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Buried under outdated parish records, sealed in a brown envelope marked “Catechism—Class ’17.”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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqzzqFtfQZ
Some were posed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmFlKg2LtP
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIBxOSMkFg
Younger. Still untouched by cynicism.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1U6NLQDUCe
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.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPBMbwAPJN
To the janitor who drank too much but remembered too well.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7YAdnHKMA
To the librarian who pretended not to hear things... but catalogued everything.
One name kept surfacing: Fr. Vico.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPjMCY3pJA
And one phrase:
“Sila-sila lang ang nagtatakpan.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbohjAKxuk
They cover for their own.
Late one evening, Ely entered the priest’s quarters under the guise of looking for baptismal records.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzcmR9PzHa
Instead, he found the room pristine—almost sterile.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1wM5gdHzc
Except for one locked drawer.
Inside?
Perfumed letters.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCIUzhzl2W
Lipstick-stained tissues.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0q6lWr8TIf
A small box of jewelry—cheap, delicate pieces girls often wore in high school.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37uXo97FcW
And at the bottom, another set of photos.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQMMbzxGnp
Private. Exposed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpl0rrbokM
No longer innocent.
Some were of Ella.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwTr1yZxSG
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.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69MrPIjD7F
As if he had no demons clinging to his hands.
“Kailan ka pa naging ganito?” Ely asked, voice low.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjx6UcpcNh
“You broke into my room?” Vico laughed, not looking up. “That’s a bigger sin than lust, brother.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBxsDEvABA
“You call it lust? I call it assault.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrzXBvpGCk
“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.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJR5tRzOVZY
“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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