Chapter 7 - THE BOY WHO ASKED THE WRONG QUESTION
Jackson stayed for dinner.
Harold cooked venison stew.
Wyatt insisted on setting the table.
Titan lay beneath Jackson's chair.
For an hour, the conversation remained ordinary.
School.
Weather.
The broken fence behind the cabin.
Then Wyatt asked:
“Mr. Jackson, why do people call you the Reaper?”
The room went silent.
Harold froze.
Reed looked toward Jackson.
Jackson stared at the boy.
“Where did you hear that?”
Wyatt shrugged.
“At school.”
Jackson swallowed.
The nickname had followed him for twenty years.
It came from a time when he'd believed mercy was weakness.
A time when men disappeared after crossing him.
A time when he'd built his reputation on fear.
He looked at Wyatt.
“Because I've done things I'm not proud of.”
Wyatt frowned.
“Bad things?”
Jackson nodded.
“Yes.”
The boy looked thoughtful.
“Like lying?”
Jackson smiled sadly.
“Worse.”
Wyatt stared.
“Did you hurt people?”
Harold opened his mouth.
Jackson raised a hand.
“It's okay.”
He looked at the boy.
“Yes.”
Wyatt's face changed.
Jackson continued.
“And I can't pretend those things didn't happen.”
Silence.
Then Wyatt asked:
“Are you still doing them?”
Jackson stared.
The question was simple.
And devastating.
He looked at Harold.
Then back at Wyatt.
“I'm trying not to.”
Wyatt nodded slowly.
Then he said:
“My mom said people can change if they really want to.”
Jackson swallowed.
“Did she?”
Wyatt nodded.
“But she said saying sorry isn't enough.”
Jackson smiled faintly.
“She sounds wise.”
Wyatt looked down.
“She was.”
For a moment, the room felt heavy with everything the boy had lost.
Then Jackson said:
“Wyatt, your mother was right.”
The boy looked up.
Jackson continued.
“If I want to become better, I have to prove it.”
Wyatt nodded.
“Okay.”
After dinner, Harold walked Jackson to the porch.
Snow drifted gently through the trees.
The old man looked at him.
“My grandson sees good in people.”
Jackson nodded.
“I know.”
Harold's voice hardened.
“Don't make him regret it.”
Jackson looked toward the window.
Wyatt was laughing as Titan tried to steal a dish towel.
Jackson swallowed.
May you like
“I won't.”
And for the first time, he understood that promise mattered more than any oath he'd ever made to his organization.
