Finding Audrey {Parts 1-5}

I wanted to put all of the sections of my story together so that you can read it, instead of having to read each individual part of the story in different blog posts! I hope you enjoy, and please leave comments about what things you like, what things I could improve, or what I should do in the rest of the story!
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Finding Audrey

PART 1

I smiled. Around me, I could hear the voices of several boys playing football, and I could smell smoke coming from the campfire. I glanced upon the fire and the crackling of the wood was comforting. In the distance, I could hear the rumble of a four-wheeler, and two girls screaming as it passed by.

This, I knew, is where I belonged.

Behind me, I heard someone approaching. Turning around, I saw Todd and Addy, two of my best friends.

We were attending Toccoa Falls College, which was located on a beautiful campus with many outdoor and recreational activities, which was one of main reasons that Todd had come to college here. Since Todd was the first person from our Church friends to attend this private school, he had told us how much fun it was, and introduced it to us.

Todd was now a junior at Tocca falls, and Addy was a freshman.

“Hi guys!” I smiled as they approached.

“Hi Lauren,” Addy winked.

“Oh whoops,” Todd said, “We didn’t mean to interrupt your time with the…umm trees?”

I laughed. Todd knew that this was one of my favorite spots to go and have time with Jesus. The atmosphere was comforting, and it reminded me of home.

“We were wondering if you wanted to come back to lodge and go kayaking with us.” Addy told me.

“You betcha!” I quickly stood up and followed the two back to the lodge.

Kayaking was one of the most popular things to do in the pond that was located on campus. Since it was April, it was sort of early to go swimming, but it was never too cold to go kayaking. 

“Hey, have you guys seen Audrey lately?” Addy asked.

“Now that you mention it…I haven’t seen her in a while,” I said, “Have you seen her Todd?”

“Not since Thursday evening at Ben’s party,” Todd said, a concerned look on his face, “She wasn’t at Chapel this morning was she?”

“No…” I said.

“The last time I saw her was on Friday, after my math class, and I haven’t heard from her since,” Addy told us.

I pulled out my phone and tried calling her.

I stared at the phone as it finished ringing and put it back in my pocket.

“No answer,” I said.

We all exchanged worried glances. It was quite unusual to go more than a few days without seeing Audrey, and we knew something must be wrong.

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PART 2

Instead of heading for the lodge, we went back to my dorm room. Audrey lived in the dorm room right across from my own, and we both had matching white boards on the doors. Both of us had gotten the white boards as a gift to ourselves before our sophomore year of college.

“I’ll knock on her door, just in case,” I said.

I shook my head as I walked back, “No response.” Todd frowned.

My eyes lit up, “I betcha, she’s just with Colton visiting Jack and Madeline.”

Addy shook her head, and told me, “Don’t you think she would at least told Todd that she was going to their house?”

Todd glanced at his phone. “Lemme call Colton.”

Colton, who was also Audrey’s older brother, was an incredibly amazing person. Just like Todd, they were both immensely in love with their Savior, and showed Christ’s love to others. 

I quickly went back into the bed section of my room and searched in my dresser for a sweatshirt. I grabbed my favorite University of Georgia sweatshirt that had been with me since I was in the seventh grade. Its faded black color, along with the smell that reminded me of home, even though I had washed it ten million times, was comforting.

When I came back out, Todd had just hung up with Colton. “He hasn’t heard anything from her since yesterday. She did tell him that she was going up to Molly’s this weekend though.”

“Let’s call Molly and see if she’s up there.” Addy said. 

Todd motioned for us to come closer, and put the phone on speaker. It rang for a long time, until Molly finally answered.

“Is Audrey up there?” Todd asked, wrapping the string of his sweatshirt around and around his finger. This was clearly a sign of nervousness, and I could tell he was immensely worried about Audrey.

“She told me she was on her way at about ten this morning, and I haven’t heard from her since. She should’ve been here by about noon, and even though I called her, she didn’t respond.”

Addy and I looked at each other, and glanced at the wall clock. It was two in the afternoon, which meant nobody had received contact with Audrey for the past two hours.

“Okay thanks,” Todd said, a frown appearing on his face. “We’ll go out and try to look for her in a few minutes.”

“Sounds good.”

Todd pressed the end button and sighed.

