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As the start of the semester approached, Khemjira moved his belongings to an apartment that was quite affordable, although it was a fair distance from the university. However, this wasn’t a problem for him, as he preferred walking to driving or taking public transportation, as long as the distance was manageable. It just meant that he had to wake up a little earlier to go to class.
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One might wonder why he came to study in Bangkok alone, without a single friend to accompany him.
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The answer was that Khemjira never had any friends due to the curse on his family. Living in the countryside, everyone in the area knew about it, and no one dared to associate with him for fear that bad luck would befall them as well.
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Khemjira understood this well; everyone loved their own lives. If he were in their shoes, he would do the same.
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But that didn't mean he was bullied or boycotted by others. They could still talk. They just weren't close enough to call each other friends.
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This was one of the reasons why Khemjira wanted to study in Bangkok. He wanted to have friends and be in a new environment.
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After settling in, he went out to look for something to eat. Not only was the apartment affordable, but it was also close to a market, so there was no worry about not having anything to eat.
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Wow, this Pad Thai looks delicious.
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The aroma of Pad Thai wafting through the air made Khemjira stop and make an order.
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"A Pad Thai to go, please."
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"Just one, dear?" the salesman asked.
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"Krap."
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"And your friend there?"
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Khemjira paused, slowly looking around before asking,
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"Who?"
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Noise!
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The saleswoman accidentally dropped her spatula, her face turned pale before she forced a weak smile and said:
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"Oh, my eyes must be playing tricks on me. Never mind. This will cost forty baht."
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Khemjira paid for the Pad Thai and took it with a confused expression.
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As he was about to cross the street, he accidentally stepped on his shoelace, tripped on the street, and quickly walked back to the curb. He then bent down to tie his shoelace.
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Scream!
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Collide!!
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Before Khemjira could crouch down, a loud crash sounded nearby, forcing him to quickly raise his head. His light brown eyes widened in shock as he saw a sports bike crashing and pinned under a bus that was stopping to pick up passengers...
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...right in front of him.
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It all happened in a split second. If he hadn't bent down to tie his shoelaces...
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Khemjira's thoughts turned to the curse, but he shook his head, trying to comfort himself with positive thoughts.
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It was just a coincidence. Nothing had happened before.
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Without realizing it, his hand was grabbing the takrut hanging around his neck. He retreated from the chaos and immediately ran back to his room.
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The next day, the accident made the news on television. Khemjira, on her way from the apartment lobby to her room, stopped to look at the community TV broadcasting the scene of the accident.
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'Last night, a tragic accident occurred when a sports bike with license plate กข XXX collided with the rear of a bus waiting to pick up passengers, resulting in the instant death of the rider... The rider was a senior student at XXX University who had just returned from a party with friends.'
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Khemjira’s heart sank when he heard that the boy had died on the spot. His arms tightly wrapped around a water bottle he had just filled, as if he was going to use it as emotional support. He couldn’t help but think that if his shoelace hadn’t come undone at that moment, there might have been more than one death…
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With just over a week to go before the start of the university semester, Khemjira tried to live normally, despite the haunting images of that accident. It would not do to dwell on it any longer.
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He decided that he would have to be more aware and cautious from now on.
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“Done,” Khemjira said to himself after he finished buying items to zone his new room and make it more livable. Most of the items were second-hand.
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He wiped the sweat from his forehead. The wall clock showed that it was almost eight o'clock at night.
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"Time to get the books out," he thought. With just over a week to go before the start of the university semester, Khemjira tried to live normally, despite the haunting images of that accident. It wouldn't do to keep dwelling on it.
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He decided that he would have to be more aware and cautious from now on.
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“Done,” Khemjira said to himself after he finished buying items to zone his new room and make it more livable. Most of the items were second-hand.
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He wiped the sweat from his forehead. The wall clock showed that it was almost eight o'clock at night. Time to get the books, he thought, quickly sweeping the trash into a trash bag to take downstairs. The trash can was located in a deserted alley near his apartment. The only light in the alley came from a streetlight in the middle, which kept flickering...
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...like a scene from a horror movie.
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The somewhat creepy atmosphere made Khemjira look left and right before hurriedly throwing the trash bag into the trash can. But just as he was turning to leave, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye, making his legs freeze. His brain struggled to process what it was.
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Curiosity got the better of him, and Khemjira decided to take a closer look. He saw the figure of a child wearing a dirty, tattered white shirt, crouching with his head down next to the large trash can...
