A Dryer Graveyard

Seriously, where do they go? I'm talking about the socks in the dryer. Where the 'f' do they go? There is no possible exit for them short of becoming lint.
The first time this happened to me, I thought that maybe the sock got lost in the shuffle of a roommate taking my clothes out of the dryer and throwing them into my laundry basket. I searched the laundry room floor, the short trail for there to my bedroom, even to my roommate's room. No sign of the sock. We lifted the dryer up, even the washer. No sign of it. It couldn't have been left behind, because I don't separate my clothes, everything goes in all at once. This is the reason for a few mishaps, but for the most part I'm too lazy to separate. So everything gets thrown in at once. I know not to wash any of my cashmere or merino wool sweaters. I know not to wash anything dark red with my clothes either. Other than that, it's all good, it gets tossed into the bunch.
I took the loss--it was just a sock. It was a nice sock--because I've suddenly had this fetish for buying nice socks. Not that anyone would ever see them under my pant cuff. But what the hey, I decided to buy some good socks. My philosophy has always been you pay what you get for, so I've been buying pretty good quality clothes lately. It doesn't matter if you have fewer clothes as long as they are good quality. So I lost a pretty decently priced sock, by one of my favorite designers. I didn't think anything of it, it was gone to wherever socks go when they disappear.
Just this week, it happened to me again. I opened the dryer, folded the clothes one by one. I do the socks last cause it's annoying ball them up. Anyway, since I've been wearing the Birkenstocks lately, I've only worn socks a few times. So there were five pairs of socks in the dryer. One by one I paired them. Only four pairs and one solitary grey one. WTF? I opened the washer, maybe I had left it in there by mistake. There have been times during the spin cycle, it was thrown up higher and stuck. Nope. Not there. I looked inside the dryer again. Nothing. I closed the dryer door, opened it once more. Nothing! I stuck my head all the way in and looked again. Nothing! I looked inside the washer once more. NOTHING! I was beginning to freak. Where the heck was this thing? My bedroom showed no sign of the sock. Under my bed, under my shoe stool (I call it that cause that's where I sit when I put on my shoes), desk and closet showed no sign of the sock. It had completely vanished. I even examined the lint catcher. There was some grey in it. HMMM. Could it have been cruelly mashed into lint?
I turned most of the clothes that were in the same wash inside out. Maybe it had gotten stuck to the inside of a pant leg or in shirt sleeve. Nothing.
The next morning I check the dryer one more time. Maybe I overlooked it. There was nothing, just the scent of freshner. It was gone.
Do they go where elephants go when it's time? It wasn't time for my sock. It was only a few months old.
I'm going to stop. I need to get a life. Or maybe reading too much biochemistry has screwed sanity.
Seriously though, where do they go? I can tell you where molecules of sugar go as it cycles through your body. I can't tell you where the heck my sock is though.