The Vanishing of Brandyn Taylor

Coincidence

I was at a loss knowing what to do next about Brandyn being missing. Five days after our accident we were back in our flat, Rachel was slowly recovering, and our parents were keeping a close eye on us both. Rachel was making sure I maintained taking my meds as prescribed, and had mentioned a couple of times that maybe I should call Marcus, my therapist, and ask for an earlier appointment. I was down to seeing him once a month now, but I could tell Rachel felt I should go in a bit sooner. I argued my point that I was due to see Marcus in a little over a week anyway, and that seeing him now wouldn't make any difference. One or other of our parents called by every day to make sure we were ok, and they nearly always brought us over meals they'd cooked and put into plastic containers for us to reheat whenever we wanted them.
I'd promised to keep in touch with Bob and Linda, and we'd even agreed to go and stay at the farm some time in the future.

"So boo, what's the plan of action now then, about Brandyn I mean?" Rachel asked, giving up trying to get me to see Marcus earlier than next week.

"I don't know Rach' I really don't. There doesn't seem to be anything more I can do. I can't think of anything anyway. Going back any further into his life just takes us to senior school, where we both went. Nothing that far back is going to help us find him now."

"What about missing persons websites? Have you thought about listing him on any of those?"

"No I hadn't, but I will now you've thought of that."

I spent the next hours searching for any websites and social media groups I could, and posting the boy as missing. Of course, they all depended on someone happening to come across them, which didn't seem very likely to me. Unless he was found injured somewhere and someone searched to find out who he was. (Maybe he's had a head trauma and was suffering amnesia, that might explain why I couldn't find him?)
When I had exhausted that search I was, again, at a loss what to do next. I just couldn't remember his mother's surname, nor any names of cousins or other family of his. It was looking like all I could do was wait and hope. But I had a grey cloud hanging over me, what if I never knew what happened to him? I couldn't spend the rest of my life just not knowing. If it was something as simple as he'd gone off travelling, he wouldn't have gone without letting me know.

"Rachel, I can't stand just sitting around doing nothing. Can we go out somewhere maybe?"

"Sure, as long as it doesn't involve much walking hun. I'm still not up to a lot."

"I know. What about the library? We could hire a dvd maybe? Or we could go the cinema. No actually scrub the cinema, I don't think you'd find the seats comfy for that long with your ribs."

"We could pop in and see Phil, then how about a quick visit to a shop, treat ourselves to some new clothes or something? I've got a top to replace since mine was cut off me after the accident." Rachel loved shopping.

"Are you well enough for shopping?" I asked her.

"I think I can manage it if we stick to one or two shops, though I may need to sit down and rest a bit."

"If you're sure? We'll get a taxi there and back. I won't have you walking for buses and standing about waiting for one for ages."

"You strike a hard deal."

"Yup but you know in this case that I'm right."

I rang and booked us a taxi to Phil's first, the big department store we liked was only round the corner, so I was happy to let Rachel walk that short distance, slowly. Although it was only a little over a week since we had been to the coffee shop, it felt like much longer.

"Hey girls, how are you both?" Phil said cheerily as we walked in. "I saw your mum Kiera, she said you'd both been in a car accident. Take a seat and I'll come over for a chat."