[ WP ] And so he bitterly asked , `` Why ? ''

And so he bitterly asked, `` Why?'' 
 
 I looked down on him, sprawled in the corner with his broken nose and tear-streaked face, and felt a strong need to remind him that beggars ca n't be choosers. His stubborn looked told me he was reconsidering that phrase, wondering if he was really broken enough that he would take the hand I offered. I was the only one still here, the only one not willing to leave him lying on the ground. 
 
 `` Just let me help you.'' I answered the second he grabbed my hand, and pulled him to his feet despite his outraged noise. Standing up he was just tall enough to look down on me, but the arrogant expression I knew so well was gone. He wiped at his face, his hand coming away stained with his own blood. 
 
 `` I would've kicked me while I was down.'' 
 
 `` I know.'' 
 
 That silenced him, and for a while he just stood there stretching his arms and getting feeling back into his legs. At last he turned to me, a slight desperation in his voice. 
 
 `` Why would they do this to me?'' 
 
 `` They decided to.'' 
 
 `` But why? We were friends.'' 
 
 `` They changed their minds.'' 
 
 `` I do n't understand.'' I nearly pitied him, but his words hit a little too close to home. I remembered the early days, the deep friendship we had forged in the beginning, and how much it hurt the first time I realized his laugh came from a place of malice. 
 
 `` Neither did I.'' 
 
 The crestfallen look on his face convinced me that he had never thought of it like that, probably never thought much of it at all. I stood a moment longer, staring into his eyes until I could see him break, and then I turned to walk away. 
 
 Giving him a taste of his own medicine seemed to have work. It was too bad my allowance wasn ’ t big enough to do the same to every bully. 

