One of the collections of "nervous short stories"

respect ancestors

Grandma is a medium. Previously, great-grandfather was also a medium. A little back then, my great-grandmother was still a medium. It is as if this profession is passed on from generation to generation. But it ended with the father's generation. Father refuses to be a medium like Grandma. and decided to live a normal life like any other person

Today the sky is exceptionally overcast. It's not because it's about to rain. Or there are more clouds and fog than usual. Instead, it was because of the soft white smoke that used Grandma's thin body as fuel.

yes ! Grandma passed away at the age of 83, exactly 2 years after Grandpa passed away.

I turned to look at my mother, dressed in all black, with an unpredictable expression on her face. I haven't seen a single tear drop from my mother yet. But from the atmosphere around him, he immediately knew that he was sad inside.

Dad walked over and put his arm around Mom's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. The two of them lived together quietly.

Many guests attended the event, acquaintances, respected students. Or even people I've never seen before come as well.

I could only force a smile to greet everyone in a friendly manner. Even if it's a show

The funeral ended that day. There was no laying the corpse aside for 3 days, 7 days, no Abhidhamma prayers or any complicated procedures. People who die are just cremated.

“Linda,” my mother called my name as she was putting away the chairs. and prepare to go home

"yes?"

“Don't forget to bring Grandma's ashes with you,” Mother reminded him of the important matter.

"Don't forget. I've already taken care of it."

If it is said that the profession of 'medicine' is our family's profession, then 'ancestor worship ceremony' is also a ceremony that has been passed down in our family. So at my house there is a small shrine for worshiping ancestors.

When one person dies We will keep their ashes to worship. But the previous generations of ancestors have all gone to peace. From the mouth of my grandmother when she was still alive Only Grandpa's spirit remains and protects us.

“Do any of Grandma's friends know about Grandma?” I mean Grandma's only medium friend.

“He knew, but his body wasn't strong so he couldn't attend the funeral. But he once told Mom that someday he would come visit Grandma at our house instead.” I nodded at that answer.

It was very late when our family arrived home. Even though there was no funeral But there are a lot of complicated things to deal with. Father said that he would make arrangements for the Ongya ancestor worship ceremony the next day, which we, mother and daughter, both agreed.

The sky was overcast and the rain made a loud noise. like a cry But not a drop of rain fell. There was only the deafening sound of thunder.

I fell asleep from exhaustion. Grandma's ashes were still carefully preserved next to Grandpa's ashes. Only the ceremony has not yet been performed.

The next morning's air was chilly to the bone. Dad got up and woke me up at 5:00 a.m., just saying that we should go do a ritual to worship our ancestors. Shouldn't be left for long. I got up and got dressed and saw everyone else getting ready.

Father quietly began the ceremony. The chants were in an unknown language. Even though I heard it during Grandpa's show once. But the accent was still strange. Or is it because last time Grandma was the one who prayed?

After the morning ceremony ended Mother got up and went to prepare breakfast. including offerings As for the father, he contacted monks to pray for good fortune. Because of Grandma's death, she still hasn't heard a single prayer from the monks.

But I, who was off work for only half a day this morning, was unable to make it to the afternoon ceremony. My boss and co-workers all came to express their concerns. Plus he said he could take an additional day or two off work.

I can only smile and accept all the good wishes.

My house after returning was filled with the smell of incense sticks permeating the whole area. Even though I knew it would be like this for a few more days. But I don't like this kind of scent at all. Including Grandma's work. But it's just a feeling in my heart that I've never told anyone.

“Dad, how are you?” I asked, asking the general situation.

“Father has finished the ceremony. Now we just have to wait for Grandma's spirit to come and protect us.”

I nod in acknowledgment.

That same night, there was a severe downpour. The sky roared angrily The sound of thunder made me sleepless even more than the day before. before hearing a very loud noise

scorching!

I winced in shock. I could hear my father and mother in the next room also exclaiming in shock.

