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Buried under outdated parish records, sealed in a brown envelope marked “Catechism—Class ’17.”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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWomtweEpd
Some were posed.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9IxnHiqiM
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YnNGoABSg
Younger. Still untouched by cynicism.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7G3h0bobvM
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.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡriZCnuNI3t
To the janitor who drank too much but remembered too well.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2WA4QJ7U0
To the librarian who pretended not to hear things... but catalogued everything.
One name kept surfacing: Fr. Vico.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypzW1WEZ1h
And one phrase:
“Sila-sila lang ang nagtatakpan.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjgMmhvw4Z
They cover for their own.
Late one evening, Ely entered the priest’s quarters under the guise of looking for baptismal records.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0avRkut74
Instead, he found the room pristine—almost sterile.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JThdzQyJT
Except for one locked drawer.
Inside?
Perfumed letters.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIABqStQyH
Lipstick-stained tissues.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlnW8mlmaI
A small box of jewelry—cheap, delicate pieces girls often wore in high school.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRaYN1mwzT
And at the bottom, another set of photos.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04m9mWBGzg
Private. Exposed.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0f2saWcRy
No longer innocent.
Some were of Ella.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGi0NdUskn0
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3JIIHkXak
As if he had no demons clinging to his hands.
“Kailan ka pa naging ganito?” Ely asked, voice low.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6n4lqkt0l
“You broke into my room?” Vico laughed, not looking up. “That’s a bigger sin than lust, brother.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBDT20a0ui
“You call it lust? I call it assault.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMo0Eue4Mp
“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.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOi6ZVOlSu
“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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