Platinum Krietzer is a fucking douchebag.
I hate everything he is, everything he stands for, everything that he touches!
I hate seeing his face on TV constantly, I hate hearing about him, and I hate the fact that he won the Hunger Games.
Let me rewind a little. Because 12 may've…
May've…
May've…
Um…
Put an end to my best friend…
But it was him and that asshole of an ally of his that tortured him. And I will never forgive him.
So when they announce to the District that there's another mandatory viewing tonight, I have no idea what it could be.
There's not a prayer that I'll forget my friend, but at this point, I was starting to repair myself.
Well that all ends pretty quickly because I see the President on the screen. He smiles.
"Panem… To honor our first ever Victor-"
I throw my shoe at the TV and groan in frustration. I'm sick of seeing him everywhere!
"Nate…" Cassia says darkly.
"Shut up," I growl, curling up in a ball and looking at the screen over my knees.
"We will be having a Victory Tour! Starting in District 12 and going to the Capitol, all will have the chance to honor a courageous young man on his bravery in the Hunger Games."
I growl at the TV. "Courageous!? Bravery!?"
"Nate, you can't take it out on him-" Cassia starts.
"Yes I can! I can if I want to because he TORTURED-" I choke on my words and bury my head again.
"Nate-"
"Shut up! Cassia, just shut up!"
She sits quietly and sadly.
That idiot is coming here. To MY District. HIS District. OUR home!
The news freshens the emotions of loss and anger and everything bad that I had felt the day he died.
He will never be welcome here.
As soon as the seal of the Capitol flashes, I jump up and stomp to my room quickly. That's the only place I feel safe crying anymore. Someday, somehow, I WILL get my revenge on Platinum Krietzer.
I WILL make his life hell.
I WILL hang him with guilt.
And you bet your ass I'm gonna make him sorry that he even gave a dirty look to my best friend.
And… If I can, you bet that I WILL slit his fucking throat.
Because that's what I did to every bully that ever picked on him, or us, or Ashley and Priscilla.
Ashley… Oh God… I wish I could say I blame him for killing her but she was under a spell. Even so, it takes a lot of gut to kill a little girl like that.
He might be able to justify himself for that, but he will NEVER be welcome in District 2. I'll make sure of it.
The days drag but soon it's the day before that bad excuse for a human being comes to our District.
The memories come back.
Elijah, lying dead.
Blood running out from a wound and forming a puddle around his head.
His breaths… So jagged, shallow… Suffering…
His beautiful eyes closing… His final word, my name…
My heart is cracked open again.
I take the opportunity to sneak out of the window and walk outside in the night.
Her name is Priscilla Westfall. She's an orphan. She's 12-years-old now. She has long, dirty blonde hair with brown highlights and big brown eyes. Her best friend, a fellow orphan named Ashley, was put in the Arena as a kind of obstacle to the tributes. She wasn't herself… they manipulated her somehow… And Platinum killed her, too. Priscilla was destroyed. I can't stand to see her anymore. The memories she carries are just too intolerable.
"Nate!" she says in a teary whisper, running towards me.
I take off, rolling under the fence skillfully and running through the woods.
I can't talk to her.
Tonight is different than any night I've ever experienced.
When I look up in the sky, there are no stars. Just heavy clouds. And peeping out from them is a moon that's terrifying in its color: it appears blood red.
"Well wouldn't that be fucking appropriate," I growl to nobody but myself.
This is cruel, right here. Torture for me. I don't have my best friend… I miss him every day. I miss him more than his nephew does, more than his brother-in-law does, I miss him more than his sister does!
I miss him more than our stray cat does, I miss him more than my family combined, I miss him more than Priscilla does, I miss him more than anything I've ever missed in my life.
Without him, I'm nothing. Without him I will never be anything.
God, I miss him.
The only person who might just miss him more than me is his father. And I consider us to be equal.
I sit on the branch of a tree and look up at the sky, memories hitting me like fresh punches.
I see Dill up there… In the crimson-colored moon in that sky, in the dark, misty clouds… I see Drake up there as well, with that maniacal smile on his face, looking down on me.
I want my best friend back more than anything in my life.
