loneliness was your constant friend, a suffering that never seemed to end. carrying an invisible weight heavy as stone causing a pain that cuts you deep to your bone

ever since you were a young child you struggled with fitting in. never seemed to find a group of people to slot into and grow up with. even at home with your parents and siblings your presence went unnoticed like a lingering shadow tucked away on the sidelines

signing up for the british army wasn’t any different. you trained hard with your squad, helped them out on deployments when needed, was a great soldier in the required aspects but forever remained a lingering presence to them

after a few long, difficult months of training and deployments the rest of your squad decided to take the night off at the first opportunity. you’d watched on from your barrack room as they all left dressed up and already tipsy heading to the nearest bar to let loose for the night while you remained on base with your only friend loneliness for company

you trekked through base before sitting down at a vacant bench lighting up a cigarette too engrossed in your loneliness to notice ghost, your lieutenant, take a seat opposite you. even if you had settled for being a shadow he had been watching you from the sidelines since you’d joined his squad