Chapter 4

Kill All Those Involved!

    Doctor Aun's trembling voice did not cause the old man any surprise at all. Pumping cancer into his lungs with ease, the uncle remained silent and lit a cigarette.

    “Would you like a cigarette, doctor…it can help relieve your stress.” He handed a pack of cigarettes to Doctor Aun. The young man nodded in agreement before reaching out to pull out a cigarette. The old man picked up a lighter and lit a cigarette for Doctor Aun. He thanked him and also inhaled cancer into his lungs. However, cancer probably knew that it was going to enter the body of a doctor, so it tried to escape as Doctor Aun choked on cigarette smoke.

    “Now she is standing next to you, doctor…."

    “Is she pregnant?” asked the doctor. He wanted to know if the spirit that followed him was the same woman he had seen.

    The old man nodded in affirmation before filling his lungs with smoke again.

    “Then why did she follow me? I had never met her or committed any sin against her."

    “She said you were the person who had the most spiritual connection to her in the ward. You were born on Sunday, right?” The old man asked.

    The doctor nodded grimly. That was right...he was born on Sunday.

    “People born on Sunday tend to have a psychic connection with pregnant people. Spirits are more likely to come and appear to those born on Sunday when they were near the pregnants. You are an obstetrician and see pregnant people on a regular basis. So don't be surprised that you were chosen... by this young ghost.” The old man simply said. In comparison, the listener was deeply troubled.

    “So, what does she want from me? Does she want me to make merit or make offerings like that?”

    “No, she needs your help.”

    "Help? What kind of help?"

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    The doctor struck back to the OB/GYN ward involuntarily. Within the young man's head, he could still hear the old man's voice repeating over and over again until he remembered every single sentence in his heart.

    “Please bring her justice… She said she was killed.”

    “What…She was killed? And who killed her?” asked Doctor Aun. The old man took another cigarette and shook his head.

    "She's gone."

    “What…” The doctor shook his head. Why did she suddenly disappear… even when she hadn’t clarified anything?

    “Let's just say you saw what she wished you to see. Try to investigate from those clues. I believe that it would not be too difficult for a doctor’s intelligence. If you can’t find the murderer in time, she will keep following you. Therefore, you must help her go to another life as soon as possible,” said the old man, then worked on the corpse that had just been brought in. Seeing that, Doctor Aun ceased the conversation and walked out of the morgue back to the OB/GYN ward.

    Doctor Aun couldn’t remember when he stopped in front of the OB/GYN ward counter. The next moment he knew was when Nurse Ae greeted him.

    “Hey… Doctor Aun. Didn’t you say you would go back to the dorm for some rest? Your shift is at midnight. It’s now only five o'clock in the afternoon," she asked with a puzzled look on her face. Doctor Aun woke up from his reverie and hurriedly asked Nurse Ae back.

    “Is Nurse Pia in?”

    “Hmm... Pia? Her shift was over. What do you have to do with Pia?”

    “Uh…it's some crucial matter. How can I find Nurse Pia? Do you have her phone number?" the doctor asked in a hushed tone. Even though Nurse Ae was confused, she willingly searched for Nurse Pia’s number in her phone, which she jolted down and gave to him.

    “Here it is, doctor.”

    “Thank you.” Doctor Aun grabbed the piece of paper and pressed the call immediately while walking down from the ward.

    Nurse Ae looked at him and scratched her head. What has just happened?

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    In front of a long mirror in the bathroom on the ground floor of the OB/GYN building, Nurse Pia was fixing her makeup in haste. It was already five o'clock in the afternoon... It would be dark by the time she reached home. She rushed to finish the task as she had a dinner plan with her boyfriend today.

    After Nurse Pia had carefully applied her favorite lipstick to her lips, Nurse Pia hurriedly packed all of her makeup in a small bag. All of a sudden, she saw a dark shadow at the corners of her eyes. Something rapidly moved behind her. Nurse Pia stopped packing and looked up in the mirror. Her heart skipped a beat.

    What was that shadow? She was sure that something had run past her back.

    All the bathroom doors were ajar except the innermost room which was completely closed. Nurse Pia stared at the bathroom and asked. “Excuse me… is anyone there?”

    Silence...no answer

    She began to feel hot and sweaty as she took a step toward that door. The nurse took a deep breath and decided to swing the door open firmly.

    “Meow!”

    The giant black cat immediately leaped out, causing the young nurse to scream. Its frightening eyes flashed at the nurse before the cat ran out of the bathroom. Nurse Pia placed her hand on her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.

    “That crazy cat! I almost got a heart attack.” She cursed and scolded herself. "You are going out of your mind, Pia."

    In front of the washbasin, her cell phone rang from inside the bag. Nurse Pia strolled towards the phone for a moment before reaching for it to look at the number.

    The number was unfamiliar... Who was it?

