It was four thirty in the afternoon and Wanda and Gregory were in a tizzy. Shortly after lunch, they went to get Myles from his fishing spot, but he wasn't there. At first they thought he might have moved, so they continued to look for him along the shore, but he was nowhere to be found. Then, they discovered his fishing equipment lying around, but he was nowhere in sight. Lake Moomaw didn't have many land predators; maybe the black bear, but they were very seldom, and in hibernation. The next thing they thought was that he slipped while in the river, and the small current took him west. They checked there too, but Myles wasn't there. They then went back, and searched where his stuff currently was, but yet again, they failed to find him. At last, they went back to the cottage, thinking that he might have walked back there, albeit that was a long walk, and would've taken him two hours to get there.

While searching their cottage, Wanda heard a knock at the door. She assumed it was her neighbors who were expecting them at their barbeque over two hours ago, and wondering where they were. She quickly went to the door, but to her surprise there was a man, woman and golden retriever in her presence. They looked familiar. "Hi! Can I help you?" she asked, slightly agitated.

"Hello," greeted the man. "My name is Jack and this is Sue and Levi. Are you Wanda by any chance?"

Wanda proudly gave a bright smile. "Yes, I am Wanda. How can I help you?"

"We believe our friend Myles Leland is with you. Is that true?"

Her smile faded and her heart sank. "Y-yes, he's here, but he's out fishing right now. What do you need?"

"Like I said, we're friends of his, and we were just wanting to check on him."

"Oh." Then, the familiarity of the couple clicked. She tried deterring away from their question, "You are those FBI agents that visited Brandy Station for that plane crash! By Golly, it's been a long time, and a great, big treat! I've just been running into you agents left, right and center this week!" Just then, she wanted to slam the door in their faces, but that would only arouse suspicion that something was amiss.

Jack said, "Ma'am…please."

Wanda sighed. "Yes, Mr. Leland is here. I bumped into him by chance at a coffee shop in the city, and we briefly chatted. He said that he had nothing to do on his vacation, so I invited him here with me and my husband. I think he's enjoying it so far…although it's hard to tell…because he likes to keep to himself. He only engages with us at breakfast and dinner now." She then gave Levi an awkward smile. "Aw, that's a cute doggo."

Sue, getting a tad irritated, asked, "You said that Myles is out fishing? Do you know where?"

Wanda shrugged. "Yes I do, but like I said, he keeps to himself."

Jack commented, "Then you shouldn't have a problem telling us."

"I don't think he wants to be bothered right now."

Sue said adamantly, "We need to see him."

"Why?"

Jack squinted at the woman. From body language alone, she looked nervous, and she was hesitant on telling them anything. What was going on? What was she hiding? Was he hurt? Was he dead?

Sue answered, "Because Myles is our friend, and we're worried about him. He left abruptly without telling anyone, and it's not like him."

Jack added, "He's not just on vacation, he's on medical leave for two weeks."

Wanda said blankly, "I know."

"But do you know the extent of his medical issues?"

Wanda thought for a moment. Then she replied, "He didn't say. He likes his privacy."

Sue exhaled. Of course he didn't tell his hosts why he was on medical leave. "I agree, Wanda. Myles is a very hard guy to crack. We've known him for a long time and we still can't figure out why he does and thinks a certain way."

Jack was getting tired of this. He said with authority, "No offense Wanda, but Myles barely knows you, so we found it a little out of character for him to go somewhere with a stranger out of the blue. All I will say for now is that his condition gets him a little confused sometimes, and we want to make sure that he is coherent and he knows where he is, why he's here, and who he is with. Once we can confirm that he is safe, we will go back to Washington. This is just a welfare check."

Wanda looked away. She was stuck. How was she supposed to tell them that she lost him?

"Wanda, Myles is an FBI agent. If you don't tell us where he is, we'll have to start an investigation, and take you in for questioning. You're acting very weird to us. If there is something wrong, please tell us. We won't be mad."

Wanda reluctantly replied, "My husband and I can't find Myles."

"What?!"

"I'm sorry. He went out fishing with us this morning, but he wanted to be alone, so we let him go down the shore a little bit. He told us where he was, and when we went to pick him up, his stuff was there, but he was not. We checked everywhere, but we couldn't find him. Then, we thought he might have come back here, so we were currently looking, but then you showed up. We're going to go back into the water soon, and search again before we start losing daylight."

