At a time when many, including Jett and Khem, were filled with faith in Master Pharan, a whisper could be heard from two young men standing at the front.
"I think the villagers are just being superstitious."
"Right, like any ordinary person could summon rain." 'Kornkan' replied, with 'Pondit' nodding in agreement. This was their reaction after seeing the villagers almost bowing to the man in a white shirt leading the ceremony, believing the rain was due to mere coincidence.
Both were first-year engineering students who had ended up joining the volunteer club because their preferred clubs were full. They weren't really enthusiastic about participating in this event, but they were worried about not meeting the activity points criteria in the future, and also wanted to experience a trip out of town, so they reluctantly agreed.
Upon hearing this, Jett's eyebrows furrowed sharply. Khem, who heard the same, quickly grabbed his friend's sleeve, tugging to prevent Jett from saying or doing anything, as the ceremony was still in progress.
Chan, standing quietly beside Khe, couldn't help but furrow his brows as he looked towards the two people. He himself had a rather agnostic view on religious matters. Although he had some experience, he wouldn't believe anything unless he saw it with his own eyes, yet he never disrespected or spoke out in a way that made others feel uncomfortable, unlike what those two were doing.
People don't necessarily have to say everything they think, but they should think before they speak...
Jett could only seethe internally because there was nothing he could do except remember the faces of the two men in front of him. Next time if he hears them say anything offensive, he won't just stand by.
Pharan was invited by the village chief to watch the traditional dance performance accompanied by local music inside a tent, seated on a long wooden chair reserved for the chief of the ceremony. Before the
performance, one of his students brought a clean cloth for him to wipe his face.
Once the performance ended, Pharan prepared to walk back home, but someone half-walked, half-ran, pushing a bicycle alongside him.
"Uh, Master, your bicycle, sir." Khem spoke kindly, with beads of sweat on his face, fearing he might get scolded.
Pharan looked at Khem for a moment, then his gaze went over the young man's head, spotting Jett hiding behind a mango tree, using his friend as a scapegoat. Although he felt annoyed, he kept it to himself, planning to deal with it later.
Pharan placed his hand on one of the bike handles, causing Khem to let go and step back.
"What are you guys planning to do next?"
Khem, who had been looking down in fear, immediately looked up at the master, surprised he wasn't scolded and was instead being asked a question.
"Uh, after we finish installing the water purifier, the village chief will take us to plant trees in the forest, and then we'll go to the waterfall, sir."
Pharan slightly frowned at the mention of the waterfall; this village indeed had a small one, about five hundred meters north into the forest.
At this time of year, the water wasn't swift or deep enough to be dangerous, making it possible to play safely, but with Khem, who knows...
He considered forbidding him from playing in the water but was afraid it might cause an unnecessary fuss. Pharan sighed softly, pushed down the bike stand with his foot, and said...
"Give me your arm." Khem blinked once before quickly extending his arm to Master Pharan. The other man took a thread from his shirt pocket, tied it around Khem's wrist, and mumbled some incantations that Khem couldn't understand. Then he tapped Khem's wrist and blew on it softly.
Master Pharan's actions shocked Khem so much he almost fainted, his face growing so hot it felt like it would burn.
"Don't let it come off." Master Pharan said with a calm voice after raising his head, and Khem felt fortunate that Master Pharan was wearing sunglasses. Otherwise, he would have seen how red his face had become.
"Yes, understood, thank you, Master." Khem said with a bow. Master Pharan then let go of his arm and turned to mount his bicycle, cycling back to his home, leaving behind the warmth at Khem's wrist, which he
absentmindedly touched while his light brown eyes followed Master Pharan until he was out of sight.
The village chief had brought the volunteer club students to plant trees in the forest because the students wanted photos of their activities to post on the university's page to promote their club. They also wanted to visit a nearby waterfall.
Seeing that the kids had worked hard for two full days and needed a break, the village chief reluctantly agreed to take them, despite not wanting to go into the forest during this time.
The volunteer students worked with zeal to finish planting the trees quickly, eager to head to the waterfall sooner rather than later, as the later it got, the less time they would have to enjoy. Except for Jett, who was already tired of playing.