Before the sky gradually calmed down And I can sleep soundly

“Last night, lightning must have struck the rattlesnake tree in front of our house,” Mother said loudly to Father. I woke up to those sounds. As he leaned his head out of the window of the room to see a large sapling tree in front of the house had fallen. The stump is completely black. The entire tree is completely charred.

“I guess my mom is a bit harsh in the house,” Dad joked, but Mom wasn't amused.

“A dead tree like this is a bad omen. We have to hurry and get him out of our house,” Mom told Dad.

“Then I'll call the rescue team. In case there is still static electricity remaining on the tree.”

I took my eyes off the scene before getting ready for work as usual. Before going, don't forget to pay respects to the pictures of Grandma and Grandpa that are on the shrine in front of the house as well.

How the news about the lightning strike in front of my house reached my office is unknown. Even though when I came out the rescuers had just arrived at my house.

“In the past, they said that lightning strikes near which house? That house is going to have bad luck,” a senior at work warned me with good hope. But it made me even more worried than before.

“Don't you dare greet your younger brother like that. Linda has been going through a lot of trouble lately.” Another person came to help dissuade the senior.

“I just said what I heard.”

“That's it. This kind of thing doesn't need to be said. Little Linda, is she okay? I know that little Linda has recently lost her life. And then come across someone with a foul mouth like this again.”

"nevermind Thank you very much for your concern. But I'm really fine,” I replied to both of them.

Bang!

Loud noises occur at night. Made me wake up so much that I had to leave the bedroom. and made eye contact with his father Dad put his hand to his mouth. As a gesture to be as quiet as possible, Father gestured for me to go back to bed in my own room. Before he slowly walked down the stairs to the location where the sound had come from.

“What happened last night?” I asked as we were eating breakfast together. “Has there been a thief in the house?”

“At first, my father thought there was a thief breaking into the house. But when I went down to look, there was nothing unusual. I only saw the picture of Grandpa falling and breaking.”

“Or is it some kind of omen?” Mom muttered.

“There's nothing wrong with you. A picture stand probably isn't good,” Dad reassured us.

“I hope so,” Mom said softly.

“What about Grandma's picture? Did it fall and break as well?” I asked.

“Grandma's picture is fine. Only Grandfather's picture fell.”

“Or is your father at peace?” Mom asked.

"I don't know. I'm not much of a medium, so I can't tell," Father said.

“So, are you going to take Grandfather's picture up and put it up like before?”

“It would be like that. But I need to find a stronger picture frame.”

In the evening, when I got home, the brand new picture frame had already been replaced. Relieve everyone's worries in the house.

“It probably won't fall again. The picture stand is sturdy,” Dad told me.

“Yes,” I responded softly.

The next morning, the voices of father and mother murmured softly from the front of the house again. Luckily today was a holiday so I didn't have to rush to get ready for work.

“What happened, Dad?”

“Grandfather's picture fell and shattered again,” Father replied feeling bad.

“Dad just changed the picture frame yesterday,” I repeated.

“Yes, but I don't know how it happened.” Father and mother's expressions were serious. If we didn't think about it ourselves This would not be a good omen.

“Dad, what happened? I took my mother back to live with my father. Why does it seem like you don't want to be with your mother?' A father laments in front of the shrine where the ashes from his grandfather and grandmother's cremated remains are kept.

There was no response. Yes! It's like that and that's right.

Ka Ka Ka!

The sound of flocks of crows calling around our house. Normally at home, you hardly even see crows. But now they are back together on the wires that run from one utility pole to another near the house.

Today, Dad took away Grandpa's picture. Only Grandma's picture remains on the shrine. Father told us that Grandpa is probably at peace. But I don't feel very convinced.

In the evening, mother prepared offerings and set them up in front of the shrine as usual. But it was as if the food had attracted the attention of the crows who refused to leave. They gathered together and flew in to eat the offerings that Mother had prepared until they were all scattered. Mother almost ran into the house in time.

