Betrayal
Day 13, Tuesday
“Get out. GET OUT! You demon,” she screams, betrayal conquering her every word and emotion. “I loved you! I loved you, more than any other! You were special. You always held a special place in my heart. How could you? How could you?” Her screams dissolve into a heartbroken whisper. “I loved you. I trusted you. I loved you. I trusted you,” voice broken, she repeated the mantra quietly. My own heart begins to crack as I see the strong mother figure shatter into the broken form in front of me. Throat too congested to speak, I walk out silently. Tears well inside my eyes though they refuse to fall. I stumble across blank streets and roads, blind to the world. Frigid air penetrates my meager layers of clothing, but my body is too numb to care. Hours pass as I meander around, before finally I collapse on a grey curb, in a grey town, underneath a grey sky. My life is over. Hopes, dreams, future, annihilated. Morbid, you call me, depressed. Or perhaps, you believe I must have done something to deserve my fate. Well, let me tell you a story. My story. The story of how I ended up here, future barren. An endless obsidian abyss.
Day 1, Thursday
Storm clouds gathered in the sky, hurtling droplets down on my face. Of course, just when I thought my day couldn’t get worse. I groaned inwardly. I really do hate Murphy's law. Breaking out into a sprint, I finally arrived at the small orphanage where I lived, though I had not managed to escape the wrath of the storm. My clothes were dripping lake-fulls of water. As I stood there shivering violently, Adelina giggled at my drenched figure. Rolling my eyes, I muttered dryly, “I’m glad to be of service for your amusement. Now, a little help here would be nice. A towel maybe?”
“Sorry, Seina. You just look so funny when you're pissed off. Why are you so annoyed anyway?” Adelina asked while retrieving a towel for Seina to dry herself off with.
“Hmm, maybe the fact that I’m soaking wet would give you a clue,” I replied rolling my eyes. “But I’m betting that’s not the answer you want. Work was horrible today. A guy like ten years older than me started hitting on me. Then I got yelled at by my boss. To make things worse, my partner that was working with me during the shift accidentally broke a few vases which I got the blame for. There’s nothing we can do about it now though. I have a giant research project to do for Global so I better start working on that." Finishing drying myself off, I quickly ventured back into my room. Being the eldest orphan, a high-schooler, I had been luckily granted a room of my own. Opening my slim, sleek laptop, I tapped the keyboard impatiently as I awaited the soft buzzing symbolizing it starting up. Within minutes I was on Google Chrome, typing away at the search bar. Genocide of Rwanda. Page after page filed onto my screen, loaded with information. In a flash, my cursor was everywhere, clicking on links. My eyes scanning text, my mind absorbing information at a rapid rate. While some sites were incredibly helpful, others were absolutely horrendous, spouting loads of junk. When my brain was overflowing with knowledge and facts, I shutdown my laptop satisfied with my progress.
Other Side of the Town
“Step one, complete,” the teen murmured, exhilarated.
The colorful monitor filled with text quickly whirled into a black void. The man sitting within the computer chair spun around to gaze at the vindictive teen behind him. Shadows engulfed the vulture-like man’s features, preventing the teen from identifying him though the teen cared not. Green tinted paper was passed from the girl to the man’s agile fingers. In return the man jotted down a series of numbers and letters and then passed it to the girl’s eager hands. “It will take a few days to work, but then it’s all yours. You can do whatever you want.,” the deep gravelly voice said quietly. “My work with you is done. Now, out!”
“Thank you,” the girl replied before exiting out the door. A smile split across her face though her eyes burned with fiery hatred. “You will regret every single thing you did to me. I will destroy your life if it’s the last thing I do,” she hissed out into the cool evening air.
Day 3, Saturday
A blissful silence surrounded me excluding the soft clicking of my fingers dancing over my keyboard and the soothing hum of my laptop. I paused for a moment, unable to come up with what to write next. Quickly launching Google Chrome, I clicked on new tab, waiting for the six most viewed sites to pop up as they always do. Oddly, the tab was blank, pure white, with only the words new tab on top. Glancing at the side, I spotted a small pop up bubble. Must be a new update or something. I shrugged and quickly pushed the suspicions into the back of my mind. I continued forward opening the thesaurus and searching for new information. When I finally finished the writing portion of my project, I opened another document. Within moments all my worries, pains, sorrows, and memories were flowing onto the pages. My friends would always chastise me for putting so much trust in my single laptop. It might break down. It might stop working randomly. Maybe it’ll become slow. But I ignored all of them. I was a fool. I was too attached to the last reminder of my parents.
“Mama! Mama! Can we go to the library today since it is my birthday?” I was practically jumping up and down in excitement.