     Before she could answer, the cell phone suddenly went off. It upset the owner because she was thinking of calling her boyfriend back home to say that she might be late for half an hour.

    “What on earth? Why did the battery suddenly run out? It was just recharged on the ward this afternoon. The battery probably has already gone bad." She murmured, then looked at the mirror again to check her face. Her bun hair in the nurse's cap was untied and put in a loose braid. Wearing a nurse's cap on the bus would have been too weird.

    The nurse then carried her a bag and exited the bathroom. She strode straight to the front of the hospital and passed Doctor Aun at the corner of the building, who was upset because he could not contact the nurse.

    “Damn… why didn't the call go through?”

    Surprisingly, no one was standing at the bus stop in front of the hospital today, although it was probably the rush hour of the day. But that was it; the bus might just pick up all the people waiting before her. This was nice because she didn't have to fight to get on the bus with other people. Let’s wait till she got married! She would ask her husband to buy her a car, and no one would see her taking a bus.

    It didn't take long... the bus she had waited for came to a stop. The nurse stepped up with a feeling of great astonishment. Because the bus was empty... so empty that it sent shivers down her spine. The bus had only the driver, the bus staff sitting still in the front, and a pregnant woman sitting still with her face down in the longest backseat. Nurse Pia sat down with an indescribable feeling. If she said she was afraid, there would be no reason to be scared. That was right...why was she afraid?

    Seeing Nurse Pia getting on the bus, the doctor ran out to the stop and shouted out her name. However, Nurse Pia couldn't hear him. When the young doctor saw the pregnant woman sitting in the back of the bus, he was terrified. The pregnant woman turned around and grinned at him… what a horrifying smile!

    This was definitely a bad sign. The doctor turned from side to side to look for help. He eventually called the motorbike taxi and quickly jumped on top of it.

    “Hey...Doctor Aun.”

    “Lucky me I met you, Joke. Let's follow the bus in front... Please be fast, Joke.” Doctor Aun knew a motorbike rider named Joke very well because Joke was the leader of the motorbike riders in front of the hospital. More importantly, he also did a delivery service, buying stuff and delivering it to the ward. Therefore, Joke was well-known among doctors here.

    "Yes sir! Hold tight, doctor!" The rider handed him the helmet. The doctor hurriedly took it and put it on. Then the motorcycle soared out so fast that Doctor Aun almost flipped over. Fortunately, he could hold Joke's waist in time.

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    The atmosphere on the bus was eerily quiet. The driver drove so fast that he didn't stop to pick up the passenger who waved at the bus stop and just drove past. The bus staff was sitting still and playing with the ticket holder, which produced a loud rhythm like gab... gab... gab, which sounded terrifying. Nurse Pia's eye corners noticed that the pregnant woman initially sitting in the back seat had moved to sit behind her. Since when was she here?

    The nurse began to sense the 'unusual' inside the bus. So, she hurriedly got up and walked straight to the door before reaching out to press the bell for the bus to stop. But the driver pretended he didn’t hear it and kept driving at a furious pace. The nurse punched the doorbell even more. Noticing that the driver couldn't listen to her and showed no signs of slowing down, she shouted in a panicked voice.

    “Stop…Stop…I tell you to stop!” Nurse Pia finally yelled at him. The driver looked up through the rear window. His eyes were frantically red. The nurse thought to herself that if the bus didn't stop, she would jump out because she would get a broken limb at most, which was better than risking her life on this bus with the seemingly drunk driver.

    Creaking noise roared out as the bus abruptly stopped. At the same time, the door swung open, so Nurse Pia immediately stepped down. Before her feet could touch the ground, the door slammed shut so quickly that it clamped the nurse's braid against the door. The nurse screamed as the bus gradually moved away. The bus dragged Nurse Pia’s body onto the street, with her hair pinned to the door. The young ghost's shrill laughter rang out with satisfaction as she saw the female nurse's body slashed across the hot streets, to the point that the road left her body with long bloody scratches.

    The doctor who saw the whole incident screamed his heart out while the rider looked equally shocked.

    “What in the world?”

    “Joke… Ride faster. We have to help her.” Doctor Aun hastened. Joke nodded and twisted the accelerator as far as he could until a motorcycle ran parallelly with the bus. Nurse Pia, seeing Doctor Aun, reached out and cried for help in a pitiful tone.

    “Doctor Aun… Please help. It hurts… it hurts too much.”

    “Nurse Pia, give me your hand…Give me your hand,” Doctor Aun shouted, reaching for the young nurse. Nurse Pia tried to reach out her blood-stained hand to the doctor while Doctor Aun attempted to catch her. But his hands were not long enough. Joke then shouted to the bus staff sitting in the front in the loudest voice he could.

    “Stop it! Can't you see... Someone's stuck at the door."