Jack and Sue looked at each other, worried. They hoped he didn't wander off somewhere in a confused state, and get himself hurt. Sue said, "We're FBI agents, and we're good at tracking. Can we come with you?"

"Of course!"

Meanwhile, Myles was still trying to get his calves out from under the tree. While on his stomach, he tried digging a little bit, but the tree sank deeper, and pinned him down even further. Although he was within the tall grass and trees, he could still see the shore. Earlier, he saw Wanda and Gregory drive past his area several times, and he knew that they were looking for him. He tried shouting to get their attention, but obviously, his cries weren't enough. They left for good, but something told him inside that they would be back, so for now, he would have to sit tight.

Then, he heard crackling in the bushes beside him. He turned his head to the left a little bit, and observed a smaller, four legged creature enter his vision. It looked like a wild dog, but it wasn't a stray or a dog he ever wanted to come across when alone. A coyote. He tried to stay low and quiet while the coyote was probably sniffing around for food, maybe a carcass. This was bad. If there was one coyote, surely there were more nearby. And if there wasn't, this one may be rabid.

Unfortunately, the coyote sniffed him out rather quickly, and just stared at him, unsure if what was in front of him was a good meal. Myles quickly searched around him, and found a few softball sized rocks within his reach that he could use as a weapon if needed. He tried to scare it off with his voice first, "GO! GET OUT OF HERE YOU UGLY MUTT!" Then, he threw a smaller rock at the animal, but it didn't budge. Great, he was definitely on the menu tonight.

The coyote approached him. Myles continued to yell, but as the animal came closer, it started to growl, and make lazy whining noises that Myles was adamant would turn into a howl. But before the coyote could think about taking a bite out of Myles, honking and white feathers came into view. Wings. Then, the feathers flapped, and hit the coyote, as well as Myles' face. After the commotion, Myles looked up and saw that damn swan chasing the coyote back into the bushes. Well, this was different. Now that the coyote was driven away, was the swan going to turn on him again? Gary - the trumpeter swan - turned to Myles, and walked towards him. Myles expected another thwack from the giant bird, but instead received a stare, and a honk. This was one strange bird. Yes, he was aggressive, but he was so far from the water now.

"Thanks for the help," Myles said. He squinted. "What do you want, Gary? You can't chase me away now. I'm stuck. And I don't have any food with me if your intention is thievery."

Gary ignored Myles, and looked around as Myles continued to talk, "Too bad you're not bigger, and you don't have arms, so you can help me get out of this predicament." He sighed. "What did I get myself into, huh? First I'm a mess, then I come here without telling anyone to get better, and wind up getting stuck. I will probably starve to death out here before anyone finds me."

Gary then turned to the man, and hissed, "You are one angry bird. I don't get you. I told you I don't have any food, and there's no point in convincing me, because I can't go anywhere! Hmm…it's inconvenient that you can't talk or understand me either. Then, I would ask you to retrieve some assistance for me in this matter." He sighed once more.

Jack, Sue, Wanda and Gregory searched the shores of the lake, calling Myles' name, hoping that somebody would call back, but there was no answer. They even searched the bush, but couldn't find any sign of him.

Jack turned to Wanda. "His stuff isn't here. I thought you said…"

Wanda replied while pointing west, "It's just down there. This is where Gregory and I were fishing. We wanted to check here first just in case Myles was trying to find us or something. We're backtracking."

Jack shook his head. "Well, there's no sign of him here. Let's keep going." He then turned to Sue and observed the worried look on her face. "Don't worry, Sue. We'll find him…alive."

Sue said, "What if he's confused and he's hurt? Or when we do find him, he doesn't know who we are?"

Jack joked. "I think he will. After all, you did threaten him with death."

"...so then my co-workers decided to be imbeciles, and put me on forced vacation with no prior notice…or provide me a chance to fix my behavior? So, I'm angry at them about that." Myles felt like an idiot himself. He was telling his problems to Gary the swan, who was busy picking at bugs in the grass. He'd been talking to the bird for a while, because he felt that he needed someone to talk to, whether it was his psychiatrist, a friend, or a damn bird.

