The Return

The Return

It was 1:08pm; everyone in the house was sound asleep except for me. I couldn’t sleep without knowing why my husband never came home from his afternoon bike ride. I was worried; he never didn’t call if he was running late. I was giving it until the morning to call the police to report a missing man. I tossed and turned for several hours, still no sign of my husband. My two children were sound asleep in their bedrooms. My daughter Allie asked why dad didn’t come home last night, I said “he had to stay at work late, hell be back tomorrow” I hate lying to her but I didn’t want to scare her until I knew something was actually wrong with him. After hours of tossing and turning, the clock finally struck 8:06am. I got up out of bed, still snaking with anxiety. I went downstairs and tired to call him again but this time his phone went right to voice mail. I decided that I couldn’t deal with this anxiety much longer and I had to call the police. I called and they answered right away. I told them the story and they asked where was the bike path, I told them the dirt trail next to the train tracks. The police officer took down my name, number and a description of my husband. The police officer said their team will investigate the bike path for any signs of him, and they’ll get back to me within two hours

I was anxiously waiting for a phone call. Two and a half hours passed, it seemed like a eternity. I heard a knock at my front door. I wiped my tears and answered the door. It was the same police officer I talked to on the phone, I could tell by his voice. He had a look of bad news on his face. “Please tell me you found him” I said hopelessly. The glum looking police officer said, “not yet, investigators are still looking.” The police officer got a call “excuse me” he walked towards the end of my narrow driveway, I tried to listen to his conversation but I could barely make out what he was saying. After a minute or so passed the police officer walked towards my front door with a more glum looking face, if that was even possible. “while my team was investigating the bike path they went deep into the thorny woods, and found a tree with blood splattered on it. Then they walked further and found a knife covered in blood” I could feel my heartbreak into thousands pieces, I couldn’t breathe; my world was turned upside down. The officer said it wasn’t confirmed that it was your husbands’ blood; they’re taking a blood sample down to the station, meet me down there in an hour for the test results. I sped to the station, and walked through the doors. I saw the officer and ran up to him, he shook his head and said I’m sorry. I fell to the ground and cried, “he’s gone, he’s gone.” Hours, days, weeks, months, and years passed and still no sign of my husband.

My daughter Allie was graduating high school. She had a very hard childhood due to the mysterious loss of her father. I was so proud of the young lady she became. She was always shut and didn’t have many friends.