Chapter 1.
Summer 2004.
The sun shone brightly outside, a strong contrast with the damp dark surroundings that he was in. The room was small and stuffy, reeking of urine, blood and something else, and water had gathered in puddles in different parts of the room, still, as if watching his every move. The ceiling fan groaned and moaned with every pained movement of its arms. The windows were boarded up, the planks of wood amateurishly nailed to it.
He lay on the bed, not moving. He never moved a muscle. He didn’t even blink. He just lay there, staring at the ceiling. His body was covered with red streaks. Blood was trickling out of those red streaks. Flies buzzed around it, sometimes landing on his wounds, feasting on his blood and laid eggs in his open wounds. But he never made any attempt to swat them away. He just lay on the bed, not moving. Not moving a muscle, not batting an eyelid.
But how could he? He was anything but alive. In fact, he had been dead for over a day now. His body had begun to rot and a dreadful stench greets anyone who enters the room.
But who will enter? Who will venture into a dilapidated hut, buried in a thick forest in the rural outskirts of the country? Who will enter when a certain eeriness and dread enveloped the hut, even in broad daylight?
His body was going to be left there, as food for the maggots. His body will decompose and one day be returned to Mother Earth. He is already forgotten, long lost in the memories of his friends and family. He was alone in both death and life.
Voices were suddenly heard outside. People were coming. The living. What are they doing here? Had they come for him? Was he not forgotten after all? Was he loved?
“There it is! Inspector Kim!”
“I see it. Prepare your guns, just in case. We can never be too careful with him as our target.”
“Yes Ma’am!”
The group of five made their way to the hut carefully. As if afraid to wake him up. If he was alive and saw this, he would have laughed and sneered at their stupidity. But he wasn’t. He’s dead.
Suddenly the door burst open. A flood of sunlight steamed into the old hut. Four men and one woman entered guns first and quickly scanned the place.
“Inspector, it’s clear.”
“Alright. You two check the room on the right. Jackie, you take the kitchen. Sam, we’ll take the left room. Ok. Let’s go people.”
The five split and went quickly to search their respective rooms. Inspector Kim burst into the room and saw him. She immediately told Sam to call for the others. With her gun still pointing to him, Inspector Kim moved closer to him. Inspector Kim took one look at his eyes and decided there was no life in him anymore. Without turning back, she spoke to the others waiting at the door.
“He’s dead. Get the forensic.”