“Stop this. You’ve proven that Roberto wasn’t an agent of the Devil, so it’s unlikely that Monica or the child she’s carrying is a demon,” Mikmik shouted at them.
Father Pio approached and calmed the villagers. Aling Lupe did the same, telling them they didn’t need to make another mistake in their judgment and risk hurting someone again.
“But people are still dying one after another in our village for no explainable reason,” one of them said.
“If we don’t act, we’ll all die one by one. We have to wipe out every servant of the Devil responsible for this strange illness that seems to have no cure,” another added.
“Calm down. I assure you, we won’t stop until the Devil’s forces have been destroyed. Go back to your homes and rest,” the priest told the people gathered there.
“Go home? An innocent person is gone because of what you did, and now you’re just going home?” Ichi said angrily.
“You probably won’t understand, but it was God’s will to end her suffering. You saw how much she was suffering earlier, but now she’s free,” the priest explained.
“This place has lost its mind.” Anndi and her friends turned away at the same time. They accompanied Monica until she reached home.
“You need to leave this town. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow. We can’t stand this place’s madness anymore,” Janni said.
“But we have nowhere else to go. Besides, I’m already in my last month, and the baby could be harmed by the rough trip,” Monica replied.
“But they’ll kill you here. The next time someone in your area dies from an illness they don’t understand, they’ll blame you. Do you understand?” Maya snapped at her, but it seemed nothing would change Monica’s decision. She would stay in that place, even though doing so put her in serious danger.
“They probably won’t think I’m a servant of the Devil. They only made a mistake with my husband because of his condition.”
The friends could only shrug at Monica’s words. They turned around and left her in her tiny home. As Anndi and the others walked home, they couldn’t help discussing what was happening in town.
“We need to leave this place as soon as possible. Next they might decide that Ichi and Mikmik are *aswang* too,” Janni said worriedly.
“Big bro looks like an *aswang* even at first glance, but Mikmik? No way,” Maya joked, trying to lighten the mood. Even she wanted to leave that place already.
“Are you coming back with us, Anndi?” Mikmik asked her.
“Not yet, I think. Not until what’s happening here in our area is resolved,” Anndi replied.
“Why don’t we go to the authorities and tell them what’s happening here?” Ichi suggested.
“If we do that, the police will find out what my father has done to the people who died. He’ll definitely go to prison. Then it’ll just be my mother and him living together in the house whenever I’m in Manila studying.”
The four fell silent at Anndi’s words. They couldn’t blame their friend for covering up the village’s madness. They couldn’t help her either, so they let the matter go. All they knew was that they were leaving in the morning.
When they returned to Anndi’s house, there were a few people gathered there, and Mang Lino seemed to be holding a meeting. They were putting something together, but the four paid it no attention. They went straight to their respective rooms and rested.
Mikmik couldn’t sleep anymore. They packed their things and waited for morning, as if he couldn’t wait to leave that place. From their room, they could hear the noisy pounding of wood outside. Why were people still doing carpentry in the dead of night?
“What kind of trouble are they making now?” Ichi asked irritably. “Aren’t you afraid of this place? Next time, you or one of our friends might be mistaken for the person spreading the plague in this town.”
“I am afraid. That’s why we’re leaving later, right?”
“What about Anndi?” Ichi asked Mikmik.
“Her family is here. She’ll probably be okay,” Mikmik replied.
“We can’t be sure. The next time something happens here that they don’t understand, they could blame anyone.”
A little later, Elsa came running like a madwoman. She was crying and screaming.
“My child is dead!” Elsa shouted as she ran toward Mang Lino’s group.
Mang Lino went to her and tried to calm her down, but she was inconsolable. People began gathering around Elsa to hear her story.
“Lupe, bring Elsa a glass of water,” he ordered his wife.
Lupe immediately followed her husband’s order. She went inside the house for a moment, then came back out holding a glass of water. She handed it to Elsa. Elsa tried to drink, but her whole body was shaking so badly that she could barely manage it. Lupe took the glass back and helped her drink. Elsa felt somewhat better after getting some water down.
“What happened, Elsa?” Lupe asked.
“My child is gone.” She began crying again. Mang Lino brought over a chair and had Elsa sit down.
“Perhaps it was simply her time,” Aling Lupe said.
“No, Aling Lupe!” said one of the people who had been listening. “This is the Devil’s revenge because Aling Elsa was one of those who said Roberto had to be punished.”
The people around them began whispering again. Elsa stood up and started thinking. She considered the possibility that it could have happened that way.
“You’re right. My child was fine when I left her before going to sleep. Maybe Monica took revenge and killed my child?” Elsa said fearfully.
“That’s not impossible, Aling Elsa. We should storm Monica’s house and find out. We should have destroyed her earlier,” one person shouted.
The shouting outside was clearly audible inside Mikmik and Ichi’s room. Unable to stand it any longer, they came out. At that exact moment, they met Janni, Maya, and Anndi, who were also heading toward the commotion.
