A Losing Wish

How the hell? Was my first question. 

Who the hell? Was a close, narrow second. 

The applause and fanfare that resonated throughout sounded as if they were happening in a completely separate space in time, and maybe in that separate space, a different time, it would have been us slowly marching onto the stage to the envy of admiration of a countless dozen.

Alas, that place wasn't here, that win wasn't us.

Matthew and Kim raced up onto the platform, pale as paper, and utterly shaking quaking with fervor. It turns out, Matthew wasn't exactly a stranger to me. 

I knew him from way back during the second event, that shy, timid number Six that scored the least in looks, but in the end, made a surprise comeback and ended up placing third place right behind Leon and me. 

Now here he was, alongside that girl named Kim, entwined in a tight embrace brimming with tears and shrieks of joy.