Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist, no matter how much I wish I did.
A/N: So this is a totally depressing one-shot that popped into my head after thinking about how the finale will affect Grace. I don't really have anything else to say about it. Reviews and crits are always welcomed.
She is broken.
Her soul lies in tatters; a souvenir of her time spent with a man who wasn't who he said he was, wasn't who she thought he was.
She has blood on her hands now. The blood of a man she was supposed to marry. The blood of a man who used her like a pawn in a game of chess. Insignificant. Disposable. To him she was merely a tool. Nothing more, nothing less.
Yet she had loved him. She had given him her heart, trusted him to nurture it. She agreed to marry him, trusting that he would always care for her, always look out for her. He had never intended to do any of that. He threw it all back at her.
Now her heart too lies in pieces.
She isn't sure that she'll ever be able to pick up all the pieces; all the tiny shards that scattered on impact. There is a black hole inside her, eating away at what's left of her spirit, slowly consuming her.
Even if she does pick up all the pieces, she realises, there will always be a void. She will never be the woman she once was. Tragedy changes people. It breaks them beyond repair, and that's all she will ever be.
Broken.