They thought it was a joke. My husband and his brothers left me on an empty road three hundred miles from home, laughing hysterically and shouting, “Good luck!” I stood there alone, rain and cold wind whipping against my face… and I decided I would never go back again. Five years later, he found me. He approached with a triumphant smile, thinking I was still the same woman he once abandoned. But when he saw the man standing behind me—his smile vanished instantly. His face drained of color. “Since when… have you known him…?” Because that man was the one he had never dared to confront.

# **“Three Hundred Miles” – Three Hundred Miles”**

*— A short novel —*

I’ve never forgotten that night. The pouring rain, the sound of their laughter echoing in my head for years afterward—like an indelible mark.

### **1. The Night of Abandonment**

We were on our way back to Colorado from Wyoming, a “family” trip my husband—Mark—had insisted on taking because he “needed to rekindle the romance.” I believed him. I believed his promise that things would get better after months of arguing, indifference, and indifference masked by fake smiles.

But when the Ford F-150 stopped on a muddy dirt road, three hundred miles from the nearest town, I still had no idea what was happening.

“Get out of the car, Sarah,” Mark said, his voice strange.

I stepped out. The red taillights reflected off the mud. The rain was coming down hard, the mountain wind cutting into my face like a knife.

Then the car door slammed shut.

Mark and his two brothers—Jason and Brian—sat inside, their faces flushed from beer, from excitement I couldn’t understand.

“What?!” I shouted over the wind.

They started the engine.

Jason stuck his head out the window, laughing.

“Good luck finding your way home, Sarah!”

Mark rubbed his eyes as if trying not to laugh, but he couldn’t help it, and he laughed along with them.

And then the car sped away, its tires churning up water.

I was left behind. No phone—because Mark had told me to give it to him “to avoid losing the GPS signal, so he could keep it safe.” No jacket. No vehicle. Just me, the darkness, the rain, and the horrible truth:
**They thought this was a joke. A joke about abandoning your wife.**

I stood there for a long time, until my feet were numb, until the rain soaked into my skin like a thousand needles. I called Mark’s name at least ten times—like a fool who hadn’t accepted reality.

But then, when the sound of the engine faded completely into the night, I knew one thing:
**I would never go back to them.**

I started walking—to any light.

—

### **2. Five Years of Disappearance lost**

I survived that night thanks to a Native family near the Bridger-Teton Forest. They found me collapsed on their doorstep like a wet corpse. I was taken to the hospital, but no one called the police. I had asked for it. I didn’t want Mark to know I was alive, didn’t want anyone in his family to have the opportunity to make fun of my existence again.

I took back my mother’s last name—the old one I’d dropped when I married Mark. I moved to New Mexico, worked in a small mechanic shop, and then moved on to Texas. Each step was a painful peeling off of my skin.

I learned how to fix cars, drive trucks, use maps, defend myself, and even see through a man’s lies just by looking at him. I became a version of myself I had never dared to imagine.

Until one day, I met **Ethan Ward**.

A man who didn’t talk much, his eyes were cold, his face was as hard as stone. The one who was a special forces soldier, who lived in places I would never dare to set foot in. The one who everyone in my small town knew… and didn’t dare to mess with.

We met when he brought his Dodge Ram in for repairs. I noticed he was trying to do it himself but failing because of his old shoulder injury.

He looked at me, a little surprised that I could do something that most male mechanics would have trouble with.

“Do it yourself?” I asked.

Ethan just nodded.

“I’m used to not having to rely on anyone.”

I smiled softly. “Me too.”

From that day on, he helped me fix my roof. Then taught me how to shoot. He taught me how to recognize people who were following me. He said, “It’s not that I’m suspicious. It’s because I’ve seen too many people left behind and no one knows.”

I didn’t say anything. But he knew.

“Sarah… who left you behind?”

I just said, “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

But Ethan wasn’t the trusting type. He found out, but only enough to protect me, not to intrude on anything I wasn’t ready to tell.

Five years passed. I moved twice more, but Ethan was always there. It wasn’t a love affair. It was a bond between two people shaped by time and pain.

I finally thought the past was dead.

I was wrong.

—

### **3. When the past returns**

I was waiting in line at the supermarket when I heard someone call my name.

“Sarah?”

I froze. That voice. That tone. That voice that had terrified me in my nightmares.

I turned around.

