The House Of The Unholy

In the afternoon of the 31st of October, the Salgados agreed to pay a visit at the tomb of Don Lorenzo half a day before the Dia de los Todos los Santos. It is planned to have Teo with Tatang Chuy and some servants to be at the cemetery on the eve of the day of the dead while Teniente Leon and his wife will follow the next day. As in every families of the departed, some would advance their visit to clean the tombs of their loved ones, so that on the 1st of November, these tombs are already presentable and tidy as a sign of giving respect and tributes to their departed relatives. To show them that they remember them even just for that special day

Tatang Chuy drives the carriage with Teo inside, two male servants sitting beside the old man. The carriage halts in the middle of the road to give way to a an on going procession with old women and children wearing white long garbs, imitating the ghosts of the departed. It is believed that on the eve of the day of the dead, spirits would roam around and pay visit to the mortal world to be with their living loved ones. Some spirits would take this opportunity to remind their living family of their obligation to visit their graves and light them a candle for the day that would come after.

The procession is led by old women holding lighted candles looking like tired ghosts. The shade of their lighted candles cover their faces while they are singing their praises. The younger members at the end of the procession would repeat the chants after the elders. Their collective chants give off an eerie sound, with the strained voices of the elders over powering the heavenly voices of the children. Some members of the procession would stop at carriages to offer songs to passengers in exchange for alms or candles. Others would stop at houses they pass by to serenade them with songs and offer prayers as well

A group of children, girls and boys, stop at Teo's carriage and begin serenading him with their song for the dead. Teo is easily charmed with their collective angelic voices as he peeks his head through the window. After the children finishes off their song, Teo hands them alms of couple reales, and a lighted candle with which the children would bring with them through the procession.

Teo steps out of the carriage to watch the children join in the procession with his lighted candle. Other carriages are also parked before and behind them, all stopped to witness the spectacle

"How much did you give the children, Segnor?" Tatang Chuy enquires still holding the rein

"A couple pieces of reales, Tatang Chuy" he responds

"That would be enough to be the Don's fee to the gates of Mt Madja-as. It has been believed since the old times that the alms will be used to pay Sidapa, the deity of death and gate keeper of the mountain of the dead; to let the souls of the departed to roam around the world of the living. Some people would give alms based on the number of departed relatives they have, each should have enough to pay their fees to pass the gates," Tatang Chuy claims

"That is interesting," Teo smiles still looking at the passing procession

"And the candles," Tatang Chuy pauses to catch his Segnor's attention, "the lighted candles will be the souls guide to find their way through"

"If a member of the procession serenades a house with no departed relatives, they would only be given a lighted candle to bring with them back to the procession to help keep the light of the procession brighter," one of the male servants adds

"With the collective light of those burning candle, I could just imagine the Don following it. He could even be here now roaming, or making his way to the stone house," adds Tatang Chuy smiling loosely

From afar Teo imagines the Don, walking silently along with other souls, smiling back at them following the trail of the procession. He imagines souls of the dead, young men, old women, children, fathers and mothers carrying their infants, all coming from everywhere. Some are coming from the rice fields, some coming off the trees, all meeting together in the dirt road, joining in the trail, following the light of the burning candles. He feels at peace seeing the face of his foster father once again, looking at him, even if it is just in his imagination

"That is consoling, Tatang Chuy. If he is here, I wish he could see us too, on our way to his tomb and we remember him," Teo smiles back now looking at the tail of the procession

Once the procession of the dead passed by, the halted carriages proceed on their way to the cemetery. There, a number of people are already cramming at the gate, waiting on the line to be at the tomb of their departed family members. Along the way to the mausoleum, Teo sees men, old and young, busying themselves in tidying up some tombs. Others are cleaning stray grasses and bushes off the tombs. Some of these grasses grew taller than the tombs themselves, a sign that these tombs have not been visited prior to that night.

Upon reaching the Salgado mausoleum, Tatang Chuy begins instructing the male servants in cleaning the Don's tomb. The tall grasses outside the mausoleum have to be trimmed since some grasses are even covering the trails toward the door. The statue of St. Michael stepping over the defeated Devil looks more damaged than before as the archangel's face seems to be melted while the defeated devil has half of its face broken. It must have been stepped on intentionally by people passing by this side of the cemetery as their way of denouncing the devil.