“The library again? I’m fear that the librarians have banned you since you go so often!” Mama grinned tapping my nose lightly.
“Mama!” I whined, pulling away though the smile creeping onto my face spilled the beans saying I wasn’t actually annoyed. “I want to go on the computer again! It’s fun!”
“What about this, wait until the end of the day, and if you still want to go to the library you can go tomorrow for the entire day, deal?” I hesitated, suspicious, but then quickly nodded. The day passed quickly, with happy birthdays and friends throughout.
“Happy birthday sweetie!” Daddy exclaimed picking me up and spinning me around. “Now that I’m home we can give you your present.”
“Present?” I wondered quizzically. Rarely did I get presents due to our current economic position. My father handed me a thin package. Weighing it in my hand, it seemed light but not that light. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. “What is it?” I wondered aloud.
“Open it and see.”
Slowly, I peeled back the white paper, holding my breath. I froze, unable to believe my eyes. When I was finally limber, I carefully placed my present on the floor, handling it as though it was a fragile baby, and then I jumped up and tackled my parents.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I cried over and over again. Sitting on the ground was my very own laptop.
It was the day after, that my world shattered. Everything I knew and had grown to love disappeared. My parents were murdered.
Day 7, Wednesday
Holding in my hand a yellow tinted rectangular piece of paper, I opened my online banking account. Entering a series of numbers and letters, in moments my newest paycheck was inserted into my account. Checking my balance and seeing that everything was correct and in order, I logged out and quickly went on my Facebook. For a few minutes, I chatted with my friends, relaxing. With the whirl of college applications, SAT preparation, my job, and all my AP courses everything had been hectic lately. Hardly did I actually have a moment to myself. Just yesterday I had handed in the essay about Rwanda which was going to be about 40% of our grade. On that alone I had spent hours on end. Nearly at the verge of falling asleep, I opened one last new tab, about to open my Gmail. In the center of the tab was a search bar with a symbol next to it. On instinct, it reminded me of the windows logo but I recognized it as slightly different. Looking like a fan, the four blades were red, yellow, blue, and green, with the words, “search results” next to it. Well, this update will probably be helpful later on. I wonder why there wasn’t any box notifying me about the update... It must have been automatic or something. My fuzzy brain reasoned as I once again turned off my laptop and turned out the lights. Just before unconsciousness claimed me, the wind hissed three last words.
“Step 2, complete.”
It was from that day on that my life began to roll downhill.
Day 9, Friday
Entering school, I received multiple odd looks. Glancing down at myself, I didn’t see anything out of ordinary. Shrugging it off as school gossip, I strolled to my classes and took my normal seat. Oddly, my friends had begun to shun me. People staring at me in open hostility. What is going on? The only person that was sticking by me was Adriana, who I at the moment was extremely grateful for. Adriana. My best friend. Through heaven and hell, she had always stuck by me, even though in the beginning she was a bit of a bully, she quickly became my closest and best friend. She stood up for me when others bullied me, and helped me when there was something I didn’t understand.
The school day seemed to last an eternity before finally ending. Quickly, I went to work, and immediately headed back home to my laptop and diary. Once again, my worries from the day were quickly released onto the page, but this time it failed to quell my worries. The cause of the change of behavior was lost to me. I sat back, closing my eyes and placing my hands in my lap. At that second, I failed to notice the cursor twitching on the screen.
As the trees swayed in the wind, they whispered, “Step three, complete.”
Day 12, Monday
On Monday, I entered school to looks of fear. Ignoring them I entered class. Currently I had Mr. Dibunsky who secretly I despised. Still, by my manner nobody could tell and never had I told my feelings about the teachers to anyone, excluding my diary. Personally, I found his teaching methods atrocious. In fact, he didn’t really teach, he more like rambled on about random topics and then shoved a whole bunch of work on us for us to do. But still, I dealt with it. I planned on getting a scholarship for college and having teachers against me wouldn’t help me at all.
“Seina! Stop daydreaming! You know what? If you don’t want to respect your teacher and don’t like my teaching you can come up here and teach yourself! Think you can teach better than me?” Mr. Dibunsky snapped harshly. I jumped up, rapidly turning red.
“I... I never said-,” I protested weakly.
“I didn’t think so. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know exactly what you said.” Before I could argue, he continued.“You know what? Go down to the office now!” For a moment I was about to protest, but seeing the fury emanating from his entire body, I decided to leave without a word. Taking one last glance behind me, I could have sworn that Adriana, was smiling. Blinking, the smile disappeared. My mind was locked in a storm of confusion. What happened? What did I do? I didn’t say anything!
