The House Of The Unholy

The news of the disappearance of Utoy reaches the entire town of Pasi which leads to Fray Luciano dedicating a mass for him that Sunday morning to offer the tributes that will be collected to his family. The friar speaks of the Captain's proclamation to find the boy as he ordered pamphlets to be scattered in town and in the nearby towns to publicize the boy's vanishing in the hope that someone might have seen the boy and could lead to his whereabouts. It has been three days since he vanished in the rice fields and until that Sunday morning, no one has come forward to claim to have seen him. Even after the Civil Guards and the cuadrilleros, brushed through the entire town and its surrounding rice fields, hills, rivers and mountains; still came empty handed

In the three days that has passed by, Aling Nita grew more wretched than she was before as she can be seen sitting in the center isle facing the central altar. Her pain-stricken face seems to be asking compassion from the friar before her. Her audible whimper spoke of deep grief as she pleas for the Saints standing above the altar; her hands trembling from sobbing, on her right she holds a rosary, and her left hand grips the hand of his husband Mang Gener as Diego stands behind them. The rest of the crowd sits in silence staring at the grieving family, with some being gratified that it is not them who had to deal with such unexplainable sorrow, and that it was someone else's family.

Half of the crowd that flock the Sunday Mass believe that the bandits were behind Utoy's disappearance as they perceived he was abducted to be recruited. These culprits, some of the townsmen believed, would continue in abducting children and Utoy's abduction was just the start, as they believed the bandits needed new workforces to serve their purpose of overthrowing the Spanish rule. For every great factions need new and young recruits to supplant the aged and fragile with.

The other half perceived that Utoy's disappearance reignited the town's fear of the Burned Man. It was on the same days as these when Pasi was engulfed with the mystery brought by the death of Lito who was long claimed to be by the hands of the Maranhig. Like in every nightmare that someone had managed to get away from, the fear managed to somehow find a way to resurface after years of being buried and hidden away, locked in oblivion. Though years have passed since Lito's death, people still has its terror in them somewhere, buried underneath their consciousness as time went by as normal, that when Utoy was believed to have been abducted by the burned man, the terror that the people thought was long gone had resurrected, this time even more grappling, more terrifying and more haunting. The evil manifesting as the burned man has gone more menacing than he was years ago; and it has just started planting its seeds of terror in their town again.

Fray Luciano reaches out to Utoy's family and holds Aling Nita's hand. The hapless woman feels a holy present engulfs her as she descends into hysterics, grabs the friar's hand and kisses it, wetting it with her tears mixed with snot flowing out her nose.

The friar's eyes widened as he expresses a look of disgust upon seeing his hand covered with the woman's tears and snot; but quickly withdraws the disgusted expression on his face and conceals it with a look of compassion glancing through the faces of the church devotees before him making audible whispers into each other. These whispers echo over the fortress church

Fray Luciano raises his right hand to ask silence from the devotees, until Aling Nita's sob is the only audible whimper left;

"The Lord will not let his children be harmed by Men or forces of evil for children are heritage from the Lord" he announced, "His begotten child, our savior, was once a child too, and the Lord did not let the young Jesus suffer in the hands of evil at such a young age, from those who turned against Him. Rather, The Holy Child was promised to a blessed woman, Mary, the V.i.r.g.i.n; and raised along by a noble man, Joseph, forming a loving family,"

Fray Luciano gently withdraws his hand from Aling Nita's grip and turns his back against the church goers to face the altar as he secretly dries his hand with his robe; his disgusted look resurfacing. When he faces the audience again, the friar re-constructs his compassionate smile as he leads the people with The Lord's prayer.

"The Sacristans will roam around each isles to ask for your donation for this hapless family. In times like these, compassion towards our brothers in need will be highly appreciated," Tinyo, the priest's assistant announces after the prayer

Like what was mentioned, the sacristans begin roaming around from isle to isle each holding a basket asking donation from each church goers. The people holds onto their reales tightly considering the hard work that they exerted to earn each of it, but still oblige to give them out regardless. They feel that they would rather be on the giving end than to be suffering for a loss of a child. The friar overlooks the sacristans with a huge smile, glancing at the grieving family from time to time, giving them an assuring look.

As the bells ring when the mass concluded, people crams the doorway while Utoy's family is left sitting still. The curate's deacon Tinyo hands in the reales at Mang Gener who seems overwhelmed with the weight of the basket of reales but the amount given is less than half of the promised total tributes collected from that mass.

From the line going to the church doors, Teo struggles to approach the grieving family as he is being pushed away by the horde of the church goers trying to make their way out like a wild ocean current. When he and Isko find themselves outside the fortress church, the young men grasp for air and feel their lungs expanded as more air from the open space make its way in, and blinding light from the morning sun greet them.