“Where did all these crows come from?” Mom said angrily. “Look, I don't know if the good food I prepared will reach Mom and Dad or not.”

“They probably migrate with the seasons. Hopefully they will fly off to another place soon,” Dad consoled.

“Let's be real.”

The crows cried loudly all night. In the morning, apart from the food scraps scattered all over the place, The crows also disappeared. It's probably as Father said. They must have migrated.

But what shocked me even more was that The casket containing Grandfather's ashes was completely eaten. It seemed like those crows were the only ones eating Grandfather's ashes. Because the casket next to Grandma's ashes was still in perfect condition.

“Looks like this isn't normal,” said the usually optimistic father.

“What should we do now?” Mom asked, her face filled with fear.

“I don't know.”

“Could you try contacting your mother's friend? It's the same shape. In case Mother has something she wants to tell us.”

“Okay, I'll try contacting you soon. But his body was not very strong. I wasn't sure if he would be able to come or not.”

A chaotic situation ensued for a long time. Before I managed to clean up the surrounding area to make it as usual. It was as if this house was cursed.

The father disappeared and talked on the phone for a long time with the two mothers. Before walking up and down, he came back to talk to me.

“Grandma's friend is busy. When Dad called just now, he was one of the disciples in the sect. He said that at this time the queue is full until next month.”

“Shall we try taking Grandma's casket and keeping it at the temple?” I offered what I thought. In case it makes the situation better.

“No, it's against our principles. Although my father was not a medium in the same way as my mother, But this principle cannot be neglected at all. until the soul is at peace.”

“But there's a way,” Mom said. “When I called just now, he recommended another person. Mom is thinking of trying contacting me a little bit.”

“But you,” Father argued, “we don't know if the person he introduced is real or not. If they are scammers, what will they do?”

“So do you have a better way? Now our house is not normal. Can't wait.”

"but…"

“Linda, what do you say?” Mother turned to ask for support.

“Uh, okay,” I responded. At least doing something was better than not doing anything at all.

I really think so!

About a week later, an older woman who was probably a medium and an entire entourage dressed in white arrived at my house. Each person held flowers and various kinds of incense that spread their scent throughout the house.

The medium walked and talked with the father and mother for a moment as they asked for initial information before starting the ritual.

A female medium leads all of her attendants to sit in front of the shrine honoring their ancestors. Before spreading the sacred cord around it in a square shape, prohibiting anyone or anything from interfering into that boundary.

When he was ready, he began chanting and speaking in an unknown language. Before his body shook violently This is a completely different kind of mediumship than Grandma's.

The disciples who came also scattered flowers to the spirit woman without fail. and raised his hands together to chant along with the medium woman.

“Hungry…” A hoarse voice that didn't match the medium's body came out.

My family looked at the scene in front of them in shock and listened intently.

“So hungry…” The medium spoke again.

The disciples turned to look at us wide-eyed before one of them whispered to us.

“The spirit enters the body. It's already in shape. Now you can talk to that spirit directly.”

The waiter's father was half-believing or half-believing. But he spoke in a soft voice.

“Mother, is that right?”

“You don't love me well,” the medium scolded. “How can you let me be hungry like this?”

“Mother, I will always give your gift to you. Why is Mom still hungry?”

“Well, I want to eat fresh food, fresh chicken, fresh pork, give it to me.” The medium was still trembling all over.

“Uh,” Father looked embarrassed. I didn't think of that either. It was as if this was a grandmother we didn't know before.

“Mom, can I ask you something?”

“What?” a hoarse voice said angrily.

“Father, is he at peace now?”

The medium turned and looked wide-eyed.

"Oh, I'm gone. I'm going to my favorite place."

“…” Father didn't dare ask for another moment. Until the disciple spoke up and rushed again.

