Jonah glanced up from his small meal, and what he saw froze him to his chair. It was a small group of soldiers emerging from a building two doors down from his. He watched in horror as they marched with purpose to the house right beside him. Jonah snapped out of his daze and ran throughout the house getting rid of all sources of light. He sprinted down the hall, skidded into the study, and dove under a big wooden desk. As he huddled there, a thousand thoughts raced through his head Maybe they won't bother with this house. Maybe they will think that no one is here. Maybe They Wo- His thoughts were cut short by a sharp knock on the door. Jonah tried to slow his breathing but another knock made it impossible. The door opened with a creak and his hands started to tremble. He heard movement and tried to imagine where in the house it was going. Then the sounds stopped, in what Jonah figured had to be the kitchen. THE KITCHEN! he thought as his heart sank. I didn't clear away my food! He knew that this would be a dead giveaway that someone was just here. He heard movement again and it was getting louder, getting closer. Jonah sucked in a quick breath as he heard footsteps coming his way. As they got closer, he tried to shrink himself against the wall of the desk to make himself even smaller. He saw the flickering of a shadow on the wall behind him and froze. He stayed there for what seemed like hours even though he knew it was only a couple seconds. A man's voice called out, shattering the silence.
"Jonah, you can come out. I got back just as they got to the door and told them I was the only one living here."
Jonah let out his breath as relief flooded through him. "Thank you Rodrik!" he exclaimed as he began to crawl out from the desk. He moved towards Rodrik with open arms, but was grabbed roughly from both sides. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the uniform and knew they were soldiers. "Help!" he screamed.
"I'm sorry Jonah," Rodrik said quietly, his head hung in shame. "They found out I was hiding you and promised I would be forgiven if I took them to you."
Jonah couldn't believe what he was hearing. Betrayed, by the man who had housed and fed him after his parents were taken away. Betrayed, by the only one he fully trusted. He looked down, refusing to make eye contact. He looked up when one of the soldiers let go, pulled out a gun and pointed it at Rodrik.
"No!" Rodrik yelled. "You said that if I-" His desperate cries were cut short by a gunshot that filled the room with an ear-splitting bang and left the room in a deafening silence.
Jonah was too shocked to say a word as the soldiers dragged him out of the house and towards a truck. He made no resistance when they loaded him on. When he finally looked around, he saw others with eyes showing as much terror as he felt.
Reflection: This story does not require much explanation about how it relates to betrayal. The story shows two sides of betrayal. The first side is that of the betrayer, who betrays in order to save himself and get ahead. The second side is that of the person being betrayed. They feel crushed by what has been done to them and feel as though they might as well die.
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