So here we were, walking up the hill, where the Virgin was meant to deliver another message. Behind my mother and me were my father and siblings, and of course, Padre Elodio. I really needed a miracle now! What would people do to me if nothing happened? What would I say? But I wasn’t only afraid of human reactions. I also feared what the Almighty (and the Real Virgin) would think about all of this. Would they punish me in the afterlife? I’d already asked for their forgiveness in my daily prayers, but as the deceit grew so disproportionately, I wasn’t sure if Ave Marías and Padres Nuestros would be enough to earn me a spot in Heaven.

The group became larger and larger the more we walked. It reminded me of a long line of ants. I didn’t even know there were so many people in this area. But my father had said that parishioners were coming from nearby populations, too, like Quevedo and Palenque.

Dios Santo, what was I going to do now?

Once we reached a clearing among the abundant vegetation, my mother stopped.

“Here,” she determined, and pushed me into a kneeling position. Not far from us was a thin creek. “Hermanos,” my mother said in a loud voice. I’d never heard her talk so loud before; it was as though she’d been the one taken by the Virgin’s spirit. “Please. My daughter needs silence and concentration to receive the Message.”

One by one, people started to kneel and hold their hands in prayer. Others waved white handkerchiefs. As we started praying the rosary, people surrounded us. My father hugged me protectively as I faced the ground, still on my knees. When I looked up, briefly, I spotted someone across from me in a blue cloak. She moved it slightly from her face and I recognized her immediately.

Elisa.

She winked at me.

My mother, who was leading the prayer, helped me lean back, as in a trance. I looked at the vast sky and asked for forgiveness. At that precise moment, two things happened simultaneously: I discerned a bright light beneath the clouds, which seemed to be opening up to make room for it, and Elisa screamed.

“There she is!” she said.

“Yes!” a male voice responded. “Right there. Behind the clouds!”

“Hallelujah!”

“Praise the Lord!”

The prayer became a loud rumble, like a machine that had been turned on. People recited the Hail Mary with a devotion that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. They screamed it.