It took less than an hour to finish planting. The village chief led the students deeper into the forest, about three hundred meters further. Soon they encountered a small waterfall, about waist-deep and ten meters wide, cascading from the mountain through the forest.
But before letting the students play in the water, the village chief lit incense to ask for forgiveness from the forest spirits, to prevent any disturbance or unintentional disrespect.
The villagers here had been taught from their ancestors that every part of this forest has its guardians, and one cannot do as they please without regard.
"Man, even for playing in the water, they have to light incense and pray."
Kornkan's voice remarked to Pondit, shaking his head in disgust.
"I don't know why these villagers are so blindly believing in things science can't prove. None of what they do makes any sense." Pondit laughed under his breath, nodding in agreement.
Yet, it was Jett, Khem, and Chan who once again overheard this conversation.
However, before Jett could take a step, Chan moved in first to speak with Kornkan and Pondit.
This time, Khem didn't think to stop Jett because what those two had said was too harsh, even for him who was much calmer than Jett.
"Both of you should watch what you say. How do you think people who believe feel when they hear you talk like this?" Kornkan and Pondit, feeling
embarrassed after being scolded like that, one of them even pushed Chan's chest in response.
"Who are you to lecture us, you glasses-wearing nerd? Want to get hurt?
I'm already in a bad mood." Kornkan said aggressively, but Jett stepped in front of Chan with an even more confrontational stance, pushing the other back. Khem, unable to intervene in time, could only follow and stand nearby.
"Whoever I am, it doesn't matter. You two have filthy mouths. Who could stand by and not say anything?" Kornkan nearly threw a punch at Jett's face, but Pondit held him back.
"You, you are the son of..." Hearing this, Kornkan gritted his teeth in anger but didn't dare do anything to Jett and stormed off in frustration.
Khem sighed with relief as the situation ended peacefully, without the violence he initially feared.
"Let's go clean ourselves up." Chan said calmly after looking at his own dirt-stained hands, then started walking away. Khem tugged at Jett's shirt to stop him from glaring after Kornkan and Pondit, and Jett reluctantly followed Chan without his usual hostility.
After cleaning up, Jett and Chan stood on a large rock above a waterfall stream, watching Khe playing in the water with a girl named Phraemai. One seemed to have played until bored, the other never liked such childish activities, despite knowing how to swim.
Jett standing there watching over Khem wasn't unusual, but for Chan, who had only recently met them, it felt odd to share Jett's concern for Khem without any apparent reason, and Chan wasn't even trying to figure out why anymore.
"Thanks for earlier." Jett said quickly, almost too fast for anyone to catch, causing Chan to turn and look at him, asking for clarification.
"What?" Jett frowned in irritation but repeated himself slowly and clearly, "I said, thank you." Chan blinked once.
"I must have misheard, could you say that again?" Jett nodded and then kicked Chan into the water without warning.
Chan, not expecting this from Jett, fell into the water unprepared.
Thump!
"You deserve it for annoying me!"
"Hey! Chan!" Khem, seeing the incident, quickly swam over, and Phraemai, who also witnessed it, followed to check if their friend, who
lived in the same house, was okay. Phraemai had met Chan when they both joined the club, but they weren't particularly close; they only started talking more frequently when they came here.
Hearing Khem's voice, Chan slowly stood up, his wet black t-shirt clinging to his body, revealing his abdominal muscles clearly. He brushed back his now disheveled, water-soaked hair that was once neat. His sharp, dark brown eyes narrowed slightly before he turned to Khem and said,
"I'm fine, Khem, please continue playing in the water." Khem slapped his forehead in frustration.
"Chan, that's Phraemai. We're over here!" Phraemai, momentarily stunned by Chan's appearance without his thick glasses, quickly came back to her senses and burst out laughing.
"Oh my, are you short-sighted or just blind, Chan!" She exclaimed.
"Sorry, uh, where did my glasses go?" Chan tried to dive back into the water to look for his glasses. Seeing this, Khem put his hands on his hips in anger, pointing at Jett who was standing on a rock, and shouted an order,
"Jett, get down here and take responsibility right now!"
