The Priest

Elisa Cruz had just turned eighteen two moons ago. She, as was the custom of the backward community taking after their Spanish colonist’s mindset, was at an age where she was a commodity. Eighteen, lovely, and innocent. The incident this day had been the nineteenth time she refused to marry an eligible bachelor, Barrio San Lazaro was running out of bachelors. Barrio San Lazaro was a small farming community that lived under the shadow of the oppressive Spanish regime. The only difference they had as compared to other parts of the country was that the Spanish in this town were a little laid back, mostly because of the devotion of these people to the catholic church. The town didn’t have a court, it had a church. A big, almost stately church that held power over the masses, in a grip that was, truth be told, almost demonic. Even the usually suspicious soldiers deferred judgment to the church. In other parts of the country state had its own legal process, the church kept to its own.