Red Silk Ribbon

Mr. Ut has not been happy these past few days. In his heart, he was always sad about the chicken coop being stolen by thieves and the chickens being stolen. Strangely enough, the cage was placed next to the room where he and his younger brother were sick and bedridden. Yet the chicken is still gone! It passed away quietly as if nothing had happened. Not a sound. No screams. Even the usually sensitive Lu didn't bark at all...

***

The more Mr. Ut thought about it, the more angry he felt in his heart. Is it your destiny to build a house or something, but in recent years there has been no chicken to eat during the three days of Tet! It's been a long time since his two parents passed away, leaving his younger brother half-dead, and he has never known the taste of meat... At that time, the fox came in and ate all the chickens, leaving only a handful of red feathers. blood, scattered in the barn. A few hairs were streaked with blood, and the mischievous fox carried them to the floor of his and his younger brother's bed. Sometimes a thief sneaked into the house while he was out in the fields, stealing the chicken... The younger brother is so useless! At night, he just rolled his eyes and grinned with a crooked mouth, but refused to speak. But if it could talk, maybe the foxes would be afraid of human voices and not dare to come close. Even so, it doesn't know how to walk. Sometimes when he heard someone's footsteps, his house was not robbed. But stealing in broad daylight!...

But you shouldn't blame him either. If you have any blame, blame Mr. Green, why did you carelessly give birth to an imperfect creature? If it is considered an animal with limbs, it is also redundant, since it cannot use its limbs for eating or personal activities. Doctors from Western schools and the general's friends never talked about his illness. What did he say... something about brain degeneration or paralysis... that Mr. Ut didn't know. He was born as a tenant farmer. Parents and grandparents are the same! So how can we have the words to understand the complex matters of those above and those before us...

Calmly thinking for a moment, Mr. Ut quickly went into the house, took the knife, and went to chop bamboo. There is a lot of bamboo in Boss Ca's land, but tenants like him only ask for it to be taken home for temporary use. Bamboo bark is split into pieces and weaved around it to store rice. Sometimes bamboo is used to weave baskets, stilts, sharpen fishing poles... Rich people with land can freely use bamboo as a multi-purpose item. But... poor people like him only know how to ask for bamboo intestines to take home and split into pieces to weave and make walls. The walls of his house are made entirely of bamboo. Wherever it is sturdy, temporarily pad it with a piece. In the most important places, two or three pieces are used to keep the wind tight, keep the house warm, and protect against rain and thunderstorms... Mr. Ut's skillful hands gently split a bamboo stem into pieces. He used a spear to separate their heads into small, thin pieces. Then bend the bamboo stem to crush it and start stripping it into many small pieces, weaving them into the unfinished bamboo sheet. Somewhere along the line, Mr. Ut covered the bamboo sheet with a bamboo frame that had been made a few days earlier. Using small braces and string, he began tying them together. By the time the sun set, he had finished making a rectangular door, with one vertical door about two inches longer than the one on the other side. So he had a door installed in his house, without having to go to the market to buy hinges and waste money. The long pole is placed in a piece of bamboo and driven deep into the ground. The upper end is tied with coconut string, and there is a mill door that can be opened and entered...

The other day, because the house didn't have a back door, Lu sneaked in and ate half a kilo of his meat. His fate is so humiliating and ungrateful with meat. The brother in the neighboring village knew that he had been stolen and had failed to raise livestock for several years, so he gave him half a kilo of meat. But that damn dog had the audacity to eat half a kilo of his precious meat. But it's strange to think... Lu has never dared to be so arrogant like that. It can hunt mice and catch lizards, but it has never touched the food left in the cupboard. I wonder what kind of liver the dog ate that would dare do such a thing?

Since Nhut, his younger brother, grew up a little, the lonely house in the desert became even more deserted. The neighborhood children did not like to come to his house and then witness a pitiful person with many terrible problems. But they were right to be afraid of Nhut! Because its blue-white face always has a strange smile. White eyes opened wide, staring at all the children with an unexplainable hunger. Those eyes look at no one, when the whites are too many to contain the tiny pupils that keep running around. Its mouth also looks strange, sometimes distorted or hanging down with a long, red tongue, every time it smiles at someone. The children in the neighborhood said to each other: "Mr. Ut's brother's tongue is so long! Is it so long that we don't know if it's real or not?" Of course, these things were secretly whispered to each other by young and old. Because he was afraid that Mr. Ut would hear it and get upset. But the more whispered something in life is, the easier it is to hear. Mr. Ut accidentally heard that and wore it. Because he knew people were right to be afraid of the Nhut, when he loved him so much... but sometimes looking back, he was scared...

