[Fiction] A Monster on Church Grounds
This work of fiction was originally published in Likhaan 19, published by the UP Institute of Creative Writing. The issue was launched on December 10, 2025, during the UP Writers Night 2025, held at the Gimenez Gallery at the University of the Philippines Diliman . A digital version of the journal can be accessed here . * * * And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” —Genesis 1:26 “Careful,” the sacristan Alvaro admonished the boy as he playfully, carelessly, skipped over the last step of the craggy stairs, landing on a section of the basement floor illuminated by the first of several torches that lined a cavernous hallway. Had the boy been a year older, an ounce heavier—and he was big for his age—he would have tugged Alvaro hard enough to lose his footi...