Chapter Four: The Virgin Files
It started with a folder.
Buried under outdated parish records, sealed in a brown envelope marked “Catechism—Class ’17.” But inside were no lesson plans. No roll calls or grades. Just photos.
Girls.
All in uniform.
Smiling awkwardly in corridors, beside statues, near the sacristy.
Some were candid.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsg8D4Izm3o
Some were posed.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMHIjDMzBM
All were taken without consent.
Eleazar “Ely” Bautista stared at the images. His breath caught. These weren’t just random students. These were names he remembered—whispers in the hallways, faces that faded from church events without warning.
And in one photo, taken just outside the retreat house—Ella.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDVL0deToh
Younger. Still untouched by cynicism.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnanEGvz7TT
Still believing priests were closer to heaven than harm.
The back of the photo had a name scrawled in elegant cursive: Virgen #5.
There were at least nine more.
Ely’s hands trembled as he slid the folder into his satchel. He couldn’t stay in the office—too many ears in wooden walls. Too many secrets traded in confessional booths and cigar breaks.
He began asking questions—quietly.
To the sacristan who was once kicked out of seminary “for attitude issues.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwqmCH8Bp1
To the janitor who drank too much but remembered too well.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjgu3x5xKx
To the librarian who pretended not to hear things... but catalogued everything.
One name kept surfacing: Fr. Vico.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTp1YZIMO1e
And one phrase:
“Sila-sila lang ang nagtatakpan.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFuPdm1XtI
They cover for their own.
Late one evening, Ely entered the priest’s quarters under the guise of looking for baptismal records.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXaW6OginM
Instead, he found the room pristine—almost sterile.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgV8UKenM81
Except for one locked drawer.
Inside?
Perfumed letters.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmksK3rQdR
Lipstick-stained tissues.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1O4hxrBnCR
A small box of jewelry—cheap, delicate pieces girls often wore in high school.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLmCSNnyaF
And at the bottom, another set of photos.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyz3iLL9LZT
Private. Exposed.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMP7jLuz50C
No longer innocent.
Some were of Ella.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZzq2FG0IA
Others, he didn’t recognize.
Ely felt bile rise in his throat.
He knew what he had to do.
The confrontation wasn’t loud.
Ely waited until Vico was alone in the sacristy, polishing the chalice, humming a hymn.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4jPy5wiAc
As if he had no demons clinging to his hands.
“Kailan ka pa naging ganito?” Ely asked, voice low.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡognLMZHIdr
“You broke into my room?” Vico laughed, not looking up. “That’s a bigger sin than lust, brother.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mXqWdtB48
“You call it lust? I call it assault.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKd0GmDPUL
“I call it consent,” Vico said sharply. “They wanted it. Needed it. You think they come here for God?”
Ely took a step forward. The crucifix gleamed between them.
“You use the Church like a shield.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Yl3yklDvw
“And you? You’ll burn this place down to feel holy?”
For a moment, the silence crackled like dry leaves ready for fire.
Then Vico said something Ely would never forget:
“You expose me… you expose them all. The school. The seminary. The Order. You think they’ll thank you? No. They’ll crucify you, not me.”
And Vico walked away.
But that night, Ely didn’t sleep.
Instead, he opened a blank Word document.
And began typing:
“To the victims who prayed for justice in silence… I hear you now.”
He labeled the file: The Virgin Files.
And he knew, once it was finished, he couldn’t undo it.
Even if it cost him his priesthood.
Even if it made him the enemy of the very Church he once vowed to serve.
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