    Silence... the bus staff bag sat still with her blank eyes like a lifeless person. The hand still moved to play with the ticket holder loudly.... gab… gab in a rhythm.

    And then the unexpected happened when the bus suddenly pulled the engine faster, which was at the exact moment that Doctor Aun grabbed Nurse Pia's hand. The door that clamped the girl's braid ripped off the nurse's head. While her head was pinned to the bus door, the body was dragged along in Doctor Aun’s hands. Her blood splashed onto the doctor and Joke's faces amid the screams of the onlookers.

    The last sound Doctor Aun heard was Nurse Pia's scream.

    As for Doctor Aun and Joke, no one made a sound.

    Because the sight they saw was too terrifying for anyone to scream…

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    The doctor sat motionless in front of the ER ward, his body covered in red blood that had completely stained and ruined the extern coat. Doctor Golf walked in and sat next to him. His friend also handed him towels and clothes for patients to change.

    “Hey... Aun. Go wash up and change your clothes. Sitting in blood like this, all the passersby will be terrified,” said Doctor Golf. Doctor Aun nodded in agreement and stood up without a word. The shock and the incident were still haunting him. Even though his life as a doctor had gone through a lot, it was his first time to see the headless nurse… and hopefully, it would be the last.

    Then Doctor Aun abruptly stopped walking and turned to Doctor Golf before speaking in a cold tone...

    “Hey, Golf.”

    "What? Don’t speak in that tone. Your Ju-On voice creeps me out," said Doctor Golf as he stroked his goose-bumped arm. The image of Nurse Pia's corpse still haunted him greatly.

    “Can I ask you a favor?”

    "What is it?"

    "Walk me back... I'm afraid."

    Doctor Golf giggled and burst out loud laughter before walking over to hug his best friend's neck. Then they strolled into the doctor's bathroom to change clothes.

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Perhaps because he saw that his friend was still absent-minded, Doctor Golf asked for permission to leave his shift early to stay with Doctor Aun at the dormitory. He knew that right now, Doctor Aun needed a friend. And that person should be him...the roommate who shared a room with Doctor Aun.

    Doctor Golf asked him to grab a bite before heading back to the medical student dorm because it would be difficult to buy food late at night. Even Doctor Aun felt nauseated and didn’t want to eat anything; he followed Doctor Golf with no complaint because he didn’t want to be a burden. So, both found themselves at a regular restaurant where they knew the owner very well.

    “What do you want to eat, Aun?”

    “Anything,” he simply replied, which the friend didn’t ask further before shouting his order.

    “2 rice with basil and crispy pork, no spicy, and fish ball soup, please."

    “Wait a minute, Doctor,” shouted back the aunt, the owner of the restaurant, who was stir-frying the food until her face became oily. Doctor Golf looked at Doctor Aun, who was still sitting silently. His face was so pale that it looked like he was about to faint.

    “Are you alright, Aun? Take it easy, it's not your fault. It's the fault of that asshole driver.” Doctor Golf tried to console his friend, hoping that Doctor Aun would feel better...but he didn’t.

    “But if I was there sooner, Nurse Pia may survive."

    “Hey… when it’s time to die, even a toothpick in the gum can kill people. Let’s think that it was her time. You can be at ease or if you can still not. Tomorrow we can wake up early and make merit for her.”

    “I can’t. I have a midnight shift at the OB/GYN ward.”

    “No need, I already called to change shifts for you. How could you help any patient with this condition? You barely make it yourself. So, just take a rest tonight and calm down. We are doctors so we can’t be absent-minded. If we made an incorrect diagnosis, the patient would sue us. Patients these days are wicked as hell,” the doctor grumbled as the waitress brought a tray of food to the table.

    Unlike Doctor Aun, who played with his food and found no appetite in himself, Doctor Golf polished his plate of the basil crispy pork rice with hunger.

    “Hey, hurry up and eat so that we can go back. Our bodies need energy. Don't use your brain. Just put it in your mouth, chew, and swallow. That's all...it's easy.” Doctor Golf looked at his friend, who let out a long sigh and scooped the basil crispy and pork into his mouth. Fighting off his nausea, he was trying to think that he was hungry, so he needed to eat.

    However, the sound from the television at the restaurant made Doctor Aun stare straight at the screen. The sight of that stationary bus with the white-clad nurse's body on the street haunted him once more. A pretty reporter described the news in a beautiful and clear voice that didn't fit the news at all.

    “At seventeen o'clock there was a tragic accident. A young nurse from a hospital had her hair stuck between the bus doors as she stepped out of the car. This caused the female nurse's body to be dragged more than five hundred meters until her head was cut off. The cause is initially assumed as a bus door failure. The driver and the bus staff also denied seeing the incident. However, the police still have to investigate witnesses further.”

    Doctor Aun knew it wasn't an accident...that ghost girl was taking her 'revenge' on those involved.

    And the first victim... was Nurse Pia.

