The Right Choice

She watched him walk out of her life and she knew it was for the best. It was never good even at its best. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. They were both too broken when they met. I guess they spent so much time trying to fix each other that they never saw what they were worth. And now here they are. He’s walking away and she’s letting him. Knowing it’s for the best.

When she was little she had always hoped that she would find someone who would save her from her life. And when he was little he always hoped he would be stronger than he was. He never could stand up to his father. He watched his father beat his mother and then come for him. When she was growing up her father left and it was her mother who would beat her and blame her for chasing her dad off.

When the two of them met they thought they were the perfect pair. They connected on a tragic upbringing and a hopeful future. However, what they noticed were the competitions that would follow. The “who had it worse” moments that would begin to break their relationship.

He would always start with at “I wish it was my mother who hit me. It couldn’t have hurt as much as when my father gave me a black eye.”

She would reply with “yeah it must have sucked to have a father who stuck around, and a mother who wanted to protect you.”

These arguments would continue for hours or days. The fatal day was when the screaming came to an all-time high. Neither could remember the words that were said but they both saw the action. He raised his hand. He raised it high in the air and swung it down toward her face. He must have seen the fear in her eyes because his hand stopped within a hair of her face. He fell to his knees with tears in his eyes. So ashamed of what he was about to do. She was frozen in fear for a moment, but she hesitantly laid her hand on his head. He clung to her legs and begged forgiveness. Which she gave.

He stood up and looked her in the eye and without speaking they knew what they had to do. He grabbed his suitcase and packed what he could. He would leave and he would never come back. She would also pack her suitcase to leave so that he would have no reason to return. This would be the last they would see each other.

She stood there in the living room trying to think of a way to make this work. She loved him so. But she knew that there was no coming back from this. He grabbed his suitcase and walked over to her one last time. He gently placed his hand on her cheek and let a tear fall from his eye. Then he turned and walked out the door. She stood there. Knowing this was the right choice for them. She took a deep breath and picked up her suitcase.