“The spirit is about to leave the body. If there is anything you want to ask, you can ask.”

“All these strange events happened. Grandma, what would you like to warn us about? Or is it just a coincidence?” I asked.

"Oh, it's me, I'm hungry."

The medium shook violently once more before collapsing to the ground. Amidst the panic of the subordinates

“The spirit has left,” the same disciple told us again.

The cost of that medium was a large sum of money for our family. When the medium recovered, he emphasized to us that Grandma wanted to eat fresh food. Try offering a whole chicken and a fresh pig's head.

“My mother isn't usually like that,” Father said to the medium.

“When people die, A spirit can have a different personality than when it was alive,” she answered.

The evening after that day, our family offered fresh food as the spirit medium had recommended. It's a little against our family's code of conduct. But if Grandma calms down, that's a good thing.

I thought it was all over. But the truth is not like that.

I'm standing in an unknown place There is fog surrounding the entire area. His vision was too dark to understand his surroundings.

“Bring it again, bring it again,” a voice floated on the wind. Along with the sound of laughter and joy

“What?” I mumbled softly.

“I'm hungry, bring more,” a voice floated along with the smoke around him.

I walked towards the place where the sound was coming from. Before long, he saw a withered back sitting crouched in front of a familiar object.

yes! It is our family's court. But if there isn't just one thing sitting together, But there were ten of them, and they used their withered hands to pick up the offerings in the evening and ate them in a hurry.

One of them turned and looked at me. His face was so wrinkled that he couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman, and his naked body smiled and pointed at me.

“Hungry,” he said before the others turned to look at me. And suddenly they began to rise up and run at me without hesitation.

scream!

I woke up to sweat streaming down my face. And outside the window it was already morning.

Are we dreaming here? Why do you have such a scary dream?

What was even more shocking was after eating breakfast. I found out that my father and mother Including me, we all have the same dream. But the difference was that Mother didn't walk towards the source of the sound and didn't see it clearly.

“What's the matter with you?” Mother complained to Father.

"I don't know why we all have the same dreams like this."

“It's definitely not a coincidence.”

“I think so too.”

Mom and Dad talked seriously for a long time.

“Father, mother, shall we go somewhere else for a while?”

I said, if what happened doesn't end It would only be possible to escape from here.

Father and mother made faces of embarrassment. I understand. Because this house is a house that has been passed down from generation to generation.

“Yes, that would be good too.” But unexpectedly, Father accepted my offer.

“We are going to travel to the provinces for a week. I will also be able to visit my grandfather and grandmother. Linda finished her leave of absence,” Dad told me.

I opened my eyes in a place surrounded by mist again. Made me know right away that this place was a dream.

“Wake up,” I told myself, but it didn't work.

“Why don't you make offerings? Why do you let people starve?” A hoarse voice came through the wind as usual.

“Why didn't you eat anything today?”

“Hungry… So hungry.”

I stopped in my tracks. When I listened carefully, I heard soft footsteps coming from a position not too far away.

“What are you people?” a familiar voice shouted. It was my father's voice. It was from where I heard footsteps.

But suddenly the sound of hungry complaints disappeared. conveys a bad omen

Rush, rush, rush!

The sound of a large object rushing with all its might to where Father was standing. Made me shriek

"Father ran away."

“Hey, get out!” Dad shouted loudly. It looked like they had reached Father.

I ran without thinking for my life to the location in question.

“Dad, where are you? Lin is here to help,” I blurted out, even though I wasn't sure if I could actually help.

“This way, help me,” Dad shouted back. I felt that the sound was not too close or far away.

As I neared the position, I saw my father sitting in the middle. As for the abnormalities, they sat and stared into the distance.

“Dad, I'm here to help.” I didn't think much of anything and ran to grab Dad's arm and prepare to take him away immediately.

But Dad didn't move as I wanted.

“Father, run away,” I said, even though I was dreaming.

