lovemanyata
"Michael... don't leave me like this."
Her voice cracked in the middle, like it couldn't hold itself together anymore.
He didn't turn.
Didn't slow down.
Didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken.
"Say something..." she whispered, breath shaking now. "Please... just look at me once."
His steps continued.
Measured. Controlled. Final.
That's when it sank in.
She wasn't being left in a moment.
She had already been left long ago.
"You don't even care anymore?" her voice broke completely now, desperation slipping through every word. "Was I that easy to erase?"
A pause.
Not for her.
For control.
Then his voice came-calm, distant, almost empty.
"I didn't erase you, Manyata."
She let out a shaky breath, like that meant something.
Then he finished the sentence.
"I just stopped carrying you."
Silence.
Her fingers trembled as she reached out, but the distance between them felt too wide now-like he had moved her into a place she could no longer touch.
"Then why did you let me come so close?" she whispered.
For the first time... he stopped.
Just for a second.
Not to return.
Only to correct something in his mind.
"You didn't come close," he said quietly.
"I let you believe you did."
Her breath broke completely.
"No..." she shook her head, tears falling freely now. "No, you're lying. You don't just-forget someone like me."
This time, he looked over his shoulder.
Just once.
And what she saw wasn't anger.
It was worse.
Indifference.
"You were never something I held onto," he said.
"And that's why letting go was easy."
Her knees almost gave out.
"Michael..." she whispered, like his name could still save her.
But he was already turning away again.
And this time-
he didn't stop.