Chapter 12: Eden Was Never Innocent
Ella had never talked about it.
Not when her hands were trembling after Communion.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXEbfVl2I7
Not when her mother forced her to finish catechism.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgop746YauT
Not even when she screamed in her sleep and woke with the taste of incense in her mouth.
But Ely noticed.
He noticed how her voice cracked whenever the word “forgiveness” was uttered in homilies.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdcSuW427u
He noticed how she flinched at the sound of cassocks swaying or keys jangling from the priests’ waists.
And one night, when the silence between them had become too honest to ignore, he asked, “Sino siya?”
Ella didn’t answer.
She stood from his old dorm couch, crossed the room, and opened her phone. No tears. Just muscle memory.
She showed Ely a photo. A school recognition day. Ella at eleven, smiling beside a priest in full Augustinian habit.
“Father Silvino. Confessor. Teacher. Family friend,” she said, voice like sandpaper.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzt73PJYz3
“He taught us God’s love feels like peace. Then he told me God wouldn’t mind if love felt like this too.”
Ely’s heart cracked.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaKSGmr34g
And something else inside him died.
He knew Silvino. A respected scholar. Frequently invited to theological symposia. Beloved by parents for his “gentle way with girls.”
Ely recalled how Silvino used to kiss his students on the forehead during lectures.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tT4s0IwNN
How he’d sit too close to the more “troubled” ones.
“How long?” Ely asked.
“Two years,” Ella whispered. “I got my period in that convent. And my first taste of wine and guilt.”
She handed him a flash drive.
“All the girls he 'helped.' Some emailed me. Some couldn’t talk but sent drawings. One sent a suicide note.”
The drive was labeled: “EDEN.”
And suddenly, Ely understood what Ella had been building. Not just justice—but retribution wrapped in scripture.
He took her hand gently, lips trembling.
“I should’ve known. I was there. I saw you in the halls. I saw you shrink.”
Ella nodded. “But you were just a boy priest then, too. Too busy praying to see blood on the altar.”
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