Krasue

Part two of a Thai horror tale

Krasue

'But vampires are good-looking,' he chuckled more confidently. 'A Krasue is just head and entrails; it floats around farms and scrubland.'

'You have to be joking? How can an intelligent man like yourself believe that tosh?' asked Billy.

'I didn't say I believe it, but all these folk do. They want you to replace the spiked fence.'

'Is that what all the fuss is about? Okay, I can make another.'

'Great, that's all I wanted to hear,' the doctor stammered.

'Come in and have a beer; I'd love to learn more.'

'No, no thanks, I must go.'

The doctor dropped his phone as he clambered into his car. Driving away too fast, he clipped the hedge as he skidded past the villagers.

'I'll return his mobile tomorrow,' Billy thought. 'What was the rush?'

'Is your dad coming in?' Billy asked as his wife returned.

'No, they all have a few bottles of home-brew waiting. Talking of which, do you want a cold one?'

'Yes, join me on the patio. Let's talk about baby names.'

'Yeah, okay, do you have any ideas?'

'Not really, a couple of male names keep cropping up in my family, but they are old-fashioned. Why not have a Thai name?'

'Why not have both?' she said.

She placed a second beer in front of him, smiling and cool.

'Oh, I forgot to tell you. I was talking to the doctor and agreed to replace the fence.'

She spilt the beer, no longer calm; Nipa went to bed without a word.

Billy lifted the bottle and drained the remains. Sitting alone, he thought about his day, life, and the future.

Creeping up the stairs, he peered in at his sleeping wife. Sliding under the sheet next to her, he turned to his side. Sleep would not come. Tossing and twitching, he lay on his back, sweating. Moonlight illuminated the room. 

He sensed a breath on his face. 

Opening his eyes, he stammered, 'What… How…'

His ashen wife floated inches above him. Pointed teeth opened, 'Shh…'

He fell to the floor, banging his head against a cupboard.

'Quiet, I'm trying to sleep,' said Nipa.

Billy sat up, rubbed his bruise and looked around. Clambering back into bed he suffered a fitful sleep.

Breakfast was quiet; Billy had questions he dared not ask, and Nipa was sluggish through lack of sleep.

The chicks and pigs were oddly quiet as he left the house.

'What? There are no eggs,' said Billy to himself as he went to the pigpen.

'Oh, no!' 

They had nailed ten of their piglets to the wooden door. Slit like the boar, and their entrails dragged in the mud.

He rushed to the kitchen, 'Come quick.'

'Are they male?' she asked.

'Are what male? Do you mean pigs? I didn't look. Why?'

Nipa helped her husband clean up the small bodies and prepared them, ready to offer the meat to a local butcher.

'While we're in town, I want to see the doctor,' said Billy as they delivered the package.

'He's busy all day,' said Nipa, bagging her phone.

'Really? I'll try tomorrow,' he said.

'What's so urgent about seeing the doc?'

'Nothing much, something he said about our fence.'

'Forget the fucking fence,' she glared before turning around.

'It's unlike you to swear. What's wrong?' asked Billy.

'Nothing darling,' she said sweetly. 'Let's go home.'

'I want to know who is killing our livestock. I need you to translate for me,' said Billy.

'Why waste your, or should I say, our time? No one will tell tales on their neighbours.'

'I have got to try. I need to show them I mean business. Otherwise, we'll have no farm.'

Grunting, she nodded, 'Okay, let's go.'

As they reached the first farm, people scuttled inside the house, slamming doors and closing windows.

'It must be them; look, they are so scared. They won't even talk to us,' said Billy.

'Right, let's go home,' smiled Nipa.

'No, I'm going to the police.'

The police station was a two-man hut constructed on the main road's junction. Pulling up, Nipa stayed in her seat.

'Come on; I need you to help. I don't suppose they speak English, do you?' he said, temper rising.

Slowly, she walked to the sliding glass of the office. Two officers' feet up on the shared desk looked at them wide-eyed.

Billy opened his mouth to speak as the officers sprang from their seats and stood behind the chairs.

Puzzled, he continued in English, 'We've had problems with our neighbours. I need you guys to tell them to stop killing my animals.'

The men remained rooted and speechless. Nipa stared at them. The men looked around them, wishing they had an escape route behind them. The only door was between themselves and their visitors.

Nipa moved towards the door, and the police crouched, quaking.

'Come on. You've scared them; they must have heard about an aggressive Englishman,' laughing, she strode back to the truck.

'What was all that about? Did they think I would hurt them?' he asked, puffing out his chest.

'Yes, dear, you can intimidate sometimes?' said Nipa, grinning behind her hands.

Proudly Billy drove home expecting an end to the killings.

Back at the farm, Billy searched for tools, a saw, a hammer, and some nails.

'What are you doing,' asked Nipa.

'I'm repairing the fence I tore down.'

'I thought it was clear, I don't want the FENCE,' she screamed.

Billy returned his tools to their chest.

'Would you like a coffee, darling,' Nipa said sweetly.

'Is the pregnancy getting too much for you?' asked Billy.

'No dear, I'm fine, enjoying thinking about our son.'

There were still no eggs for Billy to collect.

'How about an early night?' Nipa breathed.

The clock ticked to one AM. The baby moved uncomfortably for its mum. Salty moisture ran into her eyes; sweat dripped from her nose. The baby jumped inside, its tiny hands and feet searching for an escape, poking and kicking. Nipa rolled to her side, easing the pain. But not for long. 

Billy slept, unaware.

On her back again, readjusting her bulge, her eyes rolled into her head; she was now gently floating above the bed.

She turned again, spinning face down, and floated a few inches above the sheets. She was now nose to nose with Billy, not touching, just there.

His eyes opened, the rest of his body frozen in place. Staring as if in a schoolboy competition, who could last longer? This was no fun game. He wet himself.

She floated lower, drifting towards the foot of the bed; his eyes followed her until she reached his groin; he could watch no longer, forcing his eyes closed. Her nose twitched. He sensed her movement, not daring to open his eyes again until her fetid breath invaded his nose. Quaking, he saw she was eye to eye with him. Hers were empty, empty of empathy, devoid of colour. Clear glass marbles watched him before floating down once more. Only a few inches this time, she slowed and stopped at his Adam's apple.

'Please be a dream,' he wished.

Her mouth opened, revealing rows of pointed teeth. He knew it was no dream as the first bite clamped his throat.

Tearing, ripping, and chewing, he was dead. She was ravenous, taking clump after clump of his throat, opening up to her goal, his intestines. 

The gorge continued until sated. His stomach, intestines, and tendons had gone. She drifted into a seated position next to her husband's body. 

Looking at him, she smiled and rested, knowing her task was unfinished. She waited less than a minute.

She was calm and precise, drawing a fingernail sharply across her bulge, 'You are next, my baby son.'

Opening her belly, spreading flaps of skin and fat, she lifted the boy out. She clamped her needle-like teeth down on the still attached baby, leaving only a skull and a few bones.

The Krasue floated out of the open window and swept across the gap of missing fencing. 

'I told him not to fix it!' she sniggered. 

Howling into the night sky, it echoed across rice fields, waking terrified farmers. 

She found a new home high in a Pinus Kesiya tree. She was settling comfortably on a branch until she needed her next feast.

The END

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