Heart racing, breath hitching, I entered the principal’s office. The silence bore down on me heavily. “Seina, when you first came into this high school, I noticed a shy orphan, heartbroken by the loss of loved ones. Automatically, I had expected you to give up, like so many who had been subjected to a similar fate. Instead, you began to work harder. Quickly you became a rising star, shining above everybody else, even Adriana. For a while you faced bullying and teasing from those jealous of you, mainly Adriana. But you rose above it, eventually becoming best friends with her. You were the perfect role model. Not once had I ever, ever, thought that you would do and say what you did yesterday.”
“I didn’t do anything!” I interjected indignantly, tears gathering in my eyes.
“Do not try deny it. Everybody knows what you did,” he snapped. “First you try to betray your friends by betraying their secrets, then you make them look like dirt putting everyone down. Honestly, trying to claim that you're better than everybody else? And by plagiarizing the work of others? I can’t believe you. Saying that rules don’t apply to you? Then going as far as insulting the teachers and then threatening to murder them? I can’t believe that you would fall as low to do that.” The shock of the words numbed my mind.
“I didn’t... ”
“And finally trying to hack into the teachers computers and steal their money? I cannot believe that you actually tried to do it and yet the proof is all there. You’re lucky you didn’t succeed.”
“I swear-” Instead of answering, the principal shoved a series of papers in front of me. On them were my chats, my posts on Facebook, emails, Edmodo, and every other account I used. I’m going to kill the teachers! They are such idiots. I swear if they don’t start improving I’m going to go and kill them in their sleep. They're insufferable! Teaching, ha, more like trying to fry our brains. I’m going to try and steal their money. They’re so stupid that I bet they won’t even notice if it’s gone. I read unable to comprehend the words. “I didn’t write this,” I murmured softly, at the verge of hysterics.
“All of the proof is there, online. You cannot deny the evidence against you. Due to your perfectly clear record from before, I have decided to not get the police involved, but this felony will be on your permanent record. You are expelled from this school. Now, get out of my office. I don’t ever want to see you again. You shame me, and this school. If you try to argue I will get the police involved.” My mouth gaped open, before I quickly closed it. I could not believe what was happening to me. Walking outside, it quickly turned into a jog, and then a full out desperate run as despair welled in my heart, fear clogging my throat. Everything I had worked for was gone. This can’t be happening! It has to be a dream, a nightmare. Please, no. I’m innocent! I didn’t anything! So badly did I want to collapse on the ground and just sob. Racing into my room, I frantically flipped my laptop open. I logged onto my bank account and froze. $31,000, gone. Every day since Freshman year I had worked hours and hours on end after school gaining money for college. All of my work destroyed. I nearly crumbled to the ground, my heart burning with anguish. All I had ever wanted was to make my parents proud. It was all I ever wanted. Now all of my hopes demolished. All of a sudden, the cursor began to move against my command. Words began to appear on my screen.
Seina. Seina. Seina. Such an ignorant fool. Did you really think that your laptop was safe, that you were safe from me? You know, you took away everything from me. You destroyed my life , and now, in return I’m destroying yours. Did you really think that we would just become friends and be all good? Did you really think I would forgive you? You stole my spotlight, my popularity, my scholarships. You stole everything that I had worked for years, years to gain. Now it's my time to rip it all away from you. How? It was simple really. All it took was for you to click on a bad link while you were looking for information about the Rwandan Genocide. After that, with a little bit of money, the information about your laptop was mine. I suppose you’ve figured it out by now. All of the threatening, I did it. And all your money, mine now. Boy, does it feel good to do to you what you did to me. To make things even better, you have no proof at all that I did it. Once you finish reading this, I’m going to delete it. So you can’t do anything about it. Have you figured out who I am yet? Yes, I’m your so called best friend. Adriana. How does it feel to be betrayed by your best friend? Betrayed by the device that you put so much trust and joy in? Oh yeah, and by the way, I threatened the orphanage as well, insulting it, as well as Adelina. She’s the one who has become like a mother figure to you, right? You have no idea how much joy I took in breaking her. I bet you regret messing with me now. I better go now. Things to do you know. Good luck finding a future with no home, no money, and no more schooling. An instinct later the screen went black.
Day 13, Tuesday
Now do you understand my story? How I ended up here on this street, deserted and abandoned? My future is over. All because I succeeded in excelling above everyone else. All because I was ignorant and believed that Adriana would forgive me. All because I tried to do my research project. All because I clicked on one bad link. All because I refused to see the signs if front of me. There’s nothing left for me, but I tell you my story not for pity, not for sympathy but to warn you. It may not be personal, it may just be a stranger, but it can happen to you too. Be wary. Wary of the cyber world, because the next victim, may be you.
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