"Human beings inherently have numbers!" Mr. Ut often said that when he had to take care of a disabled younger brother, separate from the villagers. It has a miserable fate, and you have to carry a drop of blood that you can't bear to throw away...

There is no meat to eat. The main food in the house is fish from the field. This sometimes makes Mr. Ut feel more secure. Anyway, there are countless fish in the field. Only a few dozen fishing rods were quickly hooked up and there was something to eat. But Nhut has a hard time eating at home! He was born into a tenant farmer's house, but it was like living with a rich family. Eat three grains of rice. Poorly seasoned fish does not make it satisfying. One day, he was busy with work, and as he quickly braised the pot of fish, he left after scooping out a bowl of fish pieces for his younger brother. When I returned home from work, I saw that the fish pot was not yet cooked and the smell was still fishy. Yet Nhut had finished the entire bowl of fish he had left to share. Looking at its eyes, Mr. Ut was surprised. Looks like he really likes eating junk food. Normally, he braised the fish very well, but he couldn't make his younger brother's taste good. It eats very little but still grows fast. It's just that I refuse to walk and stand like other people. The bigger it gets, the more it stinks with the smell of chickens and ducks lingering somewhere. But it smells like chickens and ducks while there are no chickens in the house. How long can a duck live with the bad luck of foxes and thieves? Neighbors also complain about constantly losing chickens and ducks without understanding the reason. Mr. Ut also saw this. Because in the past, the neighbors' chickens and ducks also came here, but every year they were absent. After that, it was completely lost... Is it because the foxes are too rampant or are they thieves, who are becoming more and more clever and cunning, I don't know? Disaster is a common disaster! But the words whispered into my ears became more and more difficult to hear. Old people and children say: there is a ghost in your garden... This ghost specializes in eating raw meat, so no chickens or ducks can live in that garden...

Mr. Ut does not care about idle words. Every day I go to the fields and don't return until late at night. In the morning, we hurriedly cooked rice, then divided it into two parts: One to take with us. One for my disabled brother. So he only had relatively leisurely evenings, sometimes with a cup of tea, sometimes with a few glasses of wine. Then fall asleep, waiting for morning...

The farmer's sleep was so heavy that the rats in the house became more and more rampant. At this time, in his doze of sleep, he heard them rustling pots and pans to the point of discomfort. In the morning, the snakehead fish, just drying in the sun, disappeared without a trace. What mouse is like a ghost? They specialize in eating raw fish, but they never touch dried fish until it's dried in the sun...

Losing wealth for a long time is painful. Many nights, Mr. Ut tried to watch and find out what the rats looked like. As if understanding his intention, they became silent as if they had never been there before. However, when they are too tired and just take a nap, they make a big fuss over the pots and pans. One day the bright moon shone through the cracks in the curtain wall at the beginning of the summer, making the room dimly lit. In his dozy sleep, Mr. Ut seemed to see a red ribbon fluttering in the empty house. That translucent silk strip suddenly appeared and suddenly disappeared when he opened his eyes. It happened so many times, but he still thought he was dreaming so he just watched the chicken turn into a hoe...

One day, there was a death anniversary next door, and Mr. Ut was invited to eat a bowl of rice on a taboo day. That day he drank too much and was extremely drunk. As soon as he got home, he immediately fell into bed and went to sleep. The bed is six feet wide, always enough room for both brothers. In the middle of the night, Mr. Ut suddenly woke up when he felt a tickle on his cheek. Something soft like wet silk kept caressing his face. In a drunken stupor, Mr. Ut thought Lu was crazy and jumped on the bed to lick his face. But when he opened his eyes and looked carefully, he noticed that the same red silk strip that often haunted him every night was dancing and winding. The red silk strip the size of three fingers kept fluttering, fluttering... as if playing, joking with a drunk person's face... Mr. Ut wanted to reach out and grab the silk strip, but his hand couldn't do as he wanted. The hand of a drunk person never obeys the master's will, even while just waking up from sleep. The sound made the silk strip suddenly disappear as if someone pulled it into a dark place, very close... It seemed like it was right next to where he was lying... Where the boy was silently looking at him... Mr. Ut looked at it. like I don't understand. That guy, why isn't he sleeping at this hour? He keeps opening his eyes and glaring at him like that! Why are his eyes so green... No! Not blue. There is also the flickering fire of two red marbles...Looking at it, Mr. Ut suddenly panicked and shouted:

- What are you doing, Nhut!?...

