The House of the Unholy

At the Deck

On a humid dawning day like this, when he was still at the ship that brought him back home, the Perfecta, on its way to dock ashore; Teo recalls standing in the deck looking over the growing silhouette of the Island of Panay. From the deck, he followed with his gaze a group of hulking men walking around each carrying with them loads and barrels in preparation of the Perfecta docking. These men glow in the dark caused by their sweat, their rugged camisas are stained from the dirt of the loads they were carrying; so are their complexion which were tanned by the ocean breeze from days of sailing.

“Going home to Pasi, eh?” one of the men exclaims, his heavily accented voice pierces through the silent deck

“Me, Segnor?” Teo responds

“Yes, Segnor” the man catches a small cloth hanging on his shoulder to wipe sweat from his forehead, “I knew the Don”

Teo silently stares at the man forcibly tying a rope to a group of wooden cargo as if trying to recall if he has seen him before in Pasi. He knew he must have been gone for several years but he still has a good recall of the staff that worked at the stone house and at their farm; but this man before him, he could not recall seeing him before either at the farm or at the stone house.

“We were hired by the old servant to fill the mud of the Don’s front lawn with large stones from a nearby quarry. Those stones were too massive that each of them had to be carried by four men of my size. Despite their mass, they still got easily eaten by the mud once we began filling them up. The mud, especially at the front lawn were too deep, we even thought it could sink the entire stone house for few more years” the man tightens the grip of the rope

“I have not been home for years, it might terrify me seeing the muddy ground of the stone house worsen,” Teo keeps his head down

“They already buried the Don, don’t they Segnor?” the man enquires still not looking up at him

Teo must have found the man’s tactlessness amusing as he struggled whether to answer him despite the awkwardness of how casual his question came across to Teo; or to make the man aware of his discomfort and just leave. Before he came up with the proper response, the man can be heard making a squeaky noise with his tongue hitting the corner of his mouth, like the sound a lizard make. However, to this man, that was the sound of him committing a mistake with tying the wooden cargo with a rope

“Stupid me, I would have to untie these bastards and tie them up again” he scolds himself

Teo just stood there looking at the man as he untied the wooden cargo, uncoiled the rope from them and begin to correct his mistake

“The town believed the Don died of a heart attack. But only a fool would believe such claim,” he paused to pull the rope tightly, “the Don must have owned the largest farm and had other men employed to furrow his lands, but the Don was also a hands-on farmer himself. His body was trained to endure the fatigue of farming and other physically tolling jobs one can think of. Men like us, will not get easily succumbed to childish sicknesses, unless someone intended our demise” the man finished his work as he stood forcefully to stretch out his arms and legs

“What are you suggesting, Segnor?” Teo finally uttered

“It was just my belief that the Don could have been murdered” the man responds casually.

Only then Teo recalls his conversation with Dr Farin just that afternoon as he lies awake staring at the ceiling.