“I think we should pray for her,” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Todd said. Todd paused, cleared his throat, and started one of his comforting prayers, “Lord, we need you to protect Audrey wherever she is right now, and we ask that you will give her peace to know that you are going to be with her no matter what. Lord, keep her safe until we can find her, and help us to find her quickly. In your name, Amen.”

Todd looked around, and then headed for the door. “Come on, let’s go find Audrey.”

On our way into the parking lot, we ran across Ben. Ben was a senior, and was going to be an engineer when he graduated in a few months, and then was heading back to live near the rest of our family. 

“Hey, where are you guys headed?” He asked, putting a piece of chewing gum in his mouth. The spearmint scent filled the air.

“To find Audrey,” I said and then Todd continued, “She was supposed to be going to Molly’s, but she left four hours ago and she’s nowhere to be seen.”

“And she’s not answering her phone or anything?”

“Nope.”

“I’m coming with you guys,” Ben said, and so he followed us as we got into Todd’s car.

Over the years, and as early as when Audrey had been a freshman in high school, Ben and Audrey had become really good friends. Even though all the girls were really close friends with the guys, Audrey was closest to Ben.

The car ride was completely silent for about ten minutes, until we sensed something was wrong. Todd banged his hand on the steering wheel, and Ben put his hand on his forehead.

“Oh no,” Todd said, shaking his head, and slowing down, when we had been on the interstate for about ten minutes. “This is what I was afraid of.”

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PART 3

We looked around, trying to figure out what Todd had been afraid of.

“Do you see that?” He asked, pointing in the distance, and to the rest of us in the car, it looked like nothing but an interstate.

I looked at Addy and rolled my eyes. We both knew what the other was thinking.

 “Can please you just tell us?”

“The traffic is backed up for miles.”

“Probably a bad accident,” Ben mumbled.

“But why isn’t Audrey answering her phone? If I were her, I would be calling someone immediately!” Addy said.

Ben shook his head. “I don’t know.” He cracked his knuckles over and over again, even though there was nothing else to crack.

“I guess there’s no point in standing in traffic. Let’s go back,” Todd said, turning the car down the next exit.

“This is stressing me out. First, we had no idea where Audrey was. Now we think she’s stuck in traffic, but that doesn’t explain why she’s answering her phone. We can’t even get try to take the route that she took to see if she’s along the side of the road somewhere!” Addy exclaimed. “She could be in HUGE trouble!” By that time, Addy was on the brink of tears. She was also, however, the type of person that would get stressed out about anything.

“It’s going to be okay, Addy,” Todd said, putting his arm around her.

“Listen, I’m quite sure that Audrey knows what to do. She knows that God is always with her and that no matter what; God will work all things that happen for his good. We don’t need to be afraid and I highly doubt Audrey is afraid right now.” Todd walked over to door, where he left his backpack.

Todd pulled out his Bible, and filled to one of his favorite passages, which we knew that he used frequently in his own life.

“Matthew 11:28-30 says, ‘come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

“I know, but I can’t help but feel worried about her.” Addy said.

“It’s okay to feel that way, but if your mind is constantly dwelling on worrying about things that aren’t even true, it can become sinful,” Todd explained. 

“There’s another passage in Matthew,” I added, “That also talks about worrying: and how it doesn’t accomplish anything. In fact, all it does is waste time.”

Todd nodded.

“Let’s pray again.”

This time, Ben offered to pray.

Later that evening, we all trekked back to the lodge to eat dinner, still receiving no news on Audrey. Meanwhile, we tried to enjoy the lovely spring evening that we were blessed with.

The whole entire campus was lined with beautiful trees, blooming with spring-time flowers, and you could see little daffodils and tulips popping up in the gardens around campus. On the east side of the campus, there was a fountain, which officially turned on May 1st, and it was a beautiful and relaxing place where many students would go to read their Bible. During the fall and winter time, relaxing by the fire pits surrounding the outer edges of the campus, were students favorite places to go. The beach was the ultimate summer location, but most students went home during the summer time. 

Sighing, I looked over at Addy. “What’s for dinner?”

Her eyes lit up. “I think its pizza night!”

I smiled. Addy loved food, but pizza night was her favorite meal to eat at the lodge’s restaurant. In fact, most students, even if they didn’t usually eat the lodge’s food, would go there on pizza night.

When we got to the lodge, we were surprised to see some people we knew sitting across from each other in a two person booth. It had a vase of white colored flowers in the middle, and it was unlike any other booth in the lodge. All the other booths had spring scented candles in the middle.

