Captured Again Read Online Free PDF

enough time babysitting Gabby since then. It was only fair.
    She took another deep breath and began. “We’d planned our regular date night, dinner and a movie. But Jake wanted to go to the city for a change. He unintentionally chose a restaurant near my old job, the same job where René used to work. I didn’t mention it, and I tried not to think about it. I thought I’d put it behind me. I’d been doing good for so long, Olivia. But at the restaurant, I thought I saw him—René.”
    Gabby felt a chill run down her spine, remembering her shocked fear from that night. She wrapped her fingers tighter around her warm cup.
    “The waiter brought out our entrée and set Jake’s on the table. Then he reached to put mine down, and I thought I caught sight of René a few tables behind the waiter, staring dead at me. I panicked and jumped up, knocking the food out of the waiter’s hand, and I ran.”
    Gabby shook her head. “It was a disaster. I could hear the plate hitting the table, glass breaking—people gasping out loud—but I kept running. I just left Jake sitting there alone and probably embarrassed to death. He paid for the meal and then came outside to find me. I didn’t have the keys so I couldn’t get in the car.”
    Gabby looked at her sister. She probably thinks I’m crazy, she thought. “I was so scared, Olivia. I just knew it was René. I acted like a complete idiot. Jake walked all around calling out for me, and when he finally got close enough, I answered him. He found me hiding behind the dumpster on the side of the building, shaking and sniveling like a baby.”
    Gabby paused again and took a shuddering breath. She unwrapped her wet hair, taking a few long moments to furiously finger-comb through it—pulling out knots—as if she were pulling on the tangles of the bad memory. She balled up the towel, hugging it to herself as she began again.
    “Jake was almost as upset as I was to see me that way again. I wouldn’t leave the dumpster. I refused to walk to the car. I was convinced it was René, and I didn’t want him to see what kind of car we got in. Jake didn’t know if it was or wasn’t him; he hadn’t seen him at all. So he waited there with me, all dressed up, hiding behind that stinky trash for almost an hour, holding me while I blubbered and sniveled that René was following us, that it was all going to start over again. I was convinced he was going to get me and take me to that damn wooden box in his cabin he’d threatened me with—or hurt Jake. I was a mess.”
    Gabby took another deep breath and slowly blew it out through her lips, settling her nerves a little.
    “Jake kept trying to reason with me, so then I got angry. I thought he wasn’t taking me seriously, that he thought I was being melodramatic. I kept peeking around the dumpster to see who was leaving every time I heard something. Finally, the man I thought was René came out, but I’m still not sure it was him.”
    Olivia looked shocked. “Oh, Gabby. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
    Gabby shook her head, thinking if Olivia thought that was bad...
    “That’s not the worst of it. There’s more. We finally got in the car—we still hadn’t eaten—and Jake said we’d go somewhere else. I refused, saying I just wanted to go home. He said he couldn’t let me go back to hiding. That I needed to accept it was over and that René wasn’t looking for me. He got onto the interstate and started driving, and I started talking...”
    Gabby’s voice faltered as she realized she was about to tell Olivia things she’d only said out loud once before, and that had ended tragically. She took another long drink of her tea to wet her dry throat.
    “Olivia, I told Jake details I’ve never said out loud... even in group. I told him about how I continued to come to work. I was so confused and afraid not to... because of the book he threatened me with, The Girl in the Box. Jake knew about the book. He’d found it after that