Khemjira's legs trembled until he collapsed onto the floor. Just then, his phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pants pocket and spoke without waiting for the other person to finish speaking.
"[Khem, have you drawn...]"
"Jhet! Jhet, help me!"
"[Hey, what's wrong? What happened?]"
"C...Can you come to my room? Jhet, please. Waaaaah."
Jhettana, who was drying his hair, widened his eyes in shock, dropped the towel, and immediately grabbed his motorcycle keys and rushed out of the room.
"I'm on my way. Keep it together, don't hang up, okay?!"
Jhettana revved his motorcycle and reached Khemjira's apartment in less than ten minutes. After parking, he hurried up to Khemjira's room and knocked on the door. But no matter how long he knocked, no one came to open it.
"Khem, this is Jhet! Can you hear me?"
From knocking, he started pounding on the door while frantically twisting the doorknob with his other hand.
Click.
Suddenly, the door that was locked from the inside was opened. Jhettana didn't hesitate and burst in immediately.
"Khem!"
Jhettana found his petite friend unconscious on the floor opposite an easel with a drawing board on it.
"Shit..."
The frightening image of a woman's face made Jhettana's skin crawl. He quickly tore it off and crumpled it up without a second thought.
Jhettana tried to wake Khemjira a few times, but he wouldn't stir, so he had no choice but to carry him out of the room, intending to let him stay at his own place for the time being.
Jhettana lived in a condominium that his mother had bought as a gift. His family was quite wealthy; both his parents were high-ranking government officials.
That night, Khemjira ended up with a fever so high that he couldn't go to classes. Jhettana had to attend classes alone to take notes for him. During the lunch break, he came back to take care of Khemjira, making sure he ate and took his medicine before returning to his afternoon classes.
"Khem, I'm going back home this evening. You stay here for now," Jhettana said to Khemjira, who was lying in bed with a fever patch. He really wanted to take him along, but he was afraid Khemjira might go into shock on the way.
"When are you coming back?" Khemjira asked with a hoarse voice.
"Sunday," Jhettana replied.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of him," said Jane, Jhettana's older sister, with a sweet smile as she stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, watching them.
Jane was an office worker five years older than Jhettana. It was rare for her to come and stay over. This time, Jhettana had called her to take care of Khemjira over the weekend while he went back to his hometown. Of course, nothing in this world was free; Jhettana had to buy her a new lipstick worth several thousand baht in exchange.
"Please take care of him, Sis."
Jane, whose salary for the month was still intact, smiled sweetly in response.
"Rogeeeer."
Jhettana took a two-hour plane ride back to his home in Ubon Ratchathani. The next morning, he went to see 'Por Kru Parun,' a shaman he revered. Por Kru lived in a large traditional Thai house at the edge of the village, a good distance from the other villagers, almost bordering the forest.
It was well known within the village that Por Kru Parun was skilled in removing curses and treating mysterious illnesses. He had several students, and nowadays, he mostly just waited for people to come to him. Most of his visitors were people with bad luck, cursed, or haunted by ghosts. In his free time, he'd enchant magical items to sell for a living.
But there were two things that he wouldn't involve himself with: black magic and karmic enemies.
A young man in his early thirties emerged from somewhere and sat down in his usual seat, which was covered with a dark carpet. Behind him was a Buddhist altar with a Buddha image, and like a typical shaman's school, there were baci[1], a silver-tiered umbrella, and a golden-tiered umbrella. However, because Por Kru practiced white magic, his altar only had Buddha images and no black magic items.
Jhettana smiled ingratiatingly and quickly raised his hands in a high wai, but before he could even open his mouth to speak, Por Kru interrupted him with a stern voice.
"Jhet, what the hell have you brought into my house again?"
Jhettana, whose hands were still in a wai, felt a chill run through his body before giving him a dry smile.
"Hehe, just what I expected from the Por Kru I respect so much. Here." Jhettana hurriedly took out Khemjira's handkerchief from his pocket and placed it on the golden tray beside him, along with a piece of paper and Khemjira's full name and date of birth. He then lifted it to place it in front of Por Kru.
"Could you please take a look and see if there's anything you can do?" After that, Jhettana recounted Khemjira's situation to Por Kru.
Parun felt the urge to kick this troublemaker out of his house, but the faint fragrance from the handkerchief drew him in, compelling him to pick it up for a closer look.
It smelled nice, but sometimes it was mixed with the pungent odor of spirits, and one of them was particularly powerful...
Parun placed it back where it was before pulling out the paper with a name and birthdate to read.
"Khemjira Jantrapisut." Por Kru furrowed his brows.
"Khemjira?"
Strange, he felt an inexplicable familiarity with the name, but when he couldn't recall where he'd heard it, he stopped trying to remember. He read the birthdate of the name's owner, then took out his own notebook and pen, wrote down the birthdate, and began to calculate.
Several minutes passed before he finished, and the result was quite alarming.