“Look,” I leaned over and whispered to Addy, “It’s Connor…and he’s with Julia!”

Addy gave me a questioning look. “Since when do…um…I didn’t know they hung out.”

I looked at Ben and Todd, wondering if they would give us any answers to our question.

“Apparently,” Todd said, getting closer to me so that nobody would overhear, “Connor and Julia are very close.”

I looked at him. “But how’d you know?”

“Okay, so you know how Connor wasn’t at our prayer meeting last week?”

I nodded.

“It’s because he said he had a prior commitment. Julia and Connor went to the park…that park over by the pond…I guess it was an unofficial date. Ever since then, Connor won’t stop talking about her.”

I nodded. “Somehow, that’s not surprising to me.”

Addy piped up, “But Julia? Julia’s the sweetest girl ever!”

“Yeah I know…”

Julia was a one of my best friends who I had met my senior year of high school, and she also decided to come to school in Georgia to become a physician’s assistant. Nobody had even thought that Connor would ever be interested in her, but apparently he was.

Thoughts whirled through my mind, like a tornado, thinking of all the reasons why Connor…and Julia, for that matter, would do this. Julia was a strong young Christian woman, who loved the Lord deeply, but Connor was like a fish on land. His actions and decisions would sometimes indicate he loved the Lord, but other times it would indicate he loved the world, his consistency flapping around not going in one particular direction. Connor was more mature than he had been in high school, but he definitely wasn’t the type of person Julia would find a spiritual leader in.

“I guess we’ll have to talk to them about this later,” I said to Addy, putting down my backpack next to her in the four person booth we had chosen.

Coming back with a heaping plate full of pizza, Addy bent over to move her backpack onto the floor. I laughed about how much food she had chosen, and Todd walked over with an even bigger plate that also contained breadsticks and salad.

“Lauren!” Her face turned pale.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, moving my backpack to the other side of the table.

“My backpack! It’s gone!”

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PART 4

I rubbed my hands together. My jaw was clenched, and my palms started to sweat.

“What is happening?!” I exclaimed, quiet loudly, and all the other students on the other side of the lodge looked over at me.

“Whoops,” I said, quickly covering my mouth with my hand, and giving an apologetic look at Todd and Ben, who promptly glared at me.

Ben looked over at Addy. “Are you sure you’re missing it, or did you just misplace it?” Ben rarely trusted what Addy said and always seemed to think everything was her fault. You could tell that Ben was quite perturbed at the events that had occurred that day.

“Ben,” Addy started to answer, sarcastically, “I bet I just brought it in here and then someone took it back to the dorm room because they knew I wouldn’t need it that badly.” She made a face at him. 

“Okay, okay, guys, let’s go talk to the lodge director, and see if they can check the camera and see who took it,” Todd suggested. We all knew that the only reason Todd did this was because he hated when Ben and Addy would get annoyed with each other, and didn’t want it continue.

We followed Todd to the front of the lodge, where we saw Heather sitting at the front desk. Heather had been working at the Toccoa Falls College for about ten years, and was a favorite of all the people who went to school there. She was sorting through paperwork when we approached her, her hair neatly in a braid with a bandana holding it back. The thing that most people admired about Heather was the way she was so neat and organized, and she would never say a bad word about anyone.

“Hey guys!” Her face lit up, and she stood up to greet us. “What’s up?”

One of the other things that Heather was really good at doing was also reading people’s moods and faces without them saying a single word.

“Oh…okay, what’s the problem?” She quickly sat down, her mood becoming serious.

“Well…a lot of things.” Ben told her, and started from the beginning, explaining how we couldn’t find Audrey, and while he was telling her that, I noticed his hands beginning to shake.

“So we decided to come back here and eat and distract ourselves until maybe she will contact us some way, and then…”

Addy promptly cut him off, “Someone stole my backpack.”

Heather’s eyes widened. “Here? At the lodge?”

“Yeah…”

 She spun around in her chair and pushed a red button that was on her iPad. Up came a little picture of the lodge eating area, and motioned us with her hand to come closer.

“Where were you sitting?”

We pointed to the booth we were sitting in.

She pressed the play button, and rewound back to the time we arrived. She pressed play.

We anxiously waited to see who the thief of Addy’s backpack was.

