The rain did little to soothe my unsettled nerves which somewhat surprised me because I had always felt a sort of connection to the rain. It invoked a sense of calmness as well as peace within me. Given my present circumstance, it would take a bit more than rain tapping the motel room window to soothe me. My mind was far too preoccupied with fathoming up circumstances for the whereabouts and condition of my good friend. I recounted the days that had passed since I had seen her, and it was exactly 47 days. Ironic, seeing that the number of the beaten motel room I stayed was 47 as well. This brought a bit of comic relief to the moment as I rested my face in my hand and brushed my fingers through my hair.

Suddenly the door swung open and I saw a familiar face approach me, with his arms concealed with multiple shopping bags. I stood to offer assistance but he replied with a stubborn “No, I got it.” as he slammed the door closed with his foot. After locking the front door I helped him unpack what we would ration for the remainder of our search. “Hell, yeah, man, you got the good stuff!” I exclaimed smiling at the sight of some of my favorite snacks. It wasn’t exactly the healthiest food but it sufficed to deliver us enough calories to survive our pursuit.

Ben removed his beanie and threw it on the now pile of empty plastic bags then removed his jacket as he proceeded to the only shower we had while saying something about how he hated traffic. Not long after he did however I heard an alarming scream come from the bathroom so I got my knife ready and ran to check out what happened. “Ben, you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just these fuckin’ bugs.”

I smiled and replied, “That’s what $15 a night gets you. And besides, bugs are the least of our worries right now.”

“Well still, I should be able to take a shower without having to worry about something trying to crawl in my ear. Shit!”

He was pissed, that went without saying. And so the rest of the night was filled with obscenities and random fits of rage which I suppose I could understand considering his sister was the one we were looking  for. And we practically spent the whole night digging through anything we could to find any trace of her. Websites, newspapers, phone books, you name it we went through everything. And ended up with what we had, nothing.

The next morning was somewhat of a cliche for us: Wake up in a mess of energy drinks and empty bags, pack our bags and go around town; if nothing turned up, we’d move on to the next. As we were leaving the motel, Ben and I saw something that turned our stomachs cold.

We were just exiting our room when we saw a cleaning man approaching us, he was older and moved with somewhat of a limp. But as he got closer we noticed a necklace around his neck that looked exactly like that the one Courtney had been given by me, down to every charm on it. Ben and I exchanged looks as he reached for the photograph in his denim vest.

“Excuse me sir have you seen this girl?” Ben inquired.

“No English.” The man said in a choppy accent.

“Bullshit! I saw you speaking perfect English, now quit the games and answer me.”  Ben’s blood was boiling at this point as I could nearly sense the hate emitting from his bones.

“Okay okay, please calm. I don’t know much I just-”

“Then tell us what you do know.” Ben demanded as he interrupted the man, then proceeded to interrogate him. “Where’d you get the necklace?”

“A girl.”

“Oh, a girl; real fuckin’ specific. Does the ‘girl’ have a name?”

“Ben I think it’s time you let me play good cop now.” He curled his lips in an attempt to not explode in a fit of rage but he simply walked away.

“Did the girl look anything like this?” I inquired as I held up the photo of Courtney.

The man ran his fingers over the necklace as he studied the photo by squinting his eyes. “Yes, yes. A uh.. Courtney, yes?”

My heart skipped a beat as it began to race. “Yes exactly! Did she give you that necklace?”

He looked down at it and ran his fingers over it once more and removed it. “Yes, she say, give it to Axel.” He struggled to say in a broken Germanic accent.

“Axel? that’s me!” I exclaimed with both shock and joy.

“You are sure?”

I pulled out my ID with my thumb placed over all my information besides my name and photo. He then placed the the necklace in my hand and held it firmly as he looked me in the eyes and said, “Listen, she tell me, she was going to a place called … well I can’t say it but she wrote it down.” He handed me a folded up napkin with some address and a name of a town on it. Neither of which I recognized but it was more than we had gathered in the past month.

“She go this way.” He said as he pointed in a direction down the highway. “This all I know.”

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful sir.” I said as I handed the man a $20 bill.

As I approached Ben he yelled something that would reside in my memory for a long time “Not all things lost should be found.” And he then resumed his duties.

Ben and I revved up our old van and began in the direction the man recommended. The rest of the trip was quiet between us. Only noise was the open road and the sound of our favorite rock and punk rock as well as metal songs booming out of the custom stereo in the car we spent our lives building. On a road to uncertainty, and mystery, to find someone who was worth more to us both than we could ever explain.