At first, Jett seemed reluctant to help search for Chan's glasses, but Khem chased him down and dragged him into the water, so he ended up helping look for the glasses anyway.
"Found it!" Phraemai, who was several meters away, shouted. Luckily, the glasses had floated to a crevice in the rocks and hadn't been swept further away. She quickly swam over to retrieve and return them to Chan.
Chan put his glasses on immediately, even though they were wet, but it was better than not having them at all.
"Thank you very much."
"No problem, I'm off now, see you later." Phraemai said before waving goodbye to Jett, Khem, and Chan, as another female friend called her to come out of the water.
Khem gently patted his friends on the shoulder to stop them from glaring at each other.
"Let's stick together, the three of us."
On the other side, Kornkan, Pondit, and another male friend named Tejathon, who had been close friends since middle school but went to different university faculties, approached the village chief who was waiting for the students to finish their water activities under a banyan tree. It was now time to head back.
"Village chief, I heard there's a viewpoint up there. Can we go up and take some photos?" Kornkan asked, pointing towards the forest on the opposite side of the waterfall where steps had been cleared for climbing the mountain.
He had learned about this from Tejathon, who heard it from Phraemai, his girlfriend, but he lacked the courage to ask the village chief himself.
Kornkan, being the bravest among them, took the initiative, partly because he also wanted to enjoy the view from the top.
However, the village chief shook his head, quickly denying the request.
"No way, young man. It's getting late. Better we all head back to the village." The village chief didn't provide the real reason for not allowing them up there, fearing it might scare them or they might think he was making up stories. He simply walked away to gather the students from the water.
Kornkan frowned in frustration, compounded by his earlier altercation with the likes of Jett. He was now even more irritated.
"Seriously, what's the big deal about just sitting up there?" Pondit was equally annoyed. Tejathon sighed in disappointment.
"I say, let's sneak up there anyway. The path isn't that complicated, we'll be back fine." Kornkan proposed. The three hadn't gone into the water because they didn't want to get wet, so they weren't enjoying themselves like the others. They wanted to do something they liked before returning to Bangkok the next day. Otherwise, it would feel like they hadn't really been there.
"Yeah, count me in. What about you, Te?" Pondit asked Tejathon, who thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. Seeing his friends ready to join, Kornkan smirked with satisfaction.
"Great, I won't let you guys down."
Back in the village, Kornkan arranged to meet Pondit and Tejathon at a wooden pavilion near the forest edge, a place not frequented at night. Each brought their backpacks and lanterns. Fortunately, they were staying in different homes, so they had told their hosts they would be sleeping over at a friend's place, confident they wouldn't be caught.
"Hey, Prae." Pondit greeted Phraemai as she walked over with Tejathon, though it looked like she wasn't too keen on coming. Phraemai smiled awkwardly before greeting Pondit and Kornkan somewhat reluctantly.
"Hi, Korn, hello, Poon." Kornkan nodded in acknowledgment. Having Phraemai here was good; if they got caught tomorrow, they'd have company for the scolding.
Phraemai didn't want to come because she was afraid of the dark and the unseen, but she couldn't resist her boyfriend's insistence. She and Techathorn had been dating for five months, and since she was the one who pursued him, she didn't want to upset him. She was willing to compromise for the person she liked a lot.
However, Phraemai didn't particularly like her boyfriend's two friends; both were troublemakers who often didn't listen to others, frequently got into fights, and liked to drag her boyfriend to bars, even introducing him to other women. Despite this, her boyfriend always returned to his room on time and never cheated on her, as per his friends' teasing.
Once everyone was there, Kornkan spoke up,
"Shall we go?" Pondit nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, lead the way."
Kornkan used a lantern to guide everyone along the path he remembered.
When they reached the waterfall, they crossed a wooden bridge to the other side, then climbed a set of stairs leading up, as Phraemai had mentioned there was a viewpoint not too far away.
But Phraemai hadn't expected to be taken to see the view at night like this.
Suddenly, she had an uneasy feeling.