"Who is this?" Parun asked while his eyes were still reviewing the results in his notebook.
"It's a friend of mine, Por Kru. How does it look?"
"Tell your friend to do whatever he wants to do. He won't survive past this year."
Jhettana's face turned pale as he spoke anxiously: "Can't you help him at all?"
"I've told you before, I don't deal with karmic enemies."
Jhettana pursed his lips, looking at Por Kru with dissatisfaction because if he said that, it meant he could help, but he chose not to...
"Please, Por Kru, just help him a bit. Please have some sympathy for him. He's a good person. He wouldn't even dare to swat a mosquito or step on an ant, so please..." Before he could finish, Por Kru raised a finger to point at his face, causing him to shrink back in fear.
"Jhet, don't meddle in others' fate. Just because he's a good person in this life doesn't mean he was one in past lives. You better be careful, too. Don't think that just because you have strong luck, nothing bad will happen to you."
Jhettana's face fell immediately, knowing full well that Por Kru was resolute. He was a man of his word. Changing his mind was almost impossible. Yet, he couldn't help but express his woe.
"Khem is really pitiful, Por Kru. His mother died, and his father became a monk for life since he was little. His maternal relatives won't take him in, and his paternal family abandoned him; they even took his money and ran away. In high school, no one dared to hang out with him because they were afraid of the curse. Only I dared to be his friend..."
So preoccupied with his complaints, Jhettana didn't notice Por Kru inscribing a yantra on Khemjira's handkerchief until it was thrown in front of him.
"Take it. This is all I can do."
Por Kru's spirit-repelling yantra, normally costing five or six thousand baht, was very effective, as confirmed by a user like Jhettana. Not a single spirit could enter his room.
Jhettana didn't know if Por Kru did it out of annoyance or pity for Khemjira, but he was so grateful he almost jumped to hug Por Kru. However, he only thought about it, knowing that if he actually did it, the household spirit might come out and snap his neck first.
"Thank you so much!"
Jhettana took an early Sunday morning flight back from Ubon Ratchathani to Bangkok. Upon arrival, he hurriedly took a taxi back to his condo, where he found that Khemjira had fully recovered from his illness.
"I'm going then," Jane said as she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Before leaving, she didn't forget to leave a warning:
"Jhet, be careful. This is really bad. Last night, they were standing packed on the balcony," she said with fright before hurrying out of the room.
Soon after, Khemjira emerged from the bathroom.
"Oh, Jane left already?" Khemjira blinked and asked.
"Yeah, her boyfriend was waiting for her downstairs, so she rushed off," Jhettana replied. Hearing this, Khemjira made a face of disappointment.
"I haven't properly thanked her yet."
For the past two nights, Jane had been by his side, even refusing to sleep. Khemjira didn't quite understand why Jane was so determined, but she'd told him, "I don't dare sleep, Khem." Back then, he had a
terrible headache, so he didn't bother her any further.
Jhettana affectionately ruffled Khemjira's hair, choosing not to share what Jane had told him to avoid causing him unnecessary worry.
"Well, we'll see her again. You can thank her then," Jhettana said, and Khemjira nodded. He then pulled him to the sofa and handed back the handkerchief he'd borrowed. The white handkerchief was adorned with a white yantra.
"Thanks. Oh, it has a yantra on it," Khemjira noted, and Jhettana nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah, keep it with you. The yantra from Por Kru can protect you from spirits, but only to a certain extent."
Khemjira quickly stashed it in his jacket pocket, feeling a nod of comfort.
"What did he say about my situation?" he asked, looking up with curiosity.
If Jane hadn't stayed with him over the last two days, Khemjira would've been driven mad by the recent terrifying events. He was desperate to know whether Jhettana's Por Kru would agree to help, but due to the poor cell phone reception in the area, they hadn’t been in touch.
I didn’t want to get through something like that again.
"Sorry, man. I tried to talk to him, but he doesn’t really want to get involved with karmic enemies."
Karmic enemies... So, this is more than just regular spirits, right?
Khemjira pursed his lips, his heart sinking instantly.
"It's okay. I understand."
Seeing his friend's dejected demeanor, Jhettana felt that he couldn’t just let this be as it was.
"Don’t worry. I won’t let you die that easily. I'll find another way."
Khemjira’s hope reignited in Jhettana’s words.
"There is another way?"
Jhettana shrugged and said, "No, it’s the same way. But this time, I'm taking you with me."
"What?"
"Even I wanted to help you just by seeing your face. Let's see if Por Kru can stay tough when he sees you."
Khemjira was dumbfounded. What kind of logic was that?
---
[1] Baci (บายศรี) is a banana leaf-flower tray used in the blessing ceremony in Thailand and Laos.
[2] Yantra (ยันต์) is a sacred geometrical, animal, and deity design accompanied by Pali phrases that are said to offer the bearer power, protection, fortune, charisma, and other benefits.
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