Four Years Gone: The Return of Scout
Four years had passed since Jason disappeared. For the most part, I had learned to accept it. I had moved on, or at least I thought I had. But the day our old family dog, Scout, came back into our lives, carrying something in his mouth that I could never have imagined—Jason’s jacket—everything changed.
I still remember the day Jason left like it was yesterday. He had been struggling for months, weighed down by something I couldn’t reach. He was quiet, distant. But that day—he looked different. Excited, even. I remember him pacing around the house, looking restless.
“I just need to get out into nature,” he said, rubbing Scout’s ears. Our kids, Benny and Emily, laughed, oblivious to the storm inside him.
“Are you sure you don’t want company?” I asked, holding Benny, while Emily clung to my leg.
“Nah,” Jason smiled, his eyes shining with that old spark. “I’ll be back before you know it. Promise.”
But Jason never came back.
At first, I thought maybe he had gotten lost. Maybe he had fallen or injured himself in the wild. Search teams scoured the mountains, calling out his name. Friends, neighbors, even strangers showed up to help. But as the days turned to weeks, the worry turned into pity. Everyone began to look at me with sad eyes, like they knew something I didn’t.
The search parties finally came to a halt. “We’ve done all we can,” they said. Those words—“We’ve done all we can”—rang in my ears. The search for my husband was over. Jason wasn’t just lost. He was gone.
They declared him dead after a few months, though I could never bring myself to say it out loud. Jason was gone, and I had to live without him. Life went on, though it felt different. I tried to keep his memory alive for the kids, telling them stories of the man who used to be so full of life.
Some nights, I sat in the silence of the house, holding his old scarf or his chipped coffee mug, and I wondered what I could have done differently. Could I have stopped him from leaving that day?
Then one quiet Saturday afternoon, everything changed.
It was a peaceful day. The sun was out, and there was just enough breeze to make the backyard feel alive. I was lying on a blanket, watching Emily and Benny play, finally feeling a rare moment of peace. Then I heard a rustling near the bushes. At first, I thought it was just a squirrel. But as I looked closer, I saw him—a dog, thin and ragged, walking toward me.
At first, I didn’t recognize him. But as the dog got closer, my heart skipped. “Scout?” I whispered, hardly daring to believe it.
“Scout!” I called louder, barely breathing. The dog stopped and looked at me with tired eyes. In his mouth, he held something—something green. It was Jason’s jacket. My heart froze.
“Scout, where did you come from?” I asked, stepping toward him. But as soon as I moved, Scout turned and started walking away, his body language telling me to follow.
“No—Scout, wait!” I called, but the dog didn’t stop. And something inside me told me I had to follow, no matter where he was leading me.
“Kids, stay here! Don’t move!” I said, grabbing my phone and keys, hands shaking. “Mommy’ll be back soon, I promise.”
Emily looked up, her wide eyes filled with worry. “Where are you going, Mom?”
“I… I just have to check something, honey,” I managed, my voice trembling. She nodded, watching me with concern as I ran after Scout.
The dog led me through the edge of our neighborhood, into the forest. My breath caught in my throat. My feet stumbled on the uneven ground. I had no idea where we were going, but my heart raced, filled with a mix of fear and hope.
“Scout, slow down!” I called, but the dog was relentless, trotting ahead, moving deeper into the woods.
After what felt like an eternity of running, slipping, and stumbling, I saw it—a small cabin hidden deep within the forest. It was tucked away so well you’d miss it if you weren’t looking for it. Thin smoke curled up from a fire pit, and there were footprints in the mud. Someone was here.
“Jason?” I whispered, my breath catching. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not like this.
I crept closer to the window, peering inside. And there he was—Jason—moving around as if nothing had changed. His hair was long, messy, and a wild beard covered part of his face. He looked like someone else. Like he had been living out here for months. And he wasn’t alone.
A woman stood beside him, her hand brushing against his arm. She looked wild too, her hair tangled, her clothes patched and worn. She was… comfortable, like she belonged there.
I gasped, my heart shattering in an instant. “No,” I whispered, my mind racing to process what I was seeing. “No, this isn’t real.”
But the longer I stood there, the more the truth set in.
Without thinking, I pushed open the door. It creaked loudly, and they both turned in shock. Jason’s mouth fell open, his eyes wide with disbelief, like he had seen a ghost.
“Maggie…” His voice was soft, too calm, almost like he had been expecting me.
“Jason,” I said, my voice shaking, but I held his gaze. I glanced at the woman, then back at him. “What is this? Where have you been?”
Jason looked at the woman, then back at me, his eyes vacant. “I was trapped, Maggie. That life… it wasn’t me. Out here, I’m free. I can breathe. I found something real. Something I couldn’t have back there.”
I stared at him, barely able to understand what he was saying. “You left us. You left your kids, Jason. They think you’re dead. I thought you were dead.”
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know this is hard to hear. But out here, I’m living a life that matters. I’m not bound by anything anymore.”
I stepped back, the words cutting deeper than I could have imagined. “So, this is it? You just walk away? From everything? From us?” My voice cracked. “You didn’t even let us know you were okay?”
Jason closed his eyes, looking down. “Maggie, you don’t get it. I’m living my truth now. I’m free.”
“A prison?” I repeated, my voice breaking. “Is that what we were to you?”
Before I could say anything else, Sarah, the woman by his side, sneered. “Maybe if you weren’t so obsessed with your technology, you could understand how freeing it is to worship nature like we do.”
I didn’t want to hear anymore. His excuses, his empty words, all of it. I was suffocating. The anger bubbled up inside me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to demand answers, to make him see the damage he’d done to our family. But as I looked at him—at the man who had once been my everything—I realized that Jason was gone. And not just physically.
I turned and walked out of the cabin, not sparing them a second glance. There was nothing left to say.
The walk back home felt like an eternity. Each step felt heavier than the last. My heart was hollow, my mind numb. But I knew I had to move forward.
The next morning, I walked into a lawyer’s office. I barely knew how to say the words, but I knew they had to be said.
“I want a divorce,” I said, my voice trembling but steady. “And I want support for my kids. If he has anything—anything at all—my kids deserve it.”
The lawyer nodded, his face sympathetic. “We’ll make sure you and your children are taken care of, Maggie.”
As I left the office, a strange calm washed over me. I had spent years wondering if Jason would ever come back. But now I knew—he wasn’t coming back. And even if he did, he wasn’t the man I had once loved.
Now, it was my turn to choose. I would build a life for my children. A life full of love, stability, and honesty. Jason had made his choice. And I was making mine. There was no turning back.
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