Nightmares of Cambodia

fictionspawn Aak, ,

Nightmares of Cambodia.jpg

They had been chased out of the city. His father was dead. His brother. Even his little sister they had killed. Now it was just him and his mother. Slaves in the countryside. The Khmer Rouge had taken advantage of the American bombs and the fear of an external enemy far more powerful. Now they were in control.

He had to go out in the early morning, before light broke. The guards were tired after a long night, less attentive. If he was not back before sunrise they would kill them both.

Please, don’t, it’s too dangerous! His mother had begged him. She was asleep when he left. The hunger made him. He passed the guarded zone, but the forest was even worse. Landmines. There were landmines everywhere.

The night was dark. No stars. No moon. Just darkness. That was good, he was more difficult to see. Mushrooms. He picked one up. Poisonous. He dropped it and moved on. Something moved. A spider. He went closer. It was not big enough to fill his stomach, but it would be a mouthful for his mother. He had to be careful. Kill it before it bit him.

He saw a glow in a distance. A greenish light in the darkness.

It couldn’t be. It mustn’t be.

He crouched. The glow came closer. He saw a face.

It was.

A beautiful woman’s face, but she had no body. A head hovering in the air. Her heart was hanging underneath her.

Ahp. Krasue, as his grandfather had called her.

She was even more terrifying than the guards. More dangerous than bombs. More horrible than landmines.

He threw himself down. She moved closer. A moan of suffering escaped her mouth as she passed right above him. Long. Deep. She was searching for blood.

She stopped, as if she was listening. Searching.  He didn’t move. He didn’t blink. He didn’t breath. He could see the green light on his hands in front of him. He could feel her presence, her bloodthirst. Her evil.

He lay there for a long time. She could come back. She could be waiting. Light. Daybreak. He got up. Looking around, unsure if she was still there. He ran. He saw guards in the distance. He moved from bush to bush, crouching, creeping. His mother was still sleeping when he entered the hut. She would be hungry today as well. He had made it back, but he was not safe. They never were.

https://sites.google.com/site/thesecretbombingofcambodia/rise-of-the-khmer-rouge-and-pol-pot

https://creature373.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/origin/

Tears of Blood

Published by fictionspawn Aak

Norwegian trilingual writer and illustrator. Contact information in my Gallery.

33 Comments

    1. Thank you for coming in. He got away from the monster at least. She *is* interesting, I found her looking into south east Asian myths. There seems to be quite a few movies about her as well.

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  5. I like the short sentences. Economy is rare, sadly. My favorite Hemingway bit he wrote on a bar napkin: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

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  10. We never got to Cambodia. It was off limits at the time, and what we didn’t know when sitting on the beach watching the American warplanes heading for Vietnam was that they were headed for Cambodia and Laos.
    And I find your illustrations have a lightness and fluidity to them, that is far more than just wet paper!

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    1. Don’t worry, I have to accept new commenters;) Thank you! It seems no one knew at the time. Horrible chapter of history, this one. I was in Cambodia a few years after the civil war ended, and you could still see the consecuences. Now we have Iraq, and the lateral effects in Syria. Any governmet invading other countries is unacceptable. When will people learn?

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  11. I just learned something new today, and when it comes to folklore I’m always wanting to know more! Just looked into the Krasue after reading this, a disembodied woman’s head with her internal organs trailing behind her? Wow. Now that is seriously grim. Great story!

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    1. I found her looking around the net for inspiration, and my search was over. Being able to comment on what happened in Cambodia made it even better. Three monsters in one in this one, scary as hell.

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  12. Hi Fawn,

    I am someone who worked in Khao-I-Dang 1 and with the H’Mong as well. You are getting at what they believe and ghosts and spirits can kill people. I have no doubt about that and as to the question of rather or not demons are real, well, to me anyway, that is beside the point. The only thing I know is that people end up dead. Those that are familiar with the area understand. The medical term is “SADS”: Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. We don’t know why healthy, relatively young people die in their sleep, but the Southeast Asians do. Thanks. Duke

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    1. Hi! Interesting. I believe in rational explainations, but rational explanaitions sometimes end up being extremely surprising. Who knows what’s behind this problem.
      I found the Ahp creature online, and liked it a lot. I’ve been to Cambodia many years ago, so I especially enjoyed making this story. Thank you for commenting!

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