It was a tiny voice in my mind, screaming not to let go, begging me to fight for its life. A tiny, broken voice, cracking with pain, yet filled with magical hope.

It was a voice meant to be ignored.

I stared him down, the man who brought that voice into my head in the first place, the man I had loved so overwhelmingly, the knight who had sworn he felt the same.

"Look, Preeta. There is no need to drag it out. This marriage isn't working, and I don't want to blame you, but you have driven a wedge between me and the people I care about. I can't forgive you for taking our son away with you when we separated." His eyes were wide and earnest, but he glanced at his mother repeatedly, the woman who choreographed his dialogues for him.

In her mind, she scoffed at him. In her mind, she slapped him and showed him and his mother the door. In her mind, she was strong.

She stood silently, as her father spoke up.

"But, boy, who will help her bring up the poor baby? The child needs a father figure!" Her father protested.

In her mind, she screamed that her baby boy would be better off without a father like him around. In her mind, she took her control from her father.

Her uncle piped in with his own two bits.

"Yes, my boy! Why don't you try to make your marriage work? Try living together for the next six months, and you will realise that your marriage is worth saving." He said it so certainly, as if he had a fail-safe plan.

In her mind, she gagged openly at the very thought. In her mind, she told them all that she didn't need a guy to stay out of obligation.

The man who once seemed to know her inside out spoke her thoughts for her.

"No! If I take her back with me, she will kill me. I might kill myself!" He threw his hand up in the air dramatically.

She almost smiled at that, a reminiscent gesture that reminded her of the guy she once loved.

Please. Fight for this. Fight to keep it going.

It was that tiny voice in my mind, screaming not to let go, begging me to fight for its life. A tiny, broken voice, cracking with pain, yet filled with magical hope, a representative of the lovelorn girl she used to be.

"I invested so much in this! My life, my dreams, my love! Where did all that go? Where is the man I used to know?" The words begged to spill out of her lips, and tears pushed at the dam in her eyes.

She hung on resolutely to the last vestiges of her pride, and stood up, walking away. She nodded respectfully at her father, letting him know that she was fine with whatever he decided to do, at this point.

She was too tired to fight.

"Such an impudent girl. I told you, Kavita, she doesn't care about my son. My poor boy. God alone knows what he saw in her." The snide whispers of her mother-in-law, meant for the ears of her sister-in-law, reached her ears, and she stiffened.

'He saw my wealth, the lands my father owned. He saw my beauty, and the gullibility written on my face.' In her mind, she said that confidently.

She walked away, stifling the tiny voice in her head.

'I can't save something that never existed. This relationship is beyond saving.' She told herself resolutely.

In her mind, the memory of her relationship whimpered, dying.

A/N:
Not every battle is worth winning, not every war won needs to be waged. Sometimes, it is okay to let it die.
Let me leave you with that.
Toodles.
Oh, and shout out to #brokenPerceptions by writers365