith". She was a corpse revived from her death, specifically, a "zombie".]

"Zombies? Those only exists in movies."

[But you saw it with your own eyes, did you not?]

Shin wanted to object, but he could not get a word out. A corpse walking around, a b.l.o.o.d.y dress, a headless corpse in his bathroom… he didn"t want to believe it was real.

No… he believed it, but he didn"t want to accept reality.

[Lilith was born from an experiment me and a friend conducted. Usually, she would stay still like a paralyzed or brain dead human. You could call her a sleeping beauty. However, her survival instincts are intact. When stimulated, she will become a monster: no common sense or humanity. All that is left in her brain will be the crave for human"s basic needs.]

"Human"s… basic needs?"

[The first stage in Maslow"s hierarchy of needs is physiological, or for her, food. In other words, she kills to eat.]

The words strangled Shin slowly.

"You… Why did you make something so dangerous?"

Shin asked, but there was only a sigh of mixed feelings.

[We used a drug to control her systems. If she did not get the drug, her brain would order her to hunt. At first her brain would not function efficiently, so she wakes up and sleeps often, like a toy running out of battery. The longer she stays awake, the more the corpses, the larger the prey…]

More corpses…larger prey…

"B…But I"m going to sell it. If…"

Shin tried to hold on to his last straw.

[You are going to sell her to a man called Vakin, right?]

"You know…?"

[If someone wanted Lilith the most, it would be him, because he was the other person who made her and the one who stopped me from getting to her.]

"Good! I"ll give her over to that man. Whatever problems you two have with each other, I want no part of it."

[You are a human who struggles for truly worthless causes.]

A block of ice fell on Shin"s heart.

[No matter what you think, you are a part of this from the moment you dug up her corpse for greed or whatever reason.]

"But…"

Shin opened his mouth but swallowed his words.

[Well, Mr. Shinabutr.]

The other end resumed speaking.

[It is now your choice. You can give Lilith to Vakin, I will not stop you. But will you survive until then? I am not sure…]

"Why…?"

[Because it"s almost time.]

His voice was flat.

If voices had a color, Shin would see it as a black drop of ink in a pool, turning the clear water dark.

"Almost…? Almost time for what…?"

[Almost time for her to awaken…]

Beeeeeep!

The call was cut short.

"f.u.c.king phone! Why did you go dead at a time like this?!?"

Shin cursed, but before he could find a charger, he heard something in the darkness.

Krrrgghhh…

It sounded like a heavy piece of wood being dragged. Shin turned around.

The lid opened slowly.

A hand emerged from the coffin.

That moment, Shin ran and used his right foot to slam the lid.

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

There was a crack on that wrist, and a screech like a dog rolled over by a car.

The pale hand with cracked bones shrunk back inside the coffin. Shin grabbed the chains and lock he bought, then wrapped them tightly around the coffin, ignoring cries from the inhabitant inside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The one inside slammed the coffin in resistance, and Shin wrapped the chains around with much trouble.

The moment Shin put on the lock, the thing inside pounded the lid, making the lock drop from his hand and rolled under the sofa.

"s.h.i.t!!!!"

Shin used his back to cover the coffin lid, his body shaking from the pounding.

"O…open it…it hurts…open… open the lid…help me… Sh-Shin…I…"

The thing inside the coffin spoke with m.u.f.fled voice, panting.

The corpse can speak!?!

Why did it call my name!?!

But Shin didn"t care.

He knew that the moment it came outside,

That only meant his death.

"Shut the f.u.c.k up! No matter how you plead, I"ll never let you out!!!"

"No…No, open it… it… it hurts… my hand… p-please… let me go, I beg you… let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go let me go"

The thing yammered and pounded the lid with its one remaining hand. Shin covered his ears, his heart beating fast as the thing cried and cried.

Intense fear attacked every fiber of his being.

"Please…let…me…go…I…"

"Silence!!! Go to h.e.l.l!!!"

The voice inside the coffin went quiet.

After a moment, it cried with hopelessness and whined, before changing into a furious roar in a voice raspy like an old hag.

"You"re…you"re cruel…why…why…If I get out…I…I"ll kill you I"ll kill you I"ll kill you I"ll kill you I"ll kill you I"ll kill you I"ll kill you I"ll kill you!"

Shin pulled on his own hair from stress.

He didn"t know what to do anymore. He was at the fork of the road; he had to choose something. It was an inevitable choice.

Find a way to lock the Angel"s Corpse for a great sum of money…?

Or kill it to save his own life…?

Shin had two paths to choose from.

Money? Or…life?

What Shin chose was…

Shin struggled to reach for his axe. The moment he could touch the handle, he rushed straight to the coffin.

The man swung open the cap, closing his eyes so he could not see the corpse, and raised his axe.

He jammed hilt the axe into the opening with all his strength.

Plop!