“What’s all that noise outside?” Maya asked Ichi.
“It sounds like Aling Elsa’s child died, and they’re blaming Monica,” Ichi replied.
“I heard they’re heading to Monica’s place. She and her child are definitely in danger,” Mikmik added.
The five didn’t waste any time. They went outside at once to stop the people and calm them down. But it was too late. The mob had already left, and they seemed furious. The five decided to follow them, afraid the mob might turn its anger on them instead.
The people walked quickly, as though they were rushing so their enemy couldn’t escape. Anndi and the others moved just as fast. If they could reach Monica’s place first, they could warn her to leave. When they arrived, the mob was throwing rocks at Monica’s house.
“Come out! Monster!” one of them shouted.
“You plague-bringer!” another yelled.
At that moment, Mikmik and Ichi could no longer stand by. They tried to stop the people.
“Wait! How is she supposed to come out if you keep throwing rocks?” Mikmik said angrily.
“Let’s calm down and wait for her explanation,” Ichi said.
The people fell silent for a moment and waited for Monica to come out on her own. A few moments later, the door of Monica’s tiny shack slowly opened. The moment Monica peeked out, Aling Elsa charged at her. She grabbed Monica by the hair and dragged her outside, then shoved her until she fell into the road.
“You bastard! You killed my child!” Aling Elsa sobbed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Monica replied, unable to stop herself from crying.
Aling Elsa answered with a slap. At that point, Anndi, Janni, and Maya stepped in. Anndi restrained Aling Elsa as she thrashed about, while the other two helped Monica up.
“Please come to your senses, Aling Elsa. Monica is pregnant,” Anndi admonished her.
“I don’t care! Did she think about my child’s life? No!” Elsa was impossible to calm.
“Why are you accusing Monica of killing your child? Did you see her do it? The problem with you people is that you’re always so quick to accuse others. Your child was already sick to begin with, but you refused to take her to specialists because you were convinced the illness was caused by a demon.” Anndi finally lost her temper with Aling Elsa.
Aling Elsa seemed to regain her senses at Anndi’s words. Things might have settled down, but Mang Lino stepped into the scene again.
“We can’t know for sure. We all know how treacherously the Devil works. They’ll disguise themselves as one of us, then spread terror at night,” her father said.
The others nodded in agreement with Mang Lino. A little while later, Father Pio suddenly arrived at the scene. Janni could no longer hold back and condemned the priest.
“You’re a priest. How can you stand by and let this happen in this town?”
“I only want to put an end to the mysterious illness covering this place, child. The strange sickness is caused by witches who serve the Devil,” the priest replied.
Janni and Maya could only shake their heads before turning away. They didn’t want to hear anything else from the priest. He acted like a being who thought himself above everyone else and incapable of making a mistake in his decisions.
“There! Monica must be a witch!” someone in the crowd said.
“That’s right! She needs to be punished!” another shouted.
The priest stepped forward and approached the terrified Monica. She embraced him as if searching for someone who could save her—and her unborn child.
“Father Pio, please help me,” the woman said, trembling.
“I’ll help you if you help us too. Admit it. Do you have anything to do with the illness afflicting this town?” the priest asked her.
Monica couldn’t believe what she’d heard. The person she expected to save her was the one persecuting her.
“I have nothing to do with it, Father. You know I’m a churchgoing person,” she replied.
“There must be some basis for the people’s accusation that you’re a witch. Is anyone here willing to testify that she’s a witch?” Father Pio asked the townspeople.
One by one, those accusing Monica stepped forward to testify that she was a witch.
“I remember last year. She touched my child’s head, and my child suddenly got sick,” one person said.
“My grandfather died after we saw her watching him as he passed in front of their house,” another replied.
“Is that true? But hadn’t your grandfather been sick for a long time? It was lucky he could still walk around,” someone else added.
“It’s true. I once saw her glaring, with flames in her eyes. When we threw salt at her, she got angry,” the person told the crowd.
Monica screamed and collapsed onto the ground. She couldn’t understand why the villagers saw her that way when she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“When your child got sick, wasn’t I only one of many people who touched her head? You had almost everyone touch your child because you said she’d been bewitched. And your grandfather didn’t only pass by here when he went for walks. Why not blame our neighbor or the people across from us? And you expect me to be happy after you threw salt at me?” Monica said through her tears.
While Monica sobbed and lay crumpled in the road, Mang Lino approached Father Pio.
“We can’t pass judgment until the culprit confesses to the sin,” the priest said.
“Let them. The townspeople and I have already prepared for this,” Mang Lino replied.
Mang Lino had several men bring over the object they had been working on earlier. After several hours, they carried out a wide wooden plank with chains for restraints and a wheel along the side. Underneath were also circular objects that rotated when the wheel was turned.
“Tie Monica to this,” Lino ordered the people.