The Betrayal

Chapter 1(The Family)

In a very small town Mr. Hales lives with his family which consists of his wife Nancy, son Joe and daughter Martha. Theirs is a 2 bedroom house built by grandparents of Mr. Hales. His father's contribution in the house was a boundary wall and a small porch, although his parents never owned a car. Since then, nothing has changed because Mr. Hales proved nothing like his father and grandfather. He retired from the local factory on the same position he was hired on. This he conveniently blames on his superiors. He now spends most of his time gambling with the local mafia guys, drinking and cursing people he believes are responsible for his sorry state of affairs.

His wife Nancy is a typical housewife whose life revolves around her family and home. She loves Hales since the time they are married. But being married to Hales has proved difficult for her for her both financially and emotionally. She cannot remember a time in her married life when she was financially free. She always had to and still has to sacrifice one thing for the sake of another. This continuous mental tension is taking heavy toll on her emotional strength. She is getting emotionally weak with every passing day. The gambling habit of her husband is also draining her mental energy. She has objected several times on his gambling but that did not make any difference. Sometimes, she goes to the only hospital in her small town and the doctors there have told her numerous times about her rapidly deteriorating mental health.

Hales and Nancy's son Joe is a very handsome young man. He is six feet tall and very powerfully built. He looks so different from his parents that people sometimes have a hard time believing that he is their son. Apart from being beautiful, Joe is a very ambitious man. He is currently studying at the only local college in the town and he plans to move to the big city to start his professional life. He has clearly mentioned it to his father that he doesn't intend to spend his life in this little town. Mr. and Mrs. Hales have tried several times against this argument but nothing has worked so far. In Joe's opinion there is only one thing that matters in this world and that is money. And money is in the big city. He is so consumed by the thoughts of earning lots of money that sometimes his parents call him a greedy man.

Martha is the last member of this family. She is younger than Joe. Being a female and being born into a poor household, she never had the love and attention which she deserved or which other girls always talk about. She never had the opportunity to study after junior school because her parents couldn't afford it. She currently not only helps her mom in maintaining the house but she works at a local restaurant in the town as a waitress. Physically, she can be termed as a complete opposite of her brother Joe. Where Joe is a very handsome young man, Martha is barely attractive. She is only five feet in height. Her face is full of acne marks and she has a scar on her forehead from a childhood incident. But she covers her physical flaws with her emotional strength. She is a very strong willed lady and can be stubborn if the need arises.

Chapter 2 (The Local Mafia)

Although Hales is gambling with the local mafia guys for quite some time now, but he is still not a good player. His visits to the bar started when he realized it is the only place he can go to and yell and curse all the people at work who are not letting him become successful. He used to come straight to the bar after collecting his salary in his working days. His wife has never approved of his gambling but this doesn't matter to him at all..

The local mafia is actually a group of unemployed young men and some older and retired people. The older people are the ones who actually founded the mafia in the town. They initially started as a group to protect local businesses and families from the attacks of bandits from the neighboring towns. They would walk in the streets at night with a whistle in their lips and a big wooden stick in their hands. They made sure that no street in the town was without a mafia member or a team of two members guarding it. For providing security, they initially charged a very small amount to businesses only. From families they took whatever was given in the form of meals, clothes, blankets etc.