We watched as a sweet little toddler bounced over to our booth, and climbed up on the seat. She was the cutest little thing ever, with two little pigtails in her hair, and she was wearing a little green dress that was clearly too big for her. We watched in amazement as she grabbed the big backpack, put it on her back, and toddled away. Heather quickly zoomed out of the screen to watch where she went with the backpack. She toddled down into the women’s restroom, and we didn’t see any more of what happened.

“Well,” Heather said, pausing the video clip, “We aren’t allowed to videotape in the bathrooms, so all I can say is go check the bathroom!” She laughed. “I would never have expected a little toddler to take your backpack.”

I looked at Addy, and we all starting laughing. “I guess I better go check and see if it’s there.”

“I’m come with you,” I eagerly told her.  We walked down the hallway into the women’s bathroom, and there it was, sitting on the floor. Addy’s book bag, everything just the way she had left it in the lodge eating area.

Addy sighed. “If only missing Audrey was this easy to find.” We both laughed.

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PART 5

Back in my dorm room later that evening with Addy and Ben, I sat on the edge of one of my twin beds that I had located in my room. They had matching brown comforters, with orange blankets at the end of the bed, even though the beds themselves were rarely made.

“We need to come up with a plan on what to do if we can’t find Audrey by tomorrow morning,” Ben urgently said, cracking his neck muscles, then added, “Colton already called their dad to let them know that we don’t know where she is, and he’s scared out of his mind.”

I frowned. “Everyone is scared, and this is getting really stressful because it’s getting dark outside…”

A loud piercing ring hit the air, all three of us jumped out of our skin.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Addy complained, rolling her eyes.

The fire alarm was piercing through the air.

“Grab every electronic, just in case it’s real,” I directed. Ben and Addy’s dorm rooms were in a different building, so they didn’t need to worry about getting any of their personal items out of their rooms.

I also grabbed my Bible, earbuds, a sweatshirt and a pair of my favorite jeans, and my money container that I kept hidden in my drawer.

We dashed outside, just as the other students were coming out of their rooms. Even though the administration had told us to immediately leave when a fire alarm went off, everyone usually grabbed their own personal belongings anyway.

Standing outside in the darkness, we waited for the cue to go back inside the building. The cold April night wind was bitter.  

Addy and I started to do jumping jacks to keep warm and invited Ben to join us.

“Come on Ben! Come with us! Work it!” I said, walking with a passion, which was a joke that our family had. Addy started laughing uncontrollably, and finally lay on the floor laughing hysterically. 

Ben rolled his eyes, and went back to his phone, looking up information about the traffic accident.

I whispered to Addy, “Why does he keep checking his phone? Why is he so obsessed with helping find Audrey all of the sudden?”

We looked at each other, and we both knew what the other was thinking.

Addy knew what I was thinking, yet shrugged and said, “I doubt it…”

Finally, the head of our dorm section came out and told us that we could go back in. “It was just a little accident in one of the dorm rooms. Someone was popping popcorn, and it burnt, so it set the fire alarm off.”

I laughed, and Addy joined me. Addy and I had done the same thing one time when she had come to visit Audrey and myself on campus, and we popped popcorn while watching a movie. However, Audrey and Addy put it in for twenty minutes instead of two minutes, and it all burnt.

Before we got to the door of my dorm room, Ben told us that he was heading back to his building to go to sleep, and that he would meet up with us in the morning.

Then, it hit me.

“Ohhhh, I have math class tomorrow.” I sighed, and opened my planner, looking at Addy. “Apparently we have a quiz over section 5.4! I totally forgot about it.” The math we were working on was based on graphs and statistics, which was quite confusing.

Addy yawned. “You should probably at least look over past worksheets and make sure the information made sense. Besides, your math class doesn’t start until ten, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, I better go,” She said. I could tell she didn’t want to leave, because we both knew the reality of Audrey being gone would hit us hard if we weren’t together.

“Do you want to meet for breakfast at the lodge at nine?”

“Sure.”

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Audrey looked around her, only seeing different cars on each side of her. Her pulse was racing, and her forehead sweating. Fishing around for her phone, she couldn’t find it anywhere.

“Where is that dang phone?” Looking back up at her dashboard, she discovered the low gasoline message light on. Sighing, she turned up her radio, and mumbled, “Lord please, help me get out of traffic and to a gas station soon.”

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