"We should wait for them here," Teo claims at Isko still running for breath, "Aling Nita looks worse than the last we saw them,"

"And what will you advise her, Segnor?" Isko interrupts

Teo kept silent for a while as if struggling to find the answer to Isko's question

"My Uncle already made an announcement about Utoy's disappearance and the people already knew about it, that to me, is a good start,"

"And three days after, still no one responded to the pamphlets," Isko said firmly

To this, Teo shrugged off his shoulders,

"Still better than nothing," he pauses, "and it is also good that Aling Nita attended the mass and asked Fray Luciano's prayers for her son. I hope that the donation collected for Utoy could be of help ,"

Isko smiles impishly as he shakes his head gently

"And that was better than Nanang Dita's asking for help from a witch?" Isko teases, "better than Fabiana invoking the spirits of nature?"

"Indeed," Teo answers firmly, "I mean, all those theatrics only to learn the obvious that Utoy was with a mortal. I would have been more surprised had the trees or feral animals were behind Utoy's abduction," Teo laughs hysterically

Isko remains silent with a huge smirk staring at Teo.

"And Fray Luciano's prayer is any different, Segnor?" Isko finally utters

Teo falls silent examining Isko's expression and tone

"What do you mean exactly, Isko?"

"On a hindsight, Segnor, Fabiana and Fray Luciano were not that different at all. The witch prayed to her ancestors to summon the spirits of nature while the friar prayed to the Lord. We did not see those who they were praying to but they both believed them to be existing. They had different names and have contradicting ways of communicating with them. Through theatrics as you put it, as how Fabiana prayed to her ancestors; and Fray Luciano prayed to the Lord in audible silence in front of his devotees. But the sad part is, both prayers could not bring Utoy back home" Isko claims in a somber tone

"You were a child of the church, Isko, why a sudden doubt of the Lord?" Teo sternly enquires

"I was, Segnor" Isko looks away and sees Diego and Mang Gener holding Aling Nita approaching the church doors, "we both had lost a loved one, we both know that. But I was once like Aling Nita when my mother was deteriorating. I prayed to God to give my mother another chance at life, I reasoned out to Him that I worked for His house, the church, as an altar boy when I was still a child. I thought being a child of the church would make Him more considerate of me when I was asking for a small favor, but I was wrong. Mother still died despite my pleas,"

Teo traces a deep feeling of loneliness from Isko's voice as he reaches out a hand at him to console him.

"The Lord might have found his clothes too plain and lacking in sweet smell; and He needed your mother to bring colors and scent to His laundry," Teo gently smiles

Isko smiles back as he stares at the door of the belfry with its bell ringer walking away after he had rung the bells. Isko's smile turns into a curious gaze as he points Teo towards the direction of the bell ringer

"The Limp," Isko pauses, "he still gives me the creeps"

"He has a name, Isko" Teo interrupts, "Isidro has always been assiduous to me. It takes great devotion to serve the church tirelessly despite his disability"

Sid the Limp disappears into their sight and into the church struggling to keep pace walking, pulling his right foot. From the doors, they see Aling Nita and Mang Gener approaching with Diego. As a strong wind blows, it wildly sweeps Isko and Teo's straw hats along some dirt on the road and copies of the pamphlets announcing Utoy's disappearance into the air. Teo runs to catch his hat rolling on the ground being carried away by the wind. When he catches his hat, he sees a veiled woman standing among the church goers holding a copy of the pamphlet.

Fabiana reads through the announcement on the pamphlet as she pulls her veil to conceal her face, only then she sees Teo standing from afar staring at her curiously. The veiled woman walks away but she is interrupted as Teo stops him

"How did you know my foster father?" Teo rushes towards her but she keeps on walking away

"Segnor, I already told you how one ancestor saw your foster father's dungan and left a message for you," she answers quickly clasping the hem of her veil

"I did not mean that, Segnora, I saw you standing on his grave at the mausoleum," Teo pauses, "I knew it was you, only now I realized why you looked too familiar, Fabiana. What were you doing in his grave with those flowers and candle?"

Fabiana stops walking and turns around to face Teo with a serene look on her face

"I shall leave, Segnor, the Padre's mass earlier was heartwarming. He really had genuine concern towards the boy's family, and I sincerely hope the donation he has given them would suffice their needs. Though I was only able to donate so much, but that was from hard work nonetheless" she bows her head, and Fabiana walks away from the crowd, disappearing into the fields.

"Segnor, Aling Nita and her family have left, she was too tired and wished to be home immediately ," Isko announces from behind