A sound like a stick poking through water balloon. Might be the eye socket.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

It hollered and pounded on the coffin, but Shin did not open his eyes. He adjusted his hold on the handle and jammed the hilt inside over and over.

The thing inside struggled to free itself. Its leg kicked the lid madly like a fish in its last breath.

"Sis, an animated corpse is not a Pop but a zombie. If you want to get rid of it, sis, you need to aim for the head and blow up the brain so it would stop functioning"

"Die you wretch! Die! Die! Die! Go back to the h.e.l.l you came from!"

The thud, thud of his axe hilt echoed over the room.

Shin didn"t know how much time pa.s.sed or how long the corpse stopped screaming.

Until…

Crack!!!

His axe cracked and penetrated through some thick object. Silence. He could only hear his own heartbeat and panting.

I…I pierced through its skull…

The Angel"s Corpse…is dead…

Shin opened his eyes and removed the axe. Mushy sc.r.a.ps of flesh and red blood stuck to the hilt. Shin threw it away and closed the cap without looking inside the coffin. He didn"t want to see what state it died.

He sank in front of the coffin, exhausted. His mind was blank and his body trembled.

I killed her…

I killed… the Angel…

He knew that the thing was no longer human, but the scream and struggling what no different from that of one. He could still hear that scream.

The man planted his face in his knees in despair.

Shin did not know how long he was there, but he could hear cars and people coming in and out to get to work or school. Time for normal people to resume their lives, huh?

But Shin"s life ended today.

He broke his own gold pot.

And the guard he a.s.saulted yesterday would have called the cops on him. Then they would see that body in the bathroom and the Angel"s Corpse he just killed.

He would be arrested for murder.

But what caused him the most despair was breaking up with Da. If Da was here, everything would"ve turned out differently.

If he would just listen to her warnings…

After he lost her, he realized the love and care she had for him.

The man missed Da"s sweet voice and warm hugs. He missed everything she did for him.

Then there was a sound from the door.

Shin perked up with hope.

Could it be…Da…?

But the one who entered was a man in a lab coat. His eyes were cold and his lips locked in a permanent frown. He seemed like a doctor who works in a morgue, but he was too young to be a doctor.

From the moment he came in, Shin knew who he was.

"You…Vakin…?"

"Good guess. I came to pick up my "person". Where is she?"

"Oh…too late…"

When the young man heard Shin"s tired voice, his brows knotted.

"I got rid of her."

Shin laughed like a maniac.

Laughed and cried at the same time…

The young man shoved Shin aside, then unwrapped the chains around the coffin. He slid open the lid, and was stunned as he stared at the red interior. His back was blocking the view so Shin could not see what the corpse looked like now.

"You…do you realize what you have done?"

The young man in a lab coat asked in a cold voice unaffected by the gore.

He put the lid back on.

Shin was surprised. Judging from their prior call, the man had a strong bond with that woman who became an Angel"s Corpse, but for Vakin, that Angel"s Corpse might be a replaceable guinea pig.

"I…did what I had to…"

As Shin spoke, warm tears poured from his eyes. They might be tears of guilt.

"Because of my selfishness, I gave others a hard time. One of them even died. I just wanted it to be over, so I decided to wash away my sins and start over."

Yes…

I"ll atone and return to Da"s side…

The man in a lab coat smirked. What he uttered was not praise.

"You"re such a selfish human being."

Shin looked at Vakin"s face with confusion as the young man stepped away from the coffin and observed the room.

"No wonder Lilith chose to stay with you. She"s someone that attracts selfish people, like you, for example. But of all selfish people I"ve met, you"re the greediest one of them all."

Shin did not understand, but as he tried to ask, the younger man entered his bathroom with the headless corpse and replied.

"A path without sins doesn"t exist. Humans live to strive for the top. To be at the top of the pyramid, humans do everything: kill, destroy, fight, over and over. Sacrifices and atonement, even those pathetic apologies, those are just words sinners spat to make them feel less guilty. They"re not doing it for anybody but themselves."

The man looked at Shin from the corner of his eyes. Vakin"s eyes were black and void of emotion. His stoic face was like that White Devil with no face at all.

"You could have a hundred choices, but you would only choose the ones that benefit yourself, right?"

Then he disappeared into the bathroom and came back out.

His two arms carried a woman delicately.

The beautiful woman was sleeping in her white dress that matched her long hair, even though the dress was dyed red with blood, it made her even more beautiful.

Angel"s Corpse!?!

"What…Why…Why…I…k-killed…?"

Shin"s knees gave out and his mouth opened and closed like a broken ca.s.sette.

"It was your choice that made "that guy"s" plan failed."

Vakin threw a huge pack of money to Shin before carrying the woman"s corpse and headed outside without a goodbye, leaving the confused Shin behind.

When the door closed, Shin crawled back to the coffin because his limbs had no strength left to stand.

Is this reality…? Or…a nightmare…?

What is an illusion? What is real…?

And above all that…

Shin pried the lid open.

Who was that woman inside the coffin…?

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