In the dead of night, his shout must have been very loud. It made the boy startled with the sudden change in his face. Its eyes no longer sparkled with the strange light from before. Its lips drooped down again, as had been the case for a long time. But the strange thing is that his face looks regretful, as if he just missed out on a child's hobby...

"It's not okay! There's something very different about this kid. It's like he comes from a dark place that people can't know"... Mr. Ut thought so and stayed awake until the rooster crowed...

... Today, after plucking seedlings, Mr. Ut went straight to his brother's house in the next neighborhood. The two brothers are cousins, so they've been close since childhood and don't have to hide anything from each other...

- Mr. Tam! Why am I so worried? Nhut at home is changing more and more and doesn't know... anything anymore. I don't know if I can afford it in the future...

He said sadly to his brother.

Old man Tam looked at his younger brother with sympathy and worry. He had heard more stories about his nephew than his brother, but he didn't know how to start the story smoothly.

- I know you suffer because of it... But what can you do better? After all, it is also my blood and flesh...

Having said this, he hesitated, then fell silent.

Mr. Ut told his brother about strange things that had happened a long time ago. Mr. Tam sat and listened for a while and then gave his younger brother some advice:

- Whatever you want to do, you must know the source thoroughly. I heard many scary things about the boy, but I still doubted him. Many times I was about to speak, but I was afraid he would be sad... There were only two brothers, he was always out in the fields, so he didn't know about the housework... If you want to know about Little's activities, you have to sneak around to understand.

After saying that, the old man quickly went into the house, took out a chicken with its feet tied, and gave it to Mr. Ut.

- Your face is so pale! Bring this chicken home and cook green bean porridge to eat. I can only help you like this...

Mr. Ut was only halfway home when it started to rain. It's raining so hard! Thunder and lightning crisscrossed the horizon. The road became slippery in the blinding light of the sky's fire. Arriving home, Mr. Ut quickly put the chicken in the coop, then immediately went to the field. "If not, all the seedlings will float away!" He thought so, so he ran faster and faster. About ten steps away from the field, Mr. Ut suddenly stopped. It wasn't that he was exhausted, he just didn't want to continue when he remembered his brother's words. "We have to sneak up and watch. See what the Little guy does every time he goes to the fields"...

...The back door appeared dimly in the rain and lightning. Lu didn't run out happily like usual. I wonder which neighbor's dog he ran after! The door he made to prevent the foxes from reaching the chicken coop was only ten steps away when Mr. Ut heard the chickens screaming, "It's those damn foxes again." Mr. Ut grabbed the tree, pushed the door and rushed in. The door with its hinges rotated with a creaking sound, and before his eyes appeared the devilish silk strip of that night. The only difference is that it is very long and turns blood red in the flashing light. As soon as I heard the noise, the silk strip rushed towards the front house very quickly. In just a moment he was gone, gone missing. Mr. Ut looked into the chicken coop and only saw a bunch of red feathers lying there. Walking quickly to the bed, he saw the boy's face as if he was sleeping, but the strange thing was that the corner of his mouth had a little blood on it...

"It's not like the fox ate the chicken!" Chickens die because of that red silk strip. But what is that silk strip? Why was the boy's mouth stained with blood in his sleep!?...

After that night, Mr. Ut began to notice many strange things happening in the house. It's normal for farmers in the fields to pull seedlings and transplant rice and get bitten by leeches and bleed. Other people who were bitten by leeches had their faces dry in one day, and by the second day it was completely gone. However, the leech wound on Mr. Ut's leg did not heal. It became muddy with yellow fluid and pus. Sometimes it lasts a week or a month and still doesn't heal. In the end, there was no other way and I had to take medicine. "Could it be because of that silk strip...!" Mr. Ut quickly dismissed the thought in his mind because he thought it was strange... But... in the end, what could it be? So he hatched a plan to make everything transparent...

...In January, the fields are dry and the grass is burning. This season has finished measuring the rice fields, so everyone competes in the fields to hunt mice and catch birds. Mr. Ut caught many birds and brought them home to grill them until they were fragrant. But the baby didn't eat. Lately it has become noticeably thinner. Looking at it, he felt sad, because he knew it was bleeding and his intestines were soft...

