Ghostwheel
Pyrrhonist
For consideration: What if Bryce did want to break off with his GF? Some guys are not good at that kind of thing at all, and maybe he couldn't do it, or couldn't find the right words. It might even have contributed to his odd actions. If he did want to break up with GF, then no matter what she said, he would not have stayed with her that night.Something that keeps bugging me and won't let up - WHY did Bryce decide to begin his trip to Laguna Niguel on Wednesday night?
Why not leave in the morning? That seems more practical ESPECIALLY since he was running on little to no sleep. We know he can't have been in a rush to get back to his parents because as it turns out, 24 hrs later and he's still hanging out in Buttonwillow.
So surely, staying Wed night and getting some MUCH NEEDED rest and then heading out fresh Thursday morning would have been fine. And much more logical.
Seems to me that he would have either went back to his apartment for the night OR, better yet, stayed with his girlfriend.
Most girlfriends would INSIST that their bf stay the night ESPECIALLY if they knew the bf had taken a pill and was very sleep deprived. The fact that she didn't does NOT mean she is a bad gf. I am thinking/wondering if it means they DID break up and that's why he didn't stay.
Which leads me to the next thing. WHY is this alleged break up so rarely mentioned?! I know it may seem that it doesn't have much bearing on the case, but I think it does, at least a little.
The fact that the family is not addressing it seems to indicate, to me, that they did not take it seriously OR that it didn't actually take place. So, why? I'm wondering if Bryce was acting so out of character or so disoriented that his girlfriend didn't think he was acting out of his "right mind"?
Has anyone heard of any reasons Bryce gave for why he was doing it/trying to? I wish we knew this because it might be indicative of the reason for his disappearance.
The only thing I can come up with (other than the struggling with sexuality theory that has come up on here several times) is: a) he knew something was going to happen and he wanted to free his gf from the relationship beforehand OR b) He was in some emotional/mental state of mind that somehow caused him to believe he should end the relationship OR c) he was on meds/drugs.
I doubt it was the first option, so probably one of the other two (or both) and that may have been why his mom and his girlfriend appear to discredit the breakup. I'm guessing he must not have been acting like his normal self at that time.
However, this seems to be all the more reason for why his gf should have encouraged him to stay over and "sleep it off" before he started the trip. Unless of course he got angry or was very emotional. (All just surmises. Not saying they had an ugly fight or anything. But knowing teenagers the way I do with EIGHT younger siblings, usually the breakups are very emotional. )
Just some things I've been wondering. Don't know if the break up has anything to do with anything, but it IS sort of the beginning in a chain of bizarre events.
Mom may not be mentioning it because GF, not knowing Bryce wanted to break up, is upset that he is missing and trying to help find him. What kind of person would say "No you can't help find my son, he was trying to break up with you." You'd just drop it until your son turns up.
Moving on from that, the only reasons I can see for not getting a good night's sleep before taking off is that Bryce felt he needed to get away from that area and/or think about some things, and/or needed to talk to his family in person, and/or was reacting (maybe badly) to whatever he took that night. Deciding to take off right away if he needed to think about things and get his head together might have made complete sense to him at the time, especially if he was hyped up on some ADHD drug like Ritalin or Adderall.