"Te, I want to go back." Phraemai said with a trembling voice. Tejathon didn't want to give in to his girlfriend's wish, not wanting to upset his other two friends.
"Why go back, Prae? We've come this far. Don't be scared, I'll hold your hand all the way." Techathorn said. Phraemai bit her lip, and seeing Kornkan and Pondit look back at her with annoyed expressions, she was too scared to say anything more and quietly followed the three of them.
Finally, they reached the viewpoint, which was a flat area with a large rock jutting out from the cliff, well fenced with wooden railings to prevent falls. It seemed like this spot was frequently visited because there were no weeds or undergrowth, making it look neat.
Above all, the air here was much fresher than below, and looking down, you could see the village still brightly lit. The cool breeze gently blew, and the sky was full of stars, a rare sight in the urban areas of the city.
"Damn, this is how it should be." Kornkan said with a proud smile, feeling justified in convincing his friends to come up here.
"Yeah. You three set up the tents, I'll start the fire." Pondit said cheerfully, equally pleased. Phraemai, seeing that things weren't as bad as she had feared, felt reassured and went along with them. Soon, three tents were set up, and the fire was lit. All four sat around the campfire; Phraemai boiled water on the small stove she brought to cook instant noodles. Meanwhile, Tejathon took out his acoustic guitar to play and sing happily.
Kornkan raised his hand in a mock salute, then opened his bag and placed what he had prepared on the ground for everyone to see.
"Holy crap, Kornkan, you actually brought it?"
"Heck yeah, would I miss out?"
What Kornkan laid out were over ten cans of beer. He had bought them and stashed them in his backpack back at the rest stop, anticipating that the staff would check bags for illegal items, including alcohol, before boarding the tour bus.
Pondit burst out laughing.
"True to form, Kornkan, your life revolves around booze. You carry it everywhere."
"Talk too much and you won't get any."
"Hey, I was just kidding, give me one." Pondit then distributed the cans to everyone except Phraemai, who wasn't much of a drinker and was worried about getting drunk and falling off the cliff, so she politely declined.
After finishing his first can, Kornkan habitually tossed the empty can off the cliff, which furrowed Phraemai's brows because she didn't approve of such crude behavior, but she didn't dare to say anything. She quickly picked up the can Tejathon had discarded and put it in a trash bag, fearing he might follow his friend's example.
Time passed leisurely as they relaxed until Kornkan stood up, announcing he needed to pee. Pondit and Tejathon, having consumed several cans themselves, felt the same and followed him. This left Phraemai alone by the nearly extinguished fire.
But several minutes passed, and neither her boyfriend nor his two friends returned, and the firewood they had brought was all used up. Not daring to go alone to fetch more wood, she got up and walked in the direction where the three had disappeared.
"Te, Korn, Poon, do you hear me, Phraemai!" Phraemai called out in a rather loud voice, but there was no response from anyone.
Phraemai started to feel disheartened. She lifted her lantern, looking around, seeing only trees of various sizes. But as she looked, her imagination conjured faces peering out from the darkness.
The darkness and silence gnawed at her mind until she could hardly stand it. Phraemai's mind was in turmoil as fear took root, her delicate face covered in sweat from the pressure, yet her concern for her boyfriend and the others still outweighed her fear. She forced herself to take short steps deeper into the forest to find the three of them.
"Te, can you hear me, please answer me."
"..."
"Te, don't play around like this with me, I'm really scared, Te." The deeper she went, the quieter it got, and Phraemai began to cry. She thought they might have left her alone up here, perhaps everyone else had gone back down.
Fear, disappointment, and anger mixed together in her heart until she burst into tears, thinking that if she made it back and found them, she would slap each one for daring to do this to her, and she would break up with her boyfriend.
Ding
Suddenly, Phraemai heard a sound like a bell from behind. With hope that her boyfriend had stopped teasing, she turned around immediately.
But what she saw was not Tejathon, Kornkan, or Pondit. Instead, it was a woman in a vibrant red Thai dress, her face pale with dark veins spread across it, her eyes completely white without pupils, her lips a dark purple, open wide as she screamed at her,
"Get out!!!"