There is this case of an 18-year old boy who, while still in high-school made a pact with the devil with his own blood. It all started when a series of misfortunes happened to his family. Where from wealth and good-life he saw it plummet such that they found themselves in a very difficult situation. He saw the friends and relatives of his family start to distance themselves from them. He could not understand why, but he began harboring deep resentment towards them. During the time of plenty, they were always visiting their house, following wherever their parents would go, giving them praises and advice on how to amass more wealth. They would even on their own volunteer their children to be an apprentice and work under his parents. They would often be found at table joining the family in their meals. There was not a day that the house had people noisy with laughter. But suddenly there was nothing in the house, no visitors, no well-wishers, no friends, only deafening silence.
You see the family business was that of illegal small-town lottery, the hueteng. In small towns and baranggays this is a common lottery game. It earns a lot even for just measly centavos and a few pesos bet. No one gets hungry betting on it. But it is not registered, no one pays taxes, and therefore highly illegal. It flourishes because the operator of the hueteng pays a lot of people for protection --the baranggay captain, the police, the baranggay tanod, and all those people who have some kind of arresting power in the area. Every now and then the government would order crack-downs on operators as a sign of compliance with the law. So something visible had to be done, arrests here and there, confiscation of paraphernalia used for the hueteng. This time around his parents were the sacrificial goat. Certainly there is stigma of being arrested and everything confiscated. One needs to pay bail costing a fortune. Once out you cannot immediately start business as usual. And by then somebody has taken your turf. You are nothing now.
This was what happened to the family of the young man. And wherever he goes around in the town, he saw people whispering, looking down at him. What were they gossiping about? He saw people that his parents helped before when they were in need, and how they begged his folks to help them. Now he saw them as ingrates and scums. They would not even give a word of comfort or an acknowledgment of his presence. He had playmates before who would want to be associated with him and proudly introduce him to their friends coming from other towns. Everybody would want to be his friend back then when they were up. Now these so called friends have proven themselves simply as parasites and vampires.
He prayed to God for help. He prayed to God for the immediate release of his parents. He prayed to God that their life would return to normal as it was before. He prayed to God to strike down their enemies and false friends and all who betrayed them whether relatives or not. However, God was silent, seemingly distant, and deaf.
Filled with resentment, anger, hatred at people and God, he wrote on a piece of paper all his feelings, names of people. He wrote what he wished to happen to the scums of their life. He promised Satan his soul if he would exact revenge on all their enemies. Then he pricked himself so that blood would ooze and drip on the paper and press his thumb on the fresh blood to create a thumb mark of blood. Then with a cigarette lighter, he burned the letter while the blood was still wet. And when everything was made into ash, he went back home.
Nothing immediately noticeable happened. No thunder, no lightning. He was able to sleep well. No nightmares, no visions of demons. Nothing. However, the pain was still there, the hatred, the anger, the resentment. He wished people who looked down at them dead. Was it coincidental or what, when one day on the way to school, he chanced upon the same people he encountered on the streets that avoided him? Scums he called them. He stared at them all through out, a sharp stare, a stare of hatred, and wished them ill. After a few days, he heard the Mr so-and-so was very sick. And it was strange because he had no known sickness before. He did not bother to know more about the sick man. For him, he deserves his fate. "Buti nga sa kanila", he said to himself. Passing by the same route going to school. He saw playmates, gossiping, another of those false friends. He gave them a quick stare and continued for school. During the afternoon, he heard that a group of teenagers in the streets got suddenly sick. They have been rushed to the barrangay free-clinic for medication. People thought that they may have eaten something. The young man did not get troubled. For him all scums of the earth need to be eradicated. He felt no compassion for them. It did not come to his mind that perhaps it was his stare that caused it.
In school, he chanced to have glanced on some teachers talking and every now and then glance at him. Where they talking about him? He felt insecure once more and just stared at the teachers, wishing them ill. Dismissal time and getting out of the school, he heard talking among fellow students that Ms so-and-so and Mrs so-and-so got sick and dizzy that they were not able to attend their class. "Serves them right", he murmured to himself. All this time he had no idea that it could be probably him that caused these unfortunate events.
At home, with the siblings, one commented to him: "Kuya, nakakatakot ka na. Ang mata mo nanlilisik kung makatingin." (Big brother, you are becoming creepy. Your stare is filled with anger and hatred.) Up at that time, he did not notice anything wrong with himself. He looked himself in the mirror, he looked fine. He tried to stare himself in the mirror, nothing has changed. There was no sharp look or whatever. Why would his siblings say something that they were becoming scared of him. He thought to himself, they should not be. They only have one another. Their parents are not yet around, they were still in prison. It dawned on him that perhaps, the pact he made with the devil was getting to be true. Perhaps the devil was honoring his part of the bargain and giving him what he wanted. That thought scared him. He does not want his soul to go to hell. How does one void contract with Satan? He read over the internet that it could not be undone simply. Once the devil honors his part of the bargain he would exact a toll.
The boy repented of the foolishness he had done and went to church and prayed. Asked God's forgiveness and went to confession. He was given an absolution and a penance. But he thought whether that was enough. Does he need to do anything else? He convinced himself that he would not stare at anyone anymore. But he soon realized that he had that stare no matter what. And every time he would remember the pain they have experienced, his passions would flare, he would stare and the stare had the character of being sharp. He has developed an "evil eye". Nonetheless, he resolved not to use it at all. But whenever he is angry it just does that. At one time one of the siblings got sick because he got angry with him and stared at him. Now he knew it was him all along. Did God not listen to his prayers? Is he really under now the power of the Devil? Is he a lost cause?
The story of his conversion is worthy of retelling and I will do that in future posts, but it suffices to say that the devil went after him and he had to suffer much to prove that he does not belong to the devil but to God. It would take an exorcism to finally liberate him but not after the devil tormented him with nightmares, sickness, and the threat of death.
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