And I've been thinking a good deal of how I can avenge him. But I'm running blank of ideas, besides PUNCH PLATINUM'S FACE IN.
Tears roll down my cheeks but I've gotten used to it by now. I've become so cold to the world. But as I said, I'm past the point of rescue by now.
I'm hurt beyond repair.
And I feel so tired and sad and upset and angry that I don't even want to think. Because every time I see anything blue-gray, I can't stand it.
I stare at the sky and my heart hurts.
I don't want tomorrow to happen.
I don't want tomorrow to happen.
~I don't want tomorrow to happen~
That's the last thing I think before I open my eyes and it's morning.
My stomach twists in knots. I wipe the sand out of my eyes and they fill with tears.
The skin around them stings like hell but I don't care at this point.
I sit in the tree, watching the sunrise turn to dawn and the dawn turn to morning.
Then I realize that I'm going to have to see him today. In person. And that thought is the worst one ever.
But I suck it up and fall down from the tree, making a half-effort to catch myself.
Then I walk through some jagbushes, half-on-purpose, thinking of how he died and I did nothing but rewind the TV like a retard.
Then I slip back under the fence with a scowl at nothing in particular when I hear the loud noise of a train pulling in.
It's here.
I walk up to Valentina just as our mayor steps up to the microphone and clears his throat.
"Welcome, citizens of District 2," he says gravely.
I look around and catch the illusive green eyes of Brandt Manson, Paulina's younger brother.
Then I look back up on the stage. But instead of seeing a douchebag, I see the mayor still.
"And now, we would like to invite the families of Paulina Manson and Elijah Crowly to step up on the stage," he says quietly. Brandt and his parents walk up. And I take a breath before running up with Valentina and Nick.
For a second, I'm worried that she won't want me up there. But Mr. Crowly takes Cassia's hand as well, walking up on the stage and inviting us with them.
My sister puts her hands around my neck and hugs me from behind. And I know that grip will tighten if I try to pull anything on… him.
I hear Nick crying behind me and Valentina's pained whispers.
"And now, everyone, your Victor!"
The District, all pretty hardcore Paulina fans, boos and cusses and screams at the guy. I almost feel bad.
But when I catch a glimpse of him, that changes. I don't know what I expected. I guess I expected him to be a lot more tired and a lot more broken. Anger grows in my gut. That bastard. I let out a growl and Cassia gives me a hard look. So I stare at him with cold eyes.
He stands in front of us, District 2. I notice first that his bangs are bright silver. And the rest of his hair, pure black. His tie is bronze, suit black.
I am seriously having a hard time controlling my hatred for this guy.
"District 2… Close friends of District 1… I can't say how much I admired Paulina."
I swallow. I really can't wait to hear what he has to say about Elijah. It had better be some damn good stuff, or else I will shut down and never EVER see him as even a person.
"Um… Uh…" he says, glancing from family to family. "I really respect b-both of them. And I'm sorry that they died…"
"YOU'D BETTER DAMN BE!" I shout at the same time as some of the others that shout out in the crowd. I hear Priscilla's voice, so little yet so huge when she needs it to be, scream about Ashley. She will never forgive him for that, either.
He looks scared. I scream mean things at him. I want him to suffer.
"Elijah and Paulina were great. And brave. And I'm sorry they're dead…" he says quietly.
Then he takes the golden trophy and LEAVES!
"Nate…" Cassia whispers.
But the whole District is screaming. "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" I shout after him, "YOU WILL BE NOTHING BUT A NO-GOOD BASTARD FOR THE REST OF YOUR FUCKING LIFE, PLATINUM KRIETZER! MARK MY WORDS WHEN I SAY THAT I WILL GET REVENGE ON YOU SOMEDAY!" Tears pour out of my eyes and my throat tickles from screaming so loud.
Cassia's grip on me tightens but I feel tears of her drip on my back.
I finally wrestle out of her grip and run home.
I can't believe that he's the winner.
Why did the good have to die away?! Everyone hates fucking Platinum Krietzer anyways, why the hell can't that be Elijah instead!?
I can't let this happen again… These stupid Hunger Games need to have a Victor that is noble, true, and just.
And now I'm smacked in the face by it.
Yes, I really do want to go into the Hunger Games.