But Father still sat still as usual. Until I turned to look at my father to see if he was hurt. I found out that what I was holding was not my father. But it's one of them.

I shook my hand violently.

“Hungry, very hungry,” the thing said. But it was his father's voice, unmistakable.

Scream!

That day I woke up from a nightmare. It was the same day that our family traveled to other provinces. I must say that I left immediately. Because Mom and Dad have the same dreams as me. It was as if they could imitate the voices of our family acquaintances.

A month has passed.

Our family has been out of the country for a bit. The main reason was that I didn't want to go back to that house. As for me, I have already resigned from my job.

But today is the day that our family was forced to return to our old house. Because one person urged us to bring him.

That person is Grandma's friend.

“Little Linda has grown this big already? I was just a little kid before,” was the first sentence that a kind-looking old woman said to me after getting into the family car and leaving for our destination.

“How is Grandma's health?” I called this old woman Grandma as well. The old woman's face was clearly saddened.

“It's just the time. Lately, I've been sick and sick all the time."

“Aunt Viphawan. Are you sure you really want to go to our house?” Father asked the old woman considerately. Even if asking like that seems rude.

“I've told you this before. that I would go visit my dear friend one time Soon we will be able to follow each other and live together, hahaha.” The old woman pretended to laugh lightly. But no one is funny. So the atmosphere was quite tense.

“Thank you on behalf of Mom,” Dad said and continued driving.

The house where we used to live The house where I used to play Including being a warm house Now I can barely remember it.

The first step into my house, I could only feel an unusually cold feeling. Grandma's friend had a serious expression on her face even before she got out of the car.

“I want to go pack my things first,” Dad said before opening the back door and taking out his luggage.

Grandma's friends continued to look around the house. Before stopping to look at the shrine honoring our family's ancestors

The old woman looked at her watch. Before speaking to us

“Good thing it's one o'clock now. So the monks could only secretly look at us.”

“And what about your mother?”

The old woman shook her head.

“My friend isn't here. And it probably didn't even exist from the beginning.”

I'm pale. I turned to look at my mother's side as well.

“Oh, you mean that all the time we paid respect to Mother, well…”

“Yes, only the righteous eat these offerings. And there were a lot of them.”

“Is there any way we can return our home to the way it was?”

“Too late,” said Grandma's friend. before looking at the court again and showing a shocked expression. “Everyone, hurry up and get out of this house,” the old woman screamed as much as her little body could utter.

“Hurry, hurry,” he told us one last time. before the body twitched violently and fell to the ground

“Aunt Viphawan, is something wrong?” Father walked in and shook her body. Elderly people falling like this is considered quite serious.

But the old woman showed no signs of recovering. Mother then called an ambulance. But it was strange that the phone displayed a warning that there was no signal.

“You, go start the car. We have to take Aunt Viphawan to the hospital,” Mom urged. Dad realized this and walked to the car immediately.

While starting the car Grandma's friend, who Mom and I were giving first aid to, suddenly woke up.

“No need to, I'm fine,” Grandma's friend told all of us.

“Get up slowly.”

“Thank you, grandson.”

“Miss, Auntie has recovered,” Mom shouted.

“Shall we go into the house first?” the old woman suggested.

“What was it about telling us to run away just now?” I asked.

The old woman smiled at me fondly.

“There's nothing else. Grandma drove all those monks away. Just now, Grandma passed out. Grandma had dreamed about them and had already taken care of them.” A smile appeared on Mom and Dad's faces after hearing this.

“Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Aunt Wiphawan.”

“No problem. Come on, let's go into the house,” the old woman said.

The first step into the house sent an eerie feeling many times greater than the outside. I got goosebumps again. Mom and dad probably feel the same way. Grandma's friend hurriedly rushed to close the door of the house.

before smiling and speaking hoarsely, just like the medium who had previously come to the house.

“This time… my children won't have to go hungry anymore.”