Soul - Colby Brock

Seventy-Two - Colby

I had moved out of the house and she still hadn't been found. It was April. She'd been missing for a month and a week. The police had presumed her dead, now, though they were still looking for her body. Gracie spent most of her time with me, Callum, Emily, and Brandon doing the same. My new apartment had all five of us living in it at any given time. Gracie slept in a bed with me. Emily and Brandon slept on one couch, and Callum slept on the other. All of our hope was mostly gone. Gracie was the only one that had any left.

I was hella sad all of the time. So was everyone else in my apartment. I still filmed with Sam, though, just acting a little happier in the videos. The fans knew I was faking it but they appreciated that I was trying. So did the rest of the roommates. They were so helpful all of the time - producing content for my channel along with editing it and uploading it. As Sam lived next door, he was one of my emotional barriers. As Jake was in the same building, he helped me a lot. As Corey and Devyn lived nearby, they helped. As Aaron lived nearby, he helped. As Brennen visited as often as he could, he helped. 

I opened the door to Brennen. "Hey man, heard anything?" he asked. I shook my head. He looked at me pitifully. "Hey, Emily! Gracie! Brandon! Callum!" he said when he walked through the door. "I'm so sorry guys," he said. 

"You don't have to say that every time you come here, Brennen," Emily put on her nicest, most polite smile. 

"I just feel like I should," Brennen said as he sat down. "How are all of you?"

"Hoping," Gracie said quickly. "We are... hopeful," she looked down. 

"Gracie?" she looked at me. I opened my arms - in which she jumped into. I could tell when she was about to cry, now. It'd happened so many times I knew what to look for. Brennen looked at us with an awed expression. I let go of her so she sat back down next to Brandon, who sat next to Emily, who sat next to Callum. 

"Well, guys, as much as I hate to say it, hoping is all you can really do right now, which means you're doing what you can," Brennen said. I knew he was trying to lift spirits a bit and it was working for Gracie, but not for the adults or Brandon. 

"Thanks, Brennen," I said, sitting down beside Gracie. 

"Any time, bro. Any time," Brennen stayed for a little while. He caught us up on some things happening in his life. All of the roommates did that now. Every time one of them would come round, they'd tell us what was going on. If David visited - which was sometimes: he was friends with Octavia, too - he'd tell us a bunch of drama. 

We were all listening, processing, but not necessarily caring. We were all grieving. We were all missing her. We were all numb.