In the afternoon, someone next door killed a pig and gave it to him to weigh the meat. He threw the piece of meat on a hook[2] hanging on the kitchen rack, then hurried to set up fishing hooks[3] in time for the evening. After walking three or four blocks of the garden, he suddenly remembered the red ribbon so he turned back...

The door, with its mill hinge, was always squeaking, so Mr. Ut put some young mud in. Thanks to this, when pushing the door, it doesn't make any noise. In the twilight, Mr. Ut saw a silk strip dancing in the kitchen. It looked like an object that was happily having fun, so it was unaware of the stranger's appearance...

Carefully... Gently... Step by step... Step by step... Mr. Ut approached the silk ribbon... The January night sky was bright with stars. The converging light of the stars penetrated through the punctured roof, illuminating the silent kitchen... Mr. Ut's eyes opened wide to look at that strange object. The thing that haunted him every night in his sleep. Cause of death of chickens and ducks. Also, for five years he hasn't tasted meat, because of it!... Anger... Anger... Rage... It's all because of that evil silk ribbon...Suddenly he was stunned... His body was cold as if he had just been soaked in water for a long time. The silk strip looks like a tongue, with tiny taste buds protruding from the body. These tiny fibers tremble, curl, and scratch the piece of meat on the kitchen rack. Then it disappeared towards the front house, then reappeared shortly after... The action was repeated over and over again with the steady "chem copy" sounds of a child eating well... Mr. Ut's head turned. crazy with so many thoughts: "A human tongue? Impossible! A human tongue can't be that long? If you just stand in the kitchen mold to estimate, that object is over three meters long, not to mention the place of origin..." But It was clearly a tongue, not a strip of silk... That tongue was licking the still red flesh lying there. And each time, the mass of flesh diminished before his eyes...

Mr. Ut suddenly remembered the rumor and panicked. His tongue stiffened while the "red ribbon" danced joyfully in front of the mass of meat. Mr. Ut's trembling hand groped in the dark, searching for something. Anything at hand at this time will increase courage for a person who is swallowed by fear. The kitchen is empty. There was nothing within reach that he could reach. His trembling hand suddenly touched a warm place. That's the fire that roasts birds in the late afternoon. The warmth of coal ash did not relieve Mr. Ut's trembling, but on the contrary, it increased his despair. Don't run away either! Because there was still Little in the house... Then he rushed in and clutched the hideous silk strip tightly. The devil's tongue lived off the meat in your house...

The evil tongue struggled wildly with terrifying power. Its body is slippery and full of slime, making it even more difficult to grasp. Mr. Ut was pushed into a fire filled with hot ash. No matter what, he was determined not to let go. A thought suddenly appeared at a critical moment, he quickly grabbed a handful of ashes and tightened the silk strip in a frenzy. In the room, there was the baby's gurgling sound, mixed with Lu's terrifying howl. The dog's howl seemed broken, trembling and afraid. Mr. Ut ignored everything. Because now he was grasping the tongue with hands full of coal ash. But... it was very strong... It pushed him south, pushed him north, then dragged him into the bedroom. The baby groaned more and more, his arms and legs flailing around on the bed. The light of a thousand stars shines through the rotten roof on the porch, illuminating the boy's face. As soon as Mr. Ut saw it, he screamed in horror. Oh my God! He is no longer his younger brother. It is a devil with a long, hideous tongue, trying to wrap itself around his brother. The tongue was trying to pull back at first, but now it stretched forward, wrapping several times around Mr. Ut's neck. The tip of the tongue was filled with slimy, dark saliva, touching his face. Horrified by what happened, Mr. Ut grabbed the spear from the head of the bed, then swung it...

***

The sound of gongs and screams rang out loudly in the empty night. The villagers along the road and next to Mr. Ut's house were screaming and calling for firefighting. The fierce fire in the dry season rises brightly, illuminating a quiet countryside. When people came running, Mr. Ut's house burned down in an instant. The young people used coconut boats to put out the fire to look for the unfortunate person, but found nothing but a bowl and a few broken pieces of ceramic bowls. People were talking about it, not knowing if the people in the house had escaped or had burned to the ground...

Until then, no one understood what happened to the two unfortunate brothers. Among the doubters, only one person is always silent. That was old Mr. Tam from the next village. He remained silent, not ignorant. And you shouldn't blame an old man for being so taciturn... Because, if one day he doesn't tell the truth, then... how could there be this horrifying story... .

(The story commemorates the soul of my Grandfather - who recounted part of the incident)