The Moonlight Assassin

The Confession

Miguel was sitting catatonically on a couch in Pastor Kevin's office, as he pondered through the events that came earlier that Sunday. Pastor Kevin then called up some of the male elders, including Prof. Elijah, Tommy, Vincent, Travis, and Dr. Earl. Without any judgment, Pastor Kevin gently asked Miguel, "Is there someone taking hold in your life?"

Miguel stared into Pastor Kevin's eyes, and suddenly he shed tears.

"I'm so sorry, Pastor Kevin. I'm really, really sorry! Someone wants to take my life and he is trying to take over my body," Miguel said in tears.

"Do you know who is he?" Pastor Kevin asked everyone.

Prof. Eli answered, "All this time, he is mentioning someone named 'Alexander', a man who is trying to get out and manifest in Miguel's body. And this is no ordinary man. Alexander is a mananaggal."

Pastor Kevin gasped in shock, "Are you sure?! Mananaggals are only found in superstition and old people's tales!"

Dr. Earl followed, "No, Pastor, they are real and they are everywhere. I have video and photo evidence of the manifestation of Alexander in Miguel's body." He showed Pastor Kevin some footage of Miguel's transformation to Alexander the manananggal.

"Dear Lord! Have mercy on him!" exclaimed Pastor Kevin, "He is indeed that creature! But why is the creature calling himself Alexander instead of Miguel?"

"Because Miguel is apparently not my real name," Miguel told everyone.

Everyone turned to him. "Then who are you?" Pastor Kevin asked.

Miguel proceeded with his story:

"I don't know when and where I was born. All I was told was that I was a baby found by my adoptive parents, Tatay Cristobal and Nanay Lorena, both faith healers, at the ruined remains of Hacienda Del Fierro in San Roque. They found me in a crib, and because no one knew where I came from and who my parents are, they assumed that I was a child of a manananggal or some other mythical creature. Therefore I was to be taken care of with great caution, letting me grow up to be kind and God-fearing. And there my parents named me Miguel, after the name of a guardian angel.

Indeed my parents took care of me with such love, kindness, and faith. They sent me to school, taught me good manners, and taught me about faith in God and prayer. I was glad to have such parents, despite the rumors and accusations surrounding them.

But let me tell you this, at school, I was bullied. I was teased for being adopted, for being a freak, and for being apparently a son of an aswang. I didn't understand why it was that way. Maybe it was because my parents are faith healers or the fact that I was retrieved from the hacienda of a known manananggal family.

But one night, when I was seventeen, I was walking down a street near our school, and one of my bully classmates saw me and kicked my legs. I fell down and he then pulled me by the collar. He demanded that I should give him my class notes so that he can pass the final exams that year. I tried to break free from his grip but to no avail. I became deeply frustrated from trying to escape from my bully, when all of a sudden, my eyesight turned red. My body somehow felt warmer like I was suddenly going on a fever, yet I felt even stronger. I grasped his arms with my bare hands and there I was able to pull his hands away from my shirt. As I dropped to the ground, the bully tried to punch me, but then my hands quickly blocked his fist before it landed to my face. There I pushed him out of the way.

'What did you just do to me, you moron?', he asked me. I didn't answer because I was already filled with a rage that seemed uncontrollable to me. My conscience started to fade away as that rage overwhelmed me, and suddenly I fainted. I didn't know what happened after that. All I remembered was that I saw a full moon in the sky before I closed my eyes. When I woke up, the bully was gone.

When I was turning eighteen, I was with the DF group having a party. Suddenly I saw a full moon in the sky, and as its light touched my skin, an enormous sensation entered my body. My skin was itchy, and my arms and legs were twitching like crazy. I was also sweating a lot despite that I was in an air-conditioned room. I left the party without notice, and I retreated to the DF Towers' parking lot. Without warning, the moonlight shone brightly on the lot and there my waist started to stretch and twitch. I screamed loudly. My eyesight turned red and my conscience faded away. I couldn't remember what happened after that."

And the room became silent.