07/07/2025
I CAME HOME TO FIND MY DAUGHTER LOCKED IN THE DOG CAGE—AND THE BABYSITTER DIDN’T EVEN BLINK
I was only gone two hours. Just enough time to run errands and finally pick up that birthday gift for my sister. The sitter, Kelsie, came highly recommended—quiet college student, early childhood education major, CPR certified, the whole checklist. I figured it’d be a chill afternoon.
But the second I stepped through the front door, something felt off.
The living room was way too quiet for two kids under five. The TV was blaring some old cartoon, toys were scattered everywhere—but I didn’t hear laughter, no footsteps, no chaos. Just... silence.
Then I saw it.
Right in the middle of the rug, the dog crate. Our big plastic one we use for Bruno when guests come over. But this time, Bruno wasn’t in it.
My daughter was.
Ellie, sitting criss-cross in that crate like it was a fort gone wrong. Her cheeks were red and puffed like she'd been crying. And her twin brother? Standing barefoot beside it, pointing at her like this was part of some twisted game. I froze. My brain couldn’t catch up fast enough.
“What the hell is going on?” I finally shouted.
Kelsie looked up from her phone in the kitchen—calm as ever—and said, “Oh, they were playing zoo. She wanted to be the tiger.”
I walked closer. Ellie looked up at me, lip trembling, and said, “She locked it, Mommy. I told her I didn’t wanna play anymore.”
I looked down. The latch was actually shut.
I turned back to Kelsie, heart pounding, fists clenched—and that’s when she said something that made my stomach twist even harder…
continues in the first 🗨️⬇️
