The Night She Disappeared

“‘Hey, is the girl in the Mini Cooper making deliveries tonight?’

He meant Gabie. Kayla had traded with Gabie so Kayla could get Friday off.”

Robertson plans to kidnap Gabie but mistakenly takes Kayla instead. This mistake is one of the turning points of the narrative, as Gabie wrestles with survivor’s guilt and feels compelled to save the girl whose fate could just as easily have been her own.

“I think about that a lot now. Was I the last friendly, normal person to touch her?”

After Kayla is abducted, other characters start to speculate on what has happened to her. Henry often uses euphemistic language to hint at the atrocities that Kayla might be undergoing. This reflection also establishes Drew’s thoughtful, empathetic nature early in the narrative.

“Does he mean, like, dead? I try to picture it, but something inside me just says no way.”

From the start, Gabie has a strong, instinctual belief that Kayla is alive. This belief guides her actions throughout the novel and pushes her to keep searching for the truth even when everyone else has given up on Kayla.