Sleeping with a Stranger

A big thank you to TedlRob for his editing expertise. Small suggestions that made a vastly better story.

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As John began to wake he turned to spoon with his wife Helen. He brushed her hair back as he started to give her a light kiss on the cheek. It was then that John sat up, the woman sleeping next to him wasn't Helen.

John realized his head was pounding and then his heart started to pound. He didn't remember last night. Oh God, what had he done? Why couldn't he remember last night?

He looked at the woman sleeping next to him. She looked familiar but she wasn't Helen. Pulling back the covers John looked at the woman. She was a beautiful woman and the nightgown she wore only enhanced her beauty. John looked down, he was wearing a pair of boxers. He felt relieved since he normally slept in the nude. Maybe just maybe nothing had happened.

He looked around the bedroom. It was his bedroom, his and Helen's bedroom. He wondered where Helen was. Helen had teased him about swinging, was this what had happened? Was Helen in bed with another man?

John slowly got out of bed. He didn't want to wake the woman, what he would say to her? It would be rude to say, "Hello, my I ask who you are?" That didn't seem to be the proper question to ask a woman you have slept with.

A bewildered John stumbled around the entire house. He and this woman were alone in the home. Where was Helen he asked himself again and again? Beginning to panic, John went upstairs and picked up his cell phone. John came back down stairs and called Helen's cell. Following the ringing of a phone, he walked into the kitchen and saw Helen's purse on the counter, her phone ringing inside.

Once again he asked himself "Do they go to a party last night? Why couldn't he remember what happened last night? Where was Helen?"

John fell into a chair in the living room. He looked at the family photos on the walls which chronicled their marriage of 27 wonderful years. They had met at John's office. He was the new attorney and she a new paralegal. He was lost to her the first time she smiled at him. They dated a mere four months and married.

The following years had seemed to be a fairy tale to John. Helen and John raised four great kids who turned into wonderful adults. The first of their grandchildren was just weeks away from coming into this world. They had a great sex life, making love 4 to 5 times a week. For all these years Helen had been John's best friend, wife, lover, dance partner, life partner. How could he cheat on her? How could he be in bed with a stranger?

A bewildered John walked back upstairs. He sat in the chair next to the bed and looked at the woman in his bed. She seemed so familiar but he couldn't remember were they had met. She was an attractive woman who appeared to be Helen's age, late forties. She had the same auburn hair of Helen. The facial features were similar to Helen's but this woman lacked the glow, the essence that was his Helen. He knew he had met this woman before but why couldn't he remember. Why couldn't he remember last night? Most importantly, where was Helen?

John brought his hands to his face and started to cry. He whispered to himself, "What have I done. What have I done?" As he cried he noticed the plastic bracelet on his wrist. Printed on the bracelet was his name and MCV Hospital.

Why had he been in the hospital? The day was getting worse and worse and he appeared to have no control over it. There had to be an explanation for what was happening.

John tried to collect his thoughts. OK, he said to himself. What is the last thing he does remember?

Yesterday, at least he thought it was yesterday, had begun with him going to work. He met with two clients and then had a deposition. He ate lunch at Joe's like he did almost every work day. He met with Janet Thomas that afternoon. Janet Thomas? Why had he met with Janet Thomas?

The Thomas' were Helen and his best friends. Rick Thomas and John had been best friends since kindergarten. He had been John's best man and John had been his best man. They vacationed together every year for a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Rick and Janet's kids were like his own. Why had he met with Janet Thomas?

John remembered Janet walking into his office. She wore a blue dress, it was stylish but modest just like Janet. He remembered them talking and photos being pulled out of a manila envelope. He remembered Janet crying. He remembered himself crying. Then he remembered the pain in his chest, the inability to breathe.

John looked at the woman sleeping in his bed. No, it was the woman sleeping in HER bed, for this was no longer his bed. The photos had shown that Rick had laid claim to this bed.

He now recognized the woman. He had seen her twice before. The first time was when Helen and John were newlyweds. They were at a party and she was drunk and flirting with a neighbor. John found the woman in a back room, her dress at her waist. John had pulled her hands from the man's belt and took her home.

The second time he saw her was at another party. She was drunk and talking loudly. A couple of men were daring her to show them her breasts. John reached the woman as she was unbuttoning her blouse. She and the men thought it was funny, John didn't.

John hadn't seen this woman in over twenty five years. But, she obviously had been there. The photos revealed her existence. Apparently alcohol was no longer needed for her to emerge.

John looked closely at the woman. She had wrinkles around her eyes. Her neck skin was a little loose. He saw traces of gray hair covered by her latest hair coloring. Pigmented spots marred the once graceful hands. A couple of varicose veins crept across her legs like tattoos. She had once been a beautiful woman.

John realized he was looking at Helen without the rose colored glasses of love. To John, Helen was perfect and he thought her to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He had felt that way since the first time she smiled at him more than 27 years ago. The photos he saw, the video he watched had wiped away the mirage.

He remembered the photos of Helen and Rick in the very bed she slept in now. He remembered the PI report that stated the affair had been going on for over a year. He remembered the pain in poor Janet's face. As he regained his memory he realized he had lost his marriage.

John started to think about what he needed to do. He needed to make an appointment with Frank Davis, the best divorce attorney John knew. He needed to go to the bank and also see his financial advisor. He needed to talk to the children. Oh God how was he going to have that conversation or even worse multiple conversations.

John cleared his mind of those thoughts. Yes, he needed to do those things and more but first he needed to leave. He had an overwhelming need to get away from the woman sleeping in her bed.

John quietly dressed. Then he packed a suitcase with his clothes and toiletries. He would come back later for the rest of his things.

The suitcase was quickly loaded in his car. He reentered the house and looked around. Walking into the living room, he took down the portrait of his four children and placed it next to the front door. On the kitchen counter he saw some medical paperwork. He read his release papers from the hospital. Apparently he had suffered a severe panic attack with allied symptoms of PTSD. There were a couple of prescriptions to be filled and a referral to a psychologist.

John picked up all the papers, put his wedding ring on the kitchen counter, and walked to the front door. After one last look at the house that once was his home he picked up the portrait and quietly closed the door.

He knew he would never return to that house, he never slept with strangers.