The Vanishing of Brandyn Taylor

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It took me a while to calm down after my outburst, I felt angry, frustrated and hurt all at once. Even if one of us rang the hospital in France, that Brandyn's mum was in, they weren't going to give out much information over the phone. There was nobody we could call to help, nobody that might have more details on it all.
I didn't want to be alone, and I also didn't want to leave Rachel alone, so I asked Tim if he would come and spend the night at our flat, which he agreed to, even though he had to start work at seven the next morning. I really needed the comfort of someone holding me that night, and while Tim slept I couldn't stop thinking about Brandyn and his mum. I couldn't figure out what trouble they may be in, and who with. I couldn't see the boy getting mixed up in drugs, but then again I couldn't see him getting himself mixed up in anything bad either. It was during the night that a thought came to me : had I put Tim and I in danger by going to Liam's hotel looking for Brandyn? There was a slight chance that whoever he was hiding from was looking for him there too. They might have spotted us, may have overheard us in Liam's office even. It's possible they knew what we looked like before we'd been to the hotel, and seeing us there may have alerted them to the fact that we were also searching for him. Maybe my stalker had even been following us, nothing seemed impossible at this point in time.
Tim left for work early the next morning, I saw him off and then returned to bed, having not slept at all overnight. I eventually nodded off somewhere between seven and eight.
I woke again just before eleven, and could faintly hear the TV in the living room, letting me know Rachel was awake. I lay in bed for nearly another hour, before I had to use the bathroom. All I wanted to do was stay in bed, pull the duvet over my head, and pretend to the world that I didn't exist.
Rachel called through to me when I came out of the bathroom though, so I went to the living room.

"Hey boo, how are you feeling today?" She asked me.

"Like complete and utter crap. I was still awake when I let Tim out this morning."

"Not surprising you feel like crap then. Do you want a duvet day today?" She asked.

Whenever one of us was feeling down we would call a duvet day; where we would stay in our pyjamas all day, grab a duvet, and sit with it on the sofa watching TV and binge eating. In all honesty I wanted a duvet in my own bed day, but I agreed, not wanting to upset Rachel. She was only trying to reach out to me and comfort me.

"Try not to worry boo, I'm sure Brandyn is safe, and his mum is strong. She'll pull through."

"I hope she does. Whatever's going on she doesn't deserve this. I realise, though, that we may never find out what's going. If anything happens to his mum, or him even, we're probably never going to find out." I replied.

"Unfortunately we may not, but on the other hand I'm sure he had his reasons for not saying anything to us boo; he might be in touch one day though, you never know."

Maybe he would one day, but I did have to accept the fact that we might never hear from him again, and might never know why he left or what happened to him. It was hard on me, all the uncertainty, but I knew he must have good reasons for everything. At that time, though, I wondered how we were meant to just carry on with our lives. How did we go on with normal life, never knowing any details? They could both be killed and we would possibly never find out. Perhaps Rachel was right though, maybe one day I would hear from him again. Even if I didn't I knew he would want us all to move on, to live our lives and be as happy as we could be.

"Everything just feels so hopeless at the moment Rach. I know I should be happy I've got Tim; I know we have to live our lives, but how do we pretend everything is normal when it's not at all?"

"I know it's hard on us all, but especially on you. If he could have come to us for help I'm certain he would have. Maybe he's as stuck as we are honey. If he's hiding then he can't use his own passport to go see his mum, and I'm sure it's not as easy to get a fake one as all the films make it seem. Don't forget he's out there all alone in this. At least we all have each other for support."