The Vanishing of Brandyn Taylor

What's going on?

I stood there, on the doorstep of the house that Brandyn had grown up in, staring at the old man inside. I didn't know what to think, nor what to say. The old man must be confused, I finally thought to myself, maybe he had memory problems associated with old age?

"I'm sorry kid," he continued, "I've lived here since I was a small lad myself, my parents rented the place before me and my wife did. But it's just me these days. What's your friends name?"

"Brandyn. Brandyn Taylor. He's a teacher now, but before he went to uni he lived here with his mum, they moved in when he and I were both seven years old. We've been best friends ever since then."

Rachel put her hand on the back of my elbow, as support. I was flabbergasted, this was their old house, I know it was. I'd been here hundreds of times over the years that the boy and I had been friends. I'd eaten tea here many times after school, we'd sat in his back garden, in summer, doing our homework while his mum gave us glasses of fresh home made lemonade. His mum had only moved out a few years ago, there was no way this old man could have lived here since he was a boy.

"I've never heard of him, I'm sorry." The old man looked sorry for me by this point. "None of the neighbours have a son called Brandyn either, I know all their kids names for at least three houses either side of me."

"Boo, are you sure you have the right street? I mean, this entire estate looks the same. It's easy to think you're on one road when you're not." Rachel asked me.

"I'm certain of it Rachel, I've been here hundreds of times. I could walk here blindfolded."

"I'm sorry lass, I don't know what to say." The man continued. "It's been a good sixty years since anyone else lived here. Maybe even more than that. I hope you find your friend though."

"Thanks, and sorry to have bothered you," Rachel said politely, and began gently steering me back down the mans path.

"Yeah sorry," I added, "erm, if you should hear of anyone called Brandyn around here would you ask him to call Kiera?"

"My pleasure lass, all the best in finding him."

When we were out of ear shot of the old man, and I had made sure he had closed his door, I turned to Rachel.

"Rach what the hell is going on? I know this house like the back of my hand. I've been here so many times. How can that man say he's lived here all his life?"

"I don't know boo. Maybe he's confused, he may have only moved in a few years ago and forgotten."

"I suppose. But the more we dig into where the boy could be, the more blanks we draw. Something odd is going on here, and I intend to get to the bottom of it."

"Uh oh, I'm not going to like this one bit am I?" Rachel looked worried.

"Probably not, but for now let's go back home. I need time to plan my next move."

We made our way home again, by now we were both pretty worn out. It had been a busy few days, and walking in snow was pretty hard work. My legs ached and were complaining to me about the amount of work I had been putting them through these past couple of days. I have to admit that by this point I was fighting back the rising panic I felt inside. Every avenue we tried in our search just lead to more unanswered questions, and more puzzles. It was as if Brandyn's life was a puzzle being done in reverse, pieces of it were being taken away one by one. The harder we looked for him the harder we had to look.
When we got home again Rachel put the kettle on, and we both pulled a blanket each down off the back of the sofa, snuggling down warm while we drank our hot drinks. I knew already what I wanted to do next, I just couldn't see Rachel going along with it. There was a high possibility that she would think it was so outrageous that she'd call my parents. They'd do everything in their power, including having me sectioned, to stop me doing what I wanted to do next.
We sat in silence for almost a half an hour, each of us thinking.