• The young man had just gotten off the airplane and was at the baggage claim area when he heard a familiar sound. "Hey Joe!" He turns and sees his older brother approach. Joe smiles and waves, boy it felt great to be back. He scooped up his bags and met his older brother who followed up with a hug and a pat on the shoulder.

    On the ride home Joe gazed out the window, his mind adrift, remembering all the people he had left behind saying he was gonna come back. I gotta call her. He thought of his girlfriend and all the heart warming letters she had sent him while he was at training. Though towards the end of his training, her letters didn't come in as fast and she stopped picking up her phone. Joe had shrugged it off as being that she had school or work, or was just preoccupied. Then why did concern him now? Tomorrow, he thought just his eyes closed and slumber took him away, tomorrow I'll talk to her.

    Joe had woken up in his bed, so exhausted from the previous night he slept in uniform. When he walked in he was unmoved by how, unchanged everything was. All his stuff was exactly where they were when he left. Immediately he fished around his bag for his phone. When he pulled it out he dialed his girlfriends number, disappointed he left a message. "Hey I'm back home. Call me, I can't wait to see you again." And hung up. Joe changed from the army uniform he drudged through the last few months and into his civilian attire. Felt amazing to wear normal clothes again.

    Just as he was about leave the confines of his room he heard "Master of Puppets" by one of his favorite bands Metalica. It was a ringtone he chose, and he never regretted it. Opening his phone he felt a surge of relief when he saw the name "Mary" across the screen. "Hey baby." He said and though her reaction was less than satisfying. She seemed completely un-fazed by his returning. "I missed you." Her responses were plain, simple, short and sweet till she told him she had to go and she'd talk to him later.

    "That was weird." Joe closed his phone after she hung up. The rest of the day was pretty plain, nothing new, no questions about his experience. Life carried on as usual. It wasn't until he got on the computer that he saw Mary was logged on. He decided to message her to schedule a meeting. She agreed and they'd meet at the mall the next day. Any suspicion that Joey might have had suddenly dissipated from him. He ended the conversation with an "I love you" with a little cutesy emote at the end. She reciprocated though she didn't put the emotes nor the cutesiness she usually administers to her words. Again Joey thought nothing of it.

    The date with Mary was great for catching up on what happened over the past few months but Joe definitely noticed something had changed about her. She avoided questions about what she did, changed the subject when it seemed she was about to say something and just overall uninterested in his presence. So not as great as I thought. Though the initial greeted was just how he remembered it, they hugged, kissed and walked with their arms entwined and fingers laced as they strolled through the giant air conditioned shopping center.

    After the date Joe drove her home and didn't even bother to kiss him goodbye, another eerie change Joe noted. The next few weeks after his return only brought back the suspicions that something was going on with Mary, she wasn't returning his calls, ignored him on the computer and when they would talk, their conversations would be 10 min long or shorter. It wasn't until that one of her closest friends came over that Joe's suspicions were confirmed.

    "No!" He shouted unwilling to accept what he heard. "She's not seeing some other guy!" But her friend only pressed on saying that they hooked up and she was crazy about the guy, and when mentioned about Joe, Mary never said a thing about it. The anger and rage built up inside of him along with sadness. He couldn't handle it and sent the girl as politely as he could on her away.

    Joe had a hard time sleeping that night and decided to call Mary and leave a voice message for her telling her that he had to talk to her in person. "She couldn't have." Joe whispered as he forced his eyes shut but his body too stubborn to sleep. "She couldn't have, not again." A few small tears flowed from his eyes as darkness too him away to a dreamless slumber.

    Joe had met at the exact spot where he told Mary he'd be. His patience had worn thin when she finally came out from a car her parents let her barrow. When she approached he began, "Mind explaining?" Mary stopped and tilted her head, puzzled she opened her mouth to speak, "What do you mean?" Joe sighed heavily. "Who is he?" Her eyes widened at the question. "Who is who? I don't know what you're talking about!" But he knew she was lying. "Dammit! I know you've been seeing someone else while I was away! You're friend came over and told me everything."

    Mary suddenly cursed her friend for blabbing but knew there was no way out. "Yes I have been seeing someone. But so what? You were gone and I felt alone. So what was I-" Joe cut her off, his anger getting the best of him. "You wait! For gods sake, I waited, you know those damn letters you sent me kept me going." Mary looked at him, seeing the hurt and anger in his eyes and suddenly she felt ashamed. "I'm sorry Joe. I was caught up in the moment and..." She trailed off knowing it was useless going on. After all this wasn't first time this happened. The first she had cheated on him, he had forgiven her for he believed in second chances. "And it wasn't going to last. I was just-" Again Joe interrupted her, "Just what? See how this guy works out then come back into my arms if didn't work out? Is that all I am to you? A safety net?" Her brows furrowed in anger. "And what about you and your flirting? You check out every girl who walks by!" She countered catching him off guard.

    "..." Joe struggled for words till he finally found them, "Yeah I did. I told you about it all though. I told you about every girl who hit on me the girls I looked at and flirted with but never did I once ask them out or cheat on you." He took a deep breath then continued. "I've done stupid things Mary, a lot of stupid things. I regretted them and haven't done anything else since. But you cheated on me once before and I forgave you thinking things would be different the second time around but it ended the same." She didn't respond.

    "I'm done." Joe finally said and sighed, this time regaining control of his nerves. "What do you mean done?" Mary's voice quivered knowing what was coming next but denied it. "This! All this!" His hands made gestures pointing at the area around them. "It's over." Mary suddenly broke into tears. "No please!" She stepped forward but he backed off. "Goodbye Mary." Before he left he told her he forgave her, but this time their relationship could not be mended and that if they continued he said it would be as if he let himself be defeated which was something he refused. Mary watched the man whom she had betrayed walk out of her life, this time forever. It would be last time they'd see each other.

    Joe tore them up, all of them, pictures of them, letters she sent to him while he was away, and burned them all. Deleted text messages of their late night chat sessions. It hurt, it hurt a lot and as he was performing the tasks, he couldn't help but shed tears. He found one letter he didn't dispose of. Joe unfolded the paper and read to himself:

    Dear Joey,

    How's training? Hope you're doing fine. I miss you so much! I just want to tell you how proud I am to be your girlfriend. All my girlfriends tell me they're jealous that I'm dating a sexy army guy. I giggle every time knowing that you're MY sexy army guy. I went shopping the other day and found a teddy bear with one of those army clothing on it, it reminded me of you so I bought it. It's so cute!

    I've been visiting your family, they miss you probably more than I do. You know I hate competing with other people. Life's been pretty much the same, you know, work, come home, chores and just lay around and think of you. I've never realized how little there is do around here without you here. Oh shoot, I'm crying now and my tears are staining the paper. Oh Joey I miss you so much and I can't wait for you to come home. I think I'll end the letter here, sorry it's so short.

    xoxoxoxo

    Love you always,
    Mary.

    Joe smiled at the letter and stared at it, reading a few more times before setting it a flame with the others. There it was done, he was moving on now. There would be no turning back, the road ahead was going to be a rocky one but it would lead him to a bright future.