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Khemjira was sure it wasn't a human because he hadn't seen anyone there when he arrived.
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The cold was gradually taking over his skin.
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What kind of person would be sitting next to a trash can in a dark, deserted alley at night?
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He swallowed hard before looking away and taking a hurried step forward, practically running.
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"So it was a ghost?"
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In his nineteen years of life, Khemjira had never seen one until now.
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Just as Khemjira was about to run away, that thing slowly raised its head.
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His mouth slowly spread into a smile before he stood up and staggered after the young man.
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After that day, Khemjira began to experience more and more strange occurrences.
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The first thing was that he had three accidents in one week, which had never happened to him before. For example, he was just walking and suddenly tripped and fell. The worst was when he almost fell down nearly twenty steps. Fortunately, that day, he managed to grab the railing in time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened.
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Secondly, Khemjira started seeing spirits more frequently...
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In fact, he was seeing one right now.
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Khemjira took a deep breath, pretending not to see the feeble spirit of a woman in work uniform, standing with her head bowed in front of the door next to his.
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She had been there for three days.
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The owner of the room next to hers was a man who lived alone with his son. When Khemjira first saw her, he almost asked her if she needed help or why she didn’t want to go into the room. But when he saw that she had no feet… he quickly opened his own door and went in.
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Khemjira thought she might be the wife of the man who lived there; she must still be worried about him and not ready to move on...
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"Don't... Hurt... My... Son..."
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Her voice was shaky and chilled to the bone. Khemjira’s heart dropped, and his hands shook uncontrollably as he fumbled with his keys. It took forever to open the door, and he nearly wet himself in the process.
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His legs gave way and he fell to the ground, his eyes burning with heat.
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Did she just say, "Don't hurt my son"?
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Is something happening to her son?
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That night, Khemjira could barely sleep, haunted by what the spirit had said. Part of him didn't want to get involved, as he had enough problems already, but another part was worried that something bad might happen to the boy.
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The next morning, around eight o'clock, after the man next door had left for work, Khemjira stood in front of his neighbor's door, hesitating for a long time before deciding to knock.
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The lady's spirit was still there, right beside him, but this time, she was so close that their shoulders almost touched.
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The door slowly creaked open, revealing the small figure of a six or seven year old boy. However, because of the door’s chain, it only opened enough to see the boy’s face.
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“Hello,” Khemjira said with a smile, crouching down to be eye level with the boy. “My name is Khem. I just moved in next door.” The boy didn’t respond, but nodded in acknowledgement.
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Khemjira peeked furtively through the crack and saw several beer bottles lined up and a general disarray of belongings.
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What the hell...
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"Have you eaten anything yet?"
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This time the boy shook his head, and Khemjira felt his eyelid twitch.
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Did the father go to work without making sure his son had eaten?
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This time the boy shook his head, and Khemjira felt his eyelid twitch.
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Did the father go to work without making sure his son had eaten?
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At the same time, a shiver ran down his spine, causing an uncomfortable pressure.
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"How about you come eat with me? It's on me. After we eat, I'll bring you back," Khemjira offered. The boy shook his head more vigorously than before.
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It was then that Khemjira noticed the chain tightly wrapped around the boy's ankle, the skin beneath it badly bruised.
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He slowly forced a smile as he said to the boy:
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"Wait here for me a moment, okay?"
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Khemjira went down, bought rice soup, water and snacks and brought everything for the boy to eat.
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The boy hesitated, but eventually his hunger won out and he reached out for the food.
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“P… Please don’t tell my father that I ate your food,” the boy begged with a desperate face. This made Khemjira feel both hurt and angry, but he nodded in agreement.
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"Okay, I won't."
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That night, after Khemjira reported the situation to the landlord, police raided the premises and arrested the man next door, who was drunk and beating his son.
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Upon questioning, it was revealed that the boy was the son of the man's girlfriend, who had died in an accident a month earlier. The man was now burdened with a
huge debt. With his girlfriend dead, there was no one to help pay it off, leaving him with the responsibility and stress that he took out on the boy.
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Khemjira did not know what kind of punishment the man had received. He only knew that the boy was now safely in the care of his maternal relatives.
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I hoped he could live a happy life.
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Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard a whisper in his ear. But because he was too sleepy, he didn't open his eyes.
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"Thanks."
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"...."
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"And be careful."
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