**Mark.**

Five years had passed, but he had hardly changed: his slightly messy blond hair, his familiar amber eyes, and the way he stood leaning slightly to one side, as if always ready to laugh at someone.

But Mark’s face when he saw me—a mixture of surprise, joy, and… confidence.

As if he were sure I would run toward him.

“Holy shit… it’s you.” He approached, a smug smile on his face. “I thought you were—”

Dead. He meant it. I looked

in his eyes.

He lowered his voice:

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You finally showed up.”

“Why did you have to look for me?” I asked, so calmly that I was surprised.

Mark shrugged.

“Sarah… that night was just a joke. Did you really leave? I know your brothers still talk about it and—”

I interrupted.

“You left me in the middle of the woods. No one knows I’m alive.”

“But I didn’t think you would leave!” Mark sneered. “If you wanted to show me off, then… you’ve succeeded. But it’s been five years, Sarah. Go home. You’re my wife.”

I felt cold all over.

Because Mark truly believed that I was still the same **woman left in the rain**.

He took a step forward, reaching out to touch me.

But another hand landed on his shoulder—so hard that it made him stop.

Mark turned his head.

Ethan stood behind me, silent as a large shadow. Black shirt, cold blue eyes. A look that could make any confident man retreat.

Mark’s face changed color immediately.

His lips trembled.

“Who… is he…?” Mark asked, taking a half step back instinctively.

I said very softly:

“Someone I’ve never dared to face.”

Mark paled.

I knew he recognized. Recognized the name he’d feared all his high school years—the man he’d said he “wanted to avoid just by looking at him.”

Mark had told his friends that Ethan Ward was “unemotional” and “the most dangerous person he’d ever met.”

Someone Mark never wanted to clash with, even accidentally.

And now, Ethan was standing behind me, his eyes piercing Mark’s head.

Ethan spoke, his voice low, each word clear:

“He didn’t touch her. Never.”

Mark opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything.

Ethan stood closer, just enough for Mark to feel the pressure.

“Sarah isn’t coming back,” Ethan said. “And you no longer have the right to call her your wife.”

Mark tried to smile, but it was as crooked as a melted mask.

“What… what do you want? This is between me and my wife—”

Ethan frowned.

“That night. The woods. Three hundred miles. You left her behind.”

Mark held his breath.

“You… know?”

“I know everything,” Ethan said, his voice unchanged. “And you should be grateful she’s standing here, rather than lying somewhere where no one can find her.”

Mark stammered,

“I… I didn’t mean to—”

“You know it wasn’t an accident.” Ethan took a half step forward, his voice so low it sent shivers down his spine. “If she died that night, you and your two brothers would be in jail. There’s no joking around here.”

Mark looked at me, then at Ethan. A bead of sweat ran down his temple.

“Sarah…” Mark swallowed. “When did you… meet him?”

I looked him straight in the eye, calmly:

“Since I learned to survive. Since I understood that there are men who stand by you… and don’t leave you in the rain.”

Ethan put his hand on my back—lightly, but enough for Mark to see the line.

“I want her to be safe,” Ethan said. “And you’re not one of them.”

Mark backed away completely, his face pale. He looked as if for the first time in his life he understood the true consequences of his actions five years ago.

—

### **4. The Open End—and the Truth Mark Didn’t Expect**

Mark seemed to want to say something more, but he knew it too—all the power, all the complacency, all the laughter from years ago was gone.

“Sarah… you’re really not coming back?”

I replied softly:

“I left you the moment you left me.”

Mark stood there for a long time, watching us leave.

But there was one thing he didn’t know…

Over the past five years, Ethan hadn’t just found me by accident. He’d found Mark, Jason, and Brian in freshman year—but he hadn’t told me. Because he knew if I wasn’t ready to face them, I’d be scared for life.

He’d watched them from afar, had enough information to protect me, but didn’t interfere with my life until I’d come to him on my own.

A man Mark never dared to face…
**but always stood behind me—not to protect me, but so I could stand tall without fear.**

As the supermarket door closed behind me, I heard Mark let out a gasp—as if he had just lost something he never knew how to cherish.

I took Ethan’s hand.

“I knew he would come for you sooner or later,” Ethan said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“Because I needed to end the past myself.”

I looked out at the parking lot, where the rain had begun to drizzle—a faint memory of that night.

But this time, I wasn’t standing alone.