Work Text:
Tick… Tick… Nothing.
Jonah waited. Nothing.
He nervously fiddled with his fingers. Nothing.
Was nobody coming? Nothing.
The clock ticked quietly. Other than that, his unsteady breathing was the only sound source.
Not a creek. Not a breath. Not a sound. Nothing.
His hands were trembling and his face was sticky with tears. His vision was blurred and his heart ached from the sadness.
He hugged his knees tightly. Feeling like this wasn’t new, but it wasn’t rare either.
His shaking hands tangled into his dark hair, basically pulling at his own roots.
Why was this happening to him? Did he deserve this? Did he do something wrong? Was this just how God was treating him?
Jonah felt balanced against a small lifeboat full of people. In the lifeboat, somebody needed to go. The weakest. The coward.
The boat was pressed against the waves in a deep ocean, rocking back and forth in the storm. Everybody was nudging and itching to get off, but it was going to sink. The boat was going to sink unless somebody was thrown over the side into the dark waters. No matter what was happening or where they were going, Jonah was always going to be thrown off the side of the boat.
He was always the weakest. Always a crybaby. Always scared. He couldn’t stand up for himself or even talk for himself.
There was nowhere to go, nowhere to move to, nothing. He was trapped. Cornered. Nothing he could do but be tossed over the side.
If he did the wrong thing, gone.
If he said something wrong, gone.
If he even dared to look them in the eye, gone.
I think I’d like to be gone. He thought.