Myles reminisced, "And then…I killed a girl…a fourteen year old girl who had her whole life ahead of her…and I ruined it. Sue and Tara probably hate me; well…I know that Sue does, because she threatened to shoot, hang and maim me for my behavior." He set his sights on the swan. "It's…very unfortunate, Gary. I didn't want to shoot her…but I did. I want to defend myself and say that I did it to save my teammate and friend…but, that doesn't change the fact that I still killed her. I can't get the sound of my rifle out of my head…or the anguished cries that came from her brother. Her body tumbling down the hill caused by my hand will stick with me for a long time…no matter how much I fight it." Myles swallowed. He was starting to get emotional. The thought of his friends - who he cared about deeply, although he didn't show it much - hating him was too much to bear. After steadying his breathing, he continued, "I'm in debt to a lot of people…as much as I hate to admit it. Despite everyone making fun of me, or playing harmless pranks, they've been very supportive of my health. Before telling them of my medical problems, if I asked them to close a filing cabinet door gently, they would slam it shut harder, but…now that they know…they close the filing cabinet gently without a second thought. Maybe they're just scared that I'm going to get violent on them or something." A beat, then, "Gary, how much longer do you want me to talk for? Are you busy?"

And so, Myles talked to the bird; it was easier. He knew that the dumb swan wouldn't judge or talk down to him. He discussed his complex PTSD, and all the baggage that came with it over the years. He discussed how he felt when his symptoms would arise, and how it affected everyone in his life. A good example was his sister Anne. After telling her his diagnosis over four years ago, she'd been a godsend. If he needed someone to talk to that wasn't his psychiatrist, she was there to listen, and if his symptoms were so bad one night that he needed someone to be with him while he went through it for hours on end, she was at his house in a heartbeat to help support him. He was a burden on her. He affected her relationship with her current boyfriend too. He lived with the fact that her boyfriend made her happy, but his PTSD made it seem like she didn't care about the man at all. Her and her boyfriend were growing distant and fighting a lot…then she went to Europe for four months with him. Anne told Myles that she was going because she always wanted to explore Europe, but he knew that she was only going there to rekindle her relationship with her boyfriend, and get away from her brother and his problems. He told her he was going to Lake Moomaw, but didn't tell her the reason why he was on vacation. They were winter vacation people, and taking a holiday in late fall was questionable…but she didn't question, and he wanted to keep it that way. But surely, she would be furious with him in February when she would find out everything that happened from his FBI friends. He would chew that food when he had to.

After his rant, the swan looked at Myles in the eyes. It was weird. It was like…they were no longer fighting…they were getting along somehow. Myles said, "Thanks for listening, Gary. I really needed that. You know…you're not that bad of a bird. I had a whole plan hatched up that when we'd cross paths again, I'd have a way of fighting you and winning, but maybe, just making peace with you by initiating a truce is enough. Truce?"

The cob honked at him as if he was saying 'sure,' and then started heading out of the bush and back to the lake. Then a realization came to Myles, and hit him like a brick wall. For years, he was fighting his PTSD with every fiber of his body. He was trying to conquer the beast that had taken over his life, but…maybe instead of fighting with it this whole time, he should've been making peace with it. He was so fixated on winning the war in his mind, that he should have grieved, and finally accepted his sickness as a part of him this entire time. He knew he was going to have PTSD forever, but he thought he could find a way to deny it, and repress it forever, but…instead, it had gotten worse. He started to get emotional again. But how could he make peace with it? He still needed to take medication…was relaxing, and acceptance really the key to putting the pieces back together?

"I guess I need to start now," he whispered to himself, "I need to start by properly grieving. I never did that after I got diagnosed, did I? I just…fought only." Tears welled up in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He hated showing weakness, even on the days he was alone, he felt embarrassed to let go. He had to learn to do that.

Before he became a mess, he heard a motor boat in the distance. He looked forwards, and saw a familiar boat pull up onto shore. Wanda and Gregory were back, but there were two other people with them. They were so far away, he wasn't sure who they were. He looked away. If they didn't find him then, they weren't going to find him now. It took a while, but after some time, he heard a man nearby call his name. "MYLES! Are you alright?"

They found him. Myles looked up and saw two people he did and didn't want to see at the same time; Sue and Jack. Of course…he should have known they would come after him, they were worried friends and FBI agents. They knelt in front of him and assessed the situation. Jack said, "Are there any broken bones?"

Myles shook his head. "No. I can move all of my limbs, but my calves are pinned, so I can't get out. Suddenly, Gregory and Wanda came into view."

Jack said, "Okay, just stay calm, we'll get you out."

Myles chuckled. "I am calm." Then, "You imbeciles…I told you not to come after me."

Sue said, "We're not very good at listening. I'm afraid we've learned that from the best."

Myles grumbled, "You shouldn't be talking. You're the most stubborn out of all of us."

Chapter 16 is next…