Four years after Maggie’s husband vanished during a solo hike, she had come to terms with his loss. But when their old family dog reappeared, carrying her husband’s jacket in its mouth, Maggie followed it into the forest, uncovering a truth she never could have imagined.

I still remember the day Jason left four years ago. He has been depressed for a couple of months now, and this was the first time in a long while I’ve seen him so excited, restless.He said he needed some time in nature, alone. “Just me and Scout,” he’d said, scratching behind Scout’s ears as our kids laughed.“Are you sure you don’t want company?” I’d asked, holding our then-toddler son, Benny, while my four-year-old, Emily, clung to my leg.

Jason just smiled and shook his head. “Nah, I’ll be back before you know it. Promise.”But he never came back.At first, I thought he’d gotten lost. Maybe hurt. The search teams kept trying to find him. Our friends, our neighbors all showed up to help, calling his name, searching the mountains. It felt surreal, like a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from.But days turned to weeks, and the search teams started looking at me with pity, as if they’d already made up their minds.Eventually, they said, “We’ve done all we can.”

Over the years, little things have kept Jason alive in our home: his old hiking boots by the door, his coffee mug with a chip on the rim, the wool scarf he loved. The kids sometimes ask about him, and I tell them stories, trying to keep his memory alive.