Template:Featured Articles/42-2015
"They deserve worse than they've been given," Quentin spat. "Every one of them. I walk into school this morning and what's the first thing I hear? 'Mutie. Chink. Faggot.' Every goddamn day. Yesterday I went home with a bloody nose. The day before, too. And before this all happened, what they were going to do to me . . ." He couldn't bring himself to say it in front of these strangers, but the disgust and self-hatred in his voice made it clear that Chad and his cronies weren't just looking for another day of average schoolyard violence. "Each aggression, day after day, crawls into your head and infests it like maggots. They get in there and they rot you from the inside out. You're left hollow. That's what they did. Every threat. Every slur. Every punch and every kick and every shove. This is their fault. This is what their hate brought. And I'll see them all pay for it." "And what will that get you?" Jennie lifted her chin. "Temporary reprieve? The chance to feel like a god for an hour or two, until there's nothing left for you to break, and you're left only with your anger. Eating you up piece by piece." "I threatened to cut out my bully's eyes, and I cut off her hair while she slept and made her a present of it on her pillow. And then I had to run because there was no stopping the cycle of revenge once it had begun. I had a knife, she had a gun. But I had a power she didn't have, and I could have used it to stop her heart. But I didn't, because that lead to a place I couldn't go. I could have turned out bad, I could have become even bigger and meaner than the people who hurt me," The figure behind Jennie rippled. "Instead, I found a place that took people like me in and gave me safety. Where I could learn what and who I was," Jennie gestured, and for a moment the woman was real, black wings and shiny sword, imposing cold glare. "This is my patron, Nemesis, Greek goddess of divine balance. She punished the wicked, those that were rewarded unjustly by fate." The figure faded, quickly as she came. "Through her I've had my revenge a dozen times over, I got strong, stronger than those who hurt me. And I learned how to protect those that needed it most, like I did." "You want revenge on these pathetic, small-minded children? Get strong. Know yourself. Leave them behind to their tiny lives." |
