The Vanishing of Brandyn Taylor

A bad idea?

My alarm woke me at 5:30 the next morning. We had decided to be on the road by six am. Hopefully we would miss any rush hour traffic, and should arrive just after lunch time, allowing a little extra time for stops. Rachel was the only one of us that could drive, and I did feel bad about her doing all the driving. I would have got on the coach, but I knew she was as stubborn as I was, and wasn't going to let me do that when she could borrow her sisters car. Luckily for us the car was cheap to run, it was very economical so fuel wouldn't break the bank. We'd made sure there was a snow shovel, blankets, and water in the boot, more to appease our parents than anything else. The snow was starting to melt mostly now, so that was a bonus for us.

"Ready chick?" Rachel asked as she started the car.

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess."

"Let's get this show on the road then."

As the miles passed by we were quiet to begin with, feeling the effects of the early start. We stopped at eight am for some food, both of us feeling hungry by then and wanting more than the snacks we had loaded into the car. We were back on the road by nine. We seemed to be making good time, and hadn't hit any traffic jams. There was the usual road works, they seemed endless on the motorways. Whenever you drove anywhere on a motorway you were almost certain to come across road works somewhere. Parts of the trip took us through some stunning countryside, with breath taking views of snow covered fields. After we had stopped for breakfast we put the CD player on, and started singing along to all our favourite driving trip songs. Rachel had made a CD a few years ago, and now whenever we went on a trip the CD went along too. Of course it ended up with us belting out the chorus to all the songs, at the tops of our voices, while smirking like idiots and throwing the odd bit of popcorn at each other. Road trips with Rachel were always fun; we would just sing and mess about the entire journey. It helped to pass the time. Just after two in the afternoon we entered Cardiff city, and used the sat nav to get us to the university. I couldn't believe that we were actually there. The whole time that the boy had been a student there I had wanted to visit. I'd never been to Wales before, so I was a little excited. I just wished that we were there for a better reason.

"Ok, so do we find a place to stay first, or make a few enquiries and then find a place to stay?"
Rachel asked me.

"As tired as I am from the trip, I'd like to make a few enquires first, but I promise to keep it short. We can find somewhere to stay and have dinner a bit later. If that's ok with you Rach?"

"Fine by me batman. Start with admissions reception first then?"

"Seems as good a place as any."

I was being mindful of the fact that Rachel had just driven a long way, and was probably tired. But on the other hand we were only here for one night, and if we didn't want to be getting home at a silly time the next day, we had to make haste. The university felt massive, i was sure if I was a student there I'd get lost every day for weeks. But it was well signposted, and after a five minute walk we found the admissions reception. Despite it being nearer the end of the students day the office was busy and we had to wait ten minutes or so for our turn.

"Hello can I help you?" A young blonde woman asked us over to the desk.

"Hi, I know this is going to sound crazy, but my best friends gone missing and I'm trying to trace him." I replied.

"Is he a student here?" She asked

"Not now, but he was six years ago. I know it's a long time ago, but we just didn't know where else to start."

"Well unfortunately I can't give you any personal details about your friend, but I can certainly tell you if he was a student here at least."

"No I realise that, but I wondered if you could give any details you do have to our local police? I've reported him missing to them you see."