Teo steps outside the mausoleum to take air in while he looks around him. He hears the noise of the people from the other side of the cemetery when he realizes that he has never seen the cemetery so full of life before. Far from where he is standing, he looks at the trees at the end of the tall grasses track, where he saw the veiled woman ran away from the mausoleum before. As he stares longer, he seems like seeing an apparition as he thought he sees a figure moving from the grasses. He tries to stare longer and he finds himself right as there really is a figure, moving along the dancing tall grasses with the blowing wind. From afar he sees a woman, the same woman he saw before, slowly making her way into the grasses. She is staring at the moon silently. She seems to be feeling the cold wind numbing her skin as she has her hands apart feeling the tip of the grasses touching the palm of her hands. As the woman takes a moment to look at Teo, her spectator, he recognizes her to be Fabiana.

Teo walks towards the woman who resumes in staring up the sky. Before he could say a word, the woman interrupts her;

"Libulan has never been this bright," she utters with a smile

Teo looks around him to confirm who she could have referred to but finds them alone in the grasses

"She, Segnor!" she responds pointing her pursed lips at the moon

"The moon?" he asks

"The deity, Segnor" she responds as she closes her eyes, "Libulan is one of the embodiments of the moon. She is the fairest one, gentle yet timid. The other embodiment is the pale boy, Bulan. Mischievous and playful, but also beautiful nonetheless. On nights when the moon is high in the sky at its fullest, Bulan, would come down to run around the terrain and bathe in streams. It is there where the deity of death Sidapa would meet him and they would spend the night together. Sidapa has always been besotted with the moon boy,"

"I am unsure if I understood that, Segnora," he pauses, "you said the moon boy and the deity of the death spending the night together?. And the deity of death is also a man, same as Bulan"

The woman blankly stares at him and quickly retrieves her glance away;

"Not everything is meant to be understood the way you were taught to perceive them, Segnor . Before the coming of the occupants, this land was more accepting of what they would eventually consider to be forbidden. It was like they have stepped on our lands and distributed veils to filter our sights with,"

Fabiana walks towards the trees as she covers her face with her veil.

"May I ask what you are doing here, Segnora?," he pauses to gasp for air, "Were you at the tomb of Don Lorenzo?" Teo stubbornly continues

The veiled woman picks up a dead twig from the ground and inspects it, after which she puts it inside her straw bag

"I visited old friends and offered them prayers" she pauses, "and flowers and candles too. The old Don was also a good friend of mine"

"How did you two know each other then?" he pushes his enquiry further

The woman weighs in her straw bag and checks if there is still enough space for other twigs, leaves or bushes in it

"This is a small town Segnor. You can bump in to the same people regularly without even realizing it. Besides, your foster father was a noble man when he was still alive. I owed him a lot back then. Even death could not make me forget that I am indebted," she continues picking up leaves and inspecting them

"If that is the case then come with us. Tatang Chuy brought food for the night, you can join us," Teo offers austerely

Fabiana still has her back on him while sniffing a bundle of grasses on her hand

"It is so nice of you, Segnor. The old Don must have imparted his warm heart to you," she smiles, "However, I am afraid I could not accept your invitation. I came here also to talk to our ancestors. On the eve of the day of the dead, the ancestors have their will unrestricted as opposed to any other days. They have confirmed where the missing boy is"

Teo finds her claim surprising as he had an argument with her in the past concerning her way of finding Utoy. He even made quite a remark on her invoking her ancestors and talking to the spirits of nature. Their argument lead to him disparaging the woman and her orations which he now somehow feels apologetic of.

"I understand your disbelief, Segnor, but once your eyes are ready to be opened, once those veils that they had put on you are lifted, please find time to visit the old church ruins," Fabiana ties the hem of her veil, "there you shall find the boy," she answered while still walking further into the woods

Teo walks after Fabiana but the woman keeps walking away further. From afar, he hears one of the servants calling out to him claiming that the supper is ready. Teo is left in the grasses watching Fabiana stopping along the way to pick up bushes from the ground and puts some in her straw bag