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Buried under outdated parish records, sealed in a brown envelope marked “Catechism—Class ’17.”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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJPKKmrbH9
Some were posed.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgl9TF1muY
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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgv2N1TOLwG
Younger. Still untouched by cynicism.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkquCaC0US
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.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0K5MnB0saO
To the janitor who drank too much but remembered too well.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJZmmn6gvL
To the librarian who pretended not to hear things... but catalogued everything.
One name kept surfacing: Fr. Vico.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MkFOqAago
And one phrase:
“Sila-sila lang ang nagtatakpan.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBE7ngDaUcL
They cover for their own.
Late one evening, Ely entered the priest’s quarters under the guise of looking for baptismal records.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSBc3mRNVC
Instead, he found the room pristine—almost sterile.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa938AoawGx
Except for one locked drawer.
Inside?
Perfumed letters.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LMaFM9rlx
Lipstick-stained tissues.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBYy4y0Axb
A small box of jewelry—cheap, delicate pieces girls often wore in high school.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7a8b4eVIu
And at the bottom, another set of photos.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbk1SqUrBoO
Private. Exposed.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYq3fwAuFdZ
No longer innocent.
Some were of Ella.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgkMT1CQ5H
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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68N4WG73Vz
As if he had no demons clinging to his hands.
“Kailan ka pa naging ganito?” Ely asked, voice low.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2sqwR63NK
“You broke into my room?” Vico laughed, not looking up. “That’s a bigger sin than lust, brother.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3a0nsAE0Q2
“You call it lust? I call it assault.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZCm87PJet
“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.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5958nTLk3v
“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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