An unexpected roommate

Life in the military had been hard on me. My name is James, I'm 28 years old and have managed to fail at being a husband, a father, and just about anything else I have ever attempted. I had recently returned from my second tour of duty in Iraq, this time being one of the proud few who could say they had survived an IED attack.

While deployed my wife of five years had found it much easier to find console in the arms of another man, than in the hope of waiting for me to return. When I did come home, my house on post was empty and my sons were gone also. Despite wanting a divorce, I decided to stay married, bank the extra cash that comes along with it, and keeping the massive three bedroom house to myself.

Months passed and my wife never returned, and my unit was gearing up to deploy again, this time without me due to the injuries I had sustained before. A very good friend of mine, who had never deployed, and his young 18 year old brand new bride had found out he was deploying. I was prepared to help him through it as best I could.

It was about 7 PM on a Friday, I had just settled down to watch a movie and cracked my first beer when I heard a knock at the door.