This is a translated article from Koosang Koosom Magazine, written by Bpern from Prajoup, Thailand in Thai Language, translated by Nye.

“Eeeddddd…Krom!!!”

The sound of a screeching tires coming to a fast stop, then it hit someone.  It happened so fast and after the crashing sound came a small body of a boy being airborne then came crashing down and hit the motorcycle hand bar that it smashed his cheek, after that his body flew about 2 meters away.  In that instant, the owner of the motorcycle took off without a trace, and he was not drunk either, but was testing out his bike that he just fixed, to see if it were working properly.  But he was going on the wrong lane, and hit a boy that was riding his bicycle that had the right of way, but being there at the wrong time.

It took a while for the cops and the volunteer paramedics to get there, but instead of rushing the boy to the hospital, the cops were busy measuring the distance, they might have thought that the boy was dead, but that small body still breathing, very shallow hanging on to his dear life.  After that the paramedic team came, one lifted the boy’s arms and the other lifted the boy’s legs, then they threw him into the van (I didn’t write this wrong, and not accusing the two that were on duty that day, but the eyewitnesses all said that they ‘threw’ his body).  After that, it took almost half an hour to get to the hospital.

That unlucky boy was only 13 year old, he was my brother, P’Ake.  P’Ake didn’t like school, he skipped classes all the time and went to hang out at the temple with the monks.  Later he went to work at a machine shop and saw that he was making money and quit school.  The owner of the machine shop was very kind and offered him a position as an apprentice there.

That day he was sent out to get parts, he rode his bicycle heading to the store until he met this motorcycle devil maniac.  At the time I was playing house in front of my neighborhood and P’Ake’s friend came running and said, “Bpern, hurry, Ake got hit by a car!”  I yelled out to my mom, “Mom, P’Ake got hit by a car!”

Photo by Sailing "Footprints: Real to Reel" (Ronn ashore)

Photo source

My mom took off in a hurry, it was me, my younger sister, Aunt and my mom, all packed on a motorcycle. When we got there  people told us that they already took him to the hospital , but when we got to the hospital, we couldn’t find him and came to find out that they took him to the Red Cross.

At the Red Cross, we saw the doctors and nurses running back and forth, I tried to look through a small peephole near the window that was covered with a drape, I saw P’Ake laying there as if he were asleep, there was very little blood but lots of wiring hooked to his body and the doctor was pushing his chest back and forth, in a little bit the doctor came out and told us the news.

“We did all that we could.”

At the time I didn’t know what he meant until my mom told me that “P’Ake is dead” then I understood and let out a big cry.  After that my mom had a funeral service for P’Ake at our local temple, and when she got home that night, she opened the front door and saw a yellow outfit that appeared as if someone was wearing it and laying down in a sleeping position on the long bench.  My mom said that she almost peed in her pants because that was the outfit that she wore for P’Ake at his funeral.

The next day, after the second night of funeral service (it’s a custom for Thais to have at least 3 days of service), we went home and late that night my mom took my younger sister and I to sleep upstairs. I was dozing off to sleep and I heard a noise.

“Poo…Poo…Poo” (the sound that someone was blowing in my ear)

Who was picking on me, I looked at my younger sister and saw that she was asleep. I went back to sleep.

“Poo…Poo…Poo”  Again? I was annoyed by this time, must really be my younger sister teasing me and she must have pretended that she was asleep, so I pretended to sleep and closed my eyes, see if she would continue to pick on me.

“Poo…Poo…Poo”

Without opening my eyes, I swung my arm aiming for my sister, but there was no one there.

“Mom…help me!” I ran down the stairs as fast as I could, a good thing that I didn’t fall down and break my neck.  I was so afraid because when P’Ake was still alive, he would tease me this way also.

Yaai (grandmother in Thai language) said that the day that P’Ake got hit by the motorcycle, she was selling fruits at the market and must have doze off and she heard someone that sounded like P’Ake and he said, “Yaai, I got hit by a car.” She was startled and woke up but didn’t see anyone and shortly after that Taar (grandfather in Thai language) came to tell her at the market that Ake got hit by a car.

The fourth night around 1 am, the lady next door heard someone riding a bicycle but when she looked outside her window, there were no one, just the sound. She went back to sleep and was so afraid that she covered herself from head to toe with a blanket until morning.  Another night, also around 1 am, she heard someone playing at a swing in front, it was something that P’Ake and I used to do all the time, but this time she was afraid to look.