The House of the Unholy

Night Visitors

     Teo struggles to find the right angle to properly read the wrinkled letter he received from Fray Luciano when he was in the university back in Manila. He has to constantly hold the letter closer to the lamp after flattening the crumpled parts with his hands. Although he almost had the content of the letter memorized, he still feels depressed every time he reads it as if he is reading through it for the first time

     "Don Lorenzo has passed away", that phrase still stands out until this day

      It somehow consoles him that he was able to pay his respect to his foster father on his grave. The desolation he felt on that fateful day he learned the death of his foster father is still present; and each time he reads the letter feels like peeling off dry skin from a scab only to find the wound is still not healed. Many nights he spent re-reading the letter before he goes to sleep in the hope that one day he would wake up and all was just a bad dream

      He stares at the letter one last time while lying on his bed with the lamp on the bed side table. He can now feel his eyes getting heavy; he could hear amplified chirping crickets from outside and cold breeze embracing him from the windowsill. He falls asleep

     It feels like hours have passed until Teo sees himself standing in front of the Salgados' Mausoleum. How he got in the cemetery is a mystery; he could have sleep walked himself there since he sees his bare feet covered in mud and dry leaves. He tries to recall if he had been sleep walking before, but his mind fails him. He feels a presence standing behind him so he quickly turns around only to be stunned by the statue of Archangel Michael and the Devil illuminated by the moon; their deformed figures worsen. He feels an unexplained dread knowing that he is alone in the dark in the cemetery. He always has been terrified of the dark; afraid of the unknown that might be lurking in the shadows.

       When the cold wind blows and hit the grasses, it creates an eerie sound along with the rustling trees from afar. As the wind blows again, he hears a moan echoing; and it comes from the mausoleum. He walks slowly towards the wooden door and notices pale light leaking from the door gap. As he slowly slides the doors open, the weeping sound gets softer; from where he is standing he sees a veiled woman in front of the grave. She appears to be a shadowy figure since the woman is covering the light of the burning candle

      “Excuse me, Segnora,” Teo calls on her

       The woman continues sobbing, on her right hand she holds a basket of flowers. Teo walks inch by inch closer to the veiled woman. He extends his right arm to reach the woman by her shoulder; one more inch and he will be able to touch her when she stops weeping. Teo's beating heart is intensified; he could feel beads of sweat falling from his forehead though it's cold; then he touches the woman by her shoulder

         The woman remains stoic; Teo feels the cloth the woman is wearing; the holes on her blouse and the roughness of the thread on her embroidered veil; then unexpectedly, the woman extends her left hand on her shoulder, touching Teo's resting hand. Blood rushes towards Teo's head as he begin to feel feverish, but her hand feels icy.

         He tries to withdraw his hand away from the woman but Teo feels the tight grip of her freezing hand against his. Slowly, the veiled woman raises her head and gently turns her gaze towards him. Teo's hand feels the cold sniffs coming from her as she continues to turn her head towards him. Unsure why he feels terrified; but then he realizes he has always been terrified of what he does not know. His mind tends to anticipate in advance when faced with uncertainties; but this time his mind finds it difficult to catch a hold of faces to expect what the face the veiled woman has.

         Though she is now gazing directly at Teo, her face is still covered in veil and he struggles to figure out who she could be. She is heavily breathing; his hand, close to her nose and mouth turns moist; and it keeps getting damper. He feels liquid flowing on his hand, pasty and tepid; her saliva. Repulsed by the idea, he forcefully pushes the woman with his left hand, and withdraws his other hand. Unfortunately, gravity pulls him forcibly and he stumbles on the dusty ground.

         Then the wind blows, puts out the fire from the burning candle and shuts the sliding door wildly as he panics. He gropes with his hands to reach for the door; he hears footsteps coming towards him; the woman's. She is getting closer but he is struggling to find his way to the door. He feels something crawling over him; on his feet, to his knees, all over his arms; must be insects, they could be roaches, or crickets or spiders; but he doesn't care. He no longer knows how long he has been groping in the dark to find the door, he must get out of this place, away from the insects, away from her

        As he reaches his arms far, he touches a hard wood erected on the ground, grasps onto it and thrusts his body forward. His left hand senses an upward curve as part of the hard wood and slides his body up, he then sits on the curvature, catches his breath and looks around him to find himself in his room, sitting on his bed. He must have fallen on the ground while sleeping. He wipes beads of sweat off his face with the hem of his shirt and takes air in.

         While sitting on his bed, he looks far in the darkness. The lamp is no longer burning, must have been blown by the wind. From afar, where it is pitch black, his eyes sees figures forming; the longer he stares in the dark, the clearer the figures get. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he is sure to see a figure of a boy approaching him. Beside him, a shadowy figure slowly taking form; covered in dark rugged cloak, his face remains as dark as the empty space; he is holding the boy by the hand. Teo is petrified when he finally distinguish the figures approaching him, The Burned Man and Lito.

         From where he is seated he feels he is about to have seizures, he could not move, his senses are heightened; he smells the mud on the marbled ground, he can mostly hear his own heartbeat as The Burned Man and Lito approaches.

         "It's okay, Teo" he could hear Lito utters, his voice is ghastly echoing over the room

When the figures stops inches away from him, vividly he is able to stare at them. He has never seen his childhood friend this close since that fateful day. As he stares at Lito longer, he feels a sudden grief, a feeling of longing to hold his friend, to touch his hand, to save him. That is when it occurred to him he had to save him, he had to pull him away from The Burned Man. He is still immovable, the muscles on his body are too weak. He sees The Burned Man now standing behind Lito, on his left hand he is holding something unclear. He squints to see it clearer until he figures out The Burned Man is holding a rock, a large chunk of marble, which used to form part the ground of the ruined church

        His mind thinks in advance as usual, and frighteningly expects what will happen next. The Burned Man raises his hand that holds the marble in the air, then with all his might, hits it at Lito. Teo desires to yell but even his throat seems contracting along with his body. He can only watch Lito's feeble body rests on the ground dying. With one last try, Teo successfully stands firm and slowly strides towards Lito. As he reaches the boy's lifeless body, he bends his legs and rests his arms on his knees, he is running out of breath, he could see blood from Lito's head wound scatters to the marble ground. When he straighten his stance to gasp for air, he feels his left hand weighty, raises it and horrified at what he sees; the chunk of marble soaked in Lito's blood. He is holding the rock that killed Lito.

         The Burned Man is nowhere to be found, only he and Lito's lifeless body is in the old church ruins. He recalls he was just sitting on his bed few minutes ago; it riddles him to figure out how he got to the ruins in that instant, he is still shaking tremendously. When he turns right he sees another figure appearing before him, another boy, weeping outside the ruins, he is sitting on the cold dusty ground, his arms embracing his coiled knees, he sees himself, younger, back when he was an altar boy. Behind him The Burned Man appearing slowly, reaching its hand on his younger self.

         Teo twitches his fore finger, then his other fingers follow; he opens his eyes, still catching his breath and somehow unable to move. He sees his room now illuminated by the sunlight coming off the window; after which he regains his strength

          "It was all just a dream!" he utters to himself as he reclines to his bed, heavily breathing, still holding the letter on his right hand.