Taylor and Bung always walked to school together. The one day they didn't, Bung disappeared.

Each morning, 13-year-old Bung Siriboon would make the short 10 minute walk from her east Melbourne home to school.

On the way she’d meet up with her friends, but on the morning of June 2, 2011, Bung walked alone.

At school, Bung’s friends listened as her name was called. Eight years on, they still remember the deafening silence as she wasn’t there to answer back.

Bung’s friends and stepfather tell A Current Affair of the impact her disappearance has had on them. Post continues below video.

Bung, whose real name was Siriyakorn but was known by everyone as her nickname, never made it to class.

Bung had always been an enthusiastic, diligent student so her teachers assumed she was sick. Her mother and step father had said goodbye to her about 8.30am and had no reason to believe she wasn’t at school.

After school, Bung was always home on time. About 3.40pm.

According to an SBS investigation, At 4pm, Bung’s mother Vannida wondered out loud where her daughter was.

Then the phone rang.

Bung’s stepdad Fred Pattison answered to hear Bung’s friend Dyamai on the other end. She wanted to tell Bung about something that was planned for school tomorrow.

This was how Bung's parents learned that she had not made it to class.

"That's when the penny dropped," Fred told A Current Affair. "That's when we started to panic."

For eight years, Bung has been missing. The police door-knocked more than 1000 doors to try and determine what had happened to the young teen, but in 2013 the taskforce set up to investigate Bung's disappearance was shut down as its leads dried up.

Speaking to A Current Affair, Bung's friends spoke of the pain of not knowing what had happened to her.

Close friend Taylor said she struggled with her decision not to walk with Bung to school on the morning on June 2.

"I remember it clear as day, walking with my brother and he asked if I wanted to [walk with Bung] and I don't know why, but I said no.

"I really regret it that I didn't walk with her that day, that was something that is really hard to live with."

Dyamai told the show about making the phone call that made it clear Bung was missing.

"I basically told them their daughter was missing. I felt really responsible for a lot of years," she said.

She said Bung would always be her best friend.

For Bung's family, the uncertainty of what happened to her has created a life in "limbo".

Her grieving mother moved back to Thailand, finding it too hard to live in the Melbourne home she'd shared with her youngest child, but Fred still lived in the same home.

"We want some sort of news, good or bad, we want to know," he said. "We still believe she is coming back one day. We'll see her again one day."

Her friends are also united by their hope of seeing Bung again.

"Every day I'm still hoping that she's okay," Taylor said. "You want to know that these past eight years haven't just been the worst eight years of her life."

There remains a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction for Bung's disappearance.