The Witness

Chapter 27 - Prayer (FINAL)

"Two weeks," Miguel repeated for the hundredth time. "Two weeks, Ate Rosa. You were out for two. Whole. Weeks!"

Rosa sighed and reached for the glass of water on the side table propped to the left rail of her hospital bed. Miguel had pulled a chair close to her and was munching mini butter donuts from a box Tita Mely had left for them. According to the doctor, Rosa wasn't well enough to go home, not yet. She had to stay in the hospital for another full week so that she could be observed for brain trauma. Every now and then, she would be wheeled to the x-ray room for scans.

"It was crazy," Miguel went on. "The rallies and protests, I mean. Nothing else was on the news. Even Sir Steven's funeral was televised, and it was packed with so many people. We thought you were going to die too, everyone did. It made us even more furious at the suspects."

Though she'd heard this story a millionth time from her brother, Rosa still nodded. Her uncle was in serious trouble, both for abusing Rosa and for being caught on cam raping Sylvia during one of those forty nights she was held captive. Trust Sherwin, the now-former class president and honor student of the senior batch of St. Maria Goretti International School, and his friends to be stupid enough to film their crimes for later selling. Sherwin and Tito Geoff, along with a dozen other men identified in the footage, were now held in a detention center, awaiting trial. The cohorts were also being charged for Steven's murder. Father Gerard, who was recovering in a public hospital, would follow all of them as soon as he was discharged. On the other hand, Joaquin was just waiting for official documentation to be finalized so he could be released. Like Rosa, he would testify as a state witness to the Sylvia Francisco case later this year, now cleared as a suspect.

"So what really happened?" Miguel kept pestering. "You knocked that evil priest unconscious, ran away, then what?"

"I told you, I'm not sure. I still don't know. Everything after that was a blur. Then I woke up here." Tita Mely, in one of her visits, told another story. When News8 had reached the chapel, Rosa was gone. She had gone as far as the highway and was hit by a car. The driver drove her, bleeding and unconscious, to the nearest hospital, where her identity was confirmed. The tapes were then sent to News8. Two weeks later, she woke up, and everything had changed.

Whenever she turned on the hospital TV, she would see herself on the news. Or something related to what happened to her. Aside from the marches and rallies were countless documentaries, think pieces, campaigns from different social groups, all discussing the horrific tortures done to Sylvia Francisco, and the number of people involved. It was baffling that all this could have gone under the radar had Rosa not reported what she witnessed.

As it turned out, she was the first of many. There were other witnesses. Other suspects. Other survivors of similar crimes from similar gangs. And they all sent her letters which were addressed to either Mely or to Tita Dolly, the sister of Rosa and Miguel's father, whom Miguel was staying with and whom Rosa would go home to when she was well enough. The letters literally came in piles every day, but Rosa was determined to read and reply to every single one of them. There were other senders too, children and women and yes, a few men with secrets of their own that they were only now beginning to gain the courage to tell. It astounded Rosa. How she had unintentionally lifted a veil from so many strangers' lives.

Several human rights' and women's organizations had reached out to her too, with representatives dropping by to introduce themselves every now and then, although she couldn't speak much in those first few days. The doctors were strict about it, stressing that she had to rest so she could recover as quickly as possible for the trial. Nevertheless, she had a steady stream of visitors. Miguel and Tita Dolly. The Alinsangan family. Tina and Maddie, and a few other classmates and teachers. The principal. Char and Owen and Investigator Gustavo. Joaquin's siblings and fellow altar boys, who kept thanking her. And on one occasion, her mother, who dropped off a bag full of new clothes. They didn't speak much beyond "How are you?" and "Better, thanks." Rosa sensed that her mother was still unable to swallow the truth. At least, she thought, at least she made the effort to see her.