    The doctor had no idea who would be the next one. The young man knew only that he was feeling unbearably nauseous before hurriedly getting up to vomit amid the people's shock in the restaurant...

    Damn it...what the hell is this?!

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Before Doctor Golf could carry his friend back to the medical student dormitory, Doctor Aun stopped several times to vomit on the side of the road until his body turned pale. When he arrived at the dormitory...his friend immediately prepared Oral Rehydration Salts (1) for him to drink.

    “Drink it up, bro. Go to sleep and don't think too much. I will be here for you.” Doctor Golf handed his friend a glass of water that was made of Oral Rehydration Salts. The doctor drank the whole glass at once before laying down on the bed like an obedient child. Doctor Golf looked at his friend and shook his head. It was neither from pity nor condolence.

    Doctor Golf took a shower and went to bed early. He felt his body deteriorate considerably. He could do nothing but count for the time he could leave the ER ward to another ward. The young man was so tired… so tired that he almost lost his mind some days. He couldn't help but worry that someday he might be the one who needed to be carried to the ER ward.

    Doctor Aun was startled as he felt the cold air hit his face. The young doctor gradually lifted his heavy eyelids and looked around. God!! He was still sleeping in the medical student dormitory just a while ago. So why was he at the OB/GYN ward now?

    However, he knew the answer after he looked around carefully...

    At the table in the examination room of Professor Kawee, a couple was talking earnestly with the professor. He saw the couple in his vision at the hospital morgue, a woman named Petch, and a man named Traithip.

    “Long time no see. Why did you come to see me, Trai?" asked the professor in a cheerful voice. His friend laughed and replied.

    “I was so busy with work. Well... don’t act like you're free. Every time I called you for a drink, you always said you were on the shift. Why do you work so hard? The money in your account is already overflowing. Please live your life.”

    “That was too dramatic. So... is there anything I can help you with, bro?"

    Traithip turned to look at his young wife and gently held her hand before speaking.

    “Well, I want to come and discuss having children. I have been married to Petch for three years. I don't know why she hasn't been pregnant yet. So, I want to check to see if there is something wrong with any of us. If there is, it needs to be fixed immediately. I'm getting older every day. I'm afraid that I will die before having one.”

    “Aww...That’s it? Alright, but we need to check your and Petch’s health first to see if there is anything wrong. Take this doctor's prescription to the counter in front of the room. Then the nurse will take you and Petch for examination. Tell them that Professor Kawee asked for an urgent check-up. I'll call you when the result is out. Or you can come and see me at the hospital.” Professor Kawee said and wrote down his prescription before sending it to Trai.

    "Okay... Call me when the result is out, Kawee."

    “Alright, take it easy. Nowadays, technology is quite advanced. Having children is not difficult anymore.”

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    After walking out of Professor Kawee's examination room, Traithip and Petch went straight to the nurse's counter in front of the room. Nurse Ae abruptly got up because she knew that this man and woman were Professor Kawee’s friends.

    "Here, Kawee, ah... Professor Kawee, let me bring it to you." Traithip handed a medical prescription to the young nurse. She scanned it for a moment and gave them a sweet smile.

    “Please proceed to the examination room, Mr. Traithip and Mrs. Petch.”

    After that, everything was blurry. It was like there was a curtain of rain covering the doctor's eyes before his vision gradually faded, and his surroundings became clearer. The young man was now standing somewhere unfamiliar. But if he had to guess, it was probably the home of the couple. Inside the majestic living room, he saw Traithip and Petch sitting quietly while watching TV. Then the man's cell phone rang. So, he reached out and picked it up. Seeing that it was Professor Kawee's number, he hurriedly answered the call.

    "What's up... Kawee?"

    “Trai, are you free today?” he asked.

    “I’m free… is there something wrong?”

    “The results of the examination of you and Petch have come out. I want you and Petch to come and have a talk in the hospital, is that okay?”

    "Alright, we'll be there soon." After hanging up, he turned to his young wife, who was still staring at the television. "Petch... Kawee asked us to go to the hospital. He said the test results were out."

    "It’s out? That's nice, I will go get dressed real quick." Then the woman breezed her way up to the second floor and dressed up for the hospital. She hoped it would be good news...that she and her husband were in good health. No one had a problem with having heirs.

    But maybe... everything might not be as one had wished.

    Doctor Aun felt like the world was spinning once more before waking up in the middle of the night. Even though there was no A/C in the medical student room, his blood ran cold from the small fan working vigorously. The young doctor opened his eyes and tried to get out of bed but couldn't. His body was as stiff as a log. His mouth was heavy as if they were sewn together.

    What happened...what happened to him!

    Was he played by the ghost!?

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    (1) Oral Rehydration Salts are used to cure dehydration in cases with diarrhea or those who vomit a lot to prevent shock due to severe dehydration.