Chapter 1
My stepmother locked me inside the dog kennel and called it a game.
I was ten years old.
The kennel sat in the front yard beside the porch, under the old maple tree where our German Shepherd used to sleep before he died.
It was made for a dog twice my size.
Metal bars.
Cold concrete floor.
A roof that leaked when it rained.
It smelled like dirt, old fur, and rust.
I still remember the way the lock sounded.
Click.
One tiny sound.
One whole childhood changing.
Brenda shoved me inside so hard my knees hit the concrete.
My thin yellow dress caught on the edge of the metal door.
I grabbed the bars and looked up at her.
“Please,” I begged. “Please let me out.”
She smiled.
Not angry.
Not nervous.
Smiling.
That was what scared me most.
“You wanted to act like an animal,” she said. “So wait for your father like one.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Her face hardened.
“You breathed too loudly at breakfast.”
Then she slammed the kennel door.
The lock clicked.
And she walked back into the house.
I screamed until my throat hurt.
No one came.
The sun began to go down.
The air got colder.
I pulled my knees to my chest and shivered while the porch light flickered on above me.
Every few minutes, Brenda looked through the living room window.
She never came outside.
She just watched.
Like she wanted to make sure I was still afraid.
An hour later, headlights swept across the driveway.
Dad’s car.
I grabbed the bars.
“Daddy!”
He stepped out with his briefcase in one hand.
Then he saw me.
He froze.
His face went pale in a way I had never seen before.
The briefcase dropped onto the driveway.
He ran.
“Emily?”
His hands shook as he unlocked the kennel.
The second the door opened, I fell into him.
He wrapped both arms around me, pressing my cold face against his chest.
“What happened?” he whispered.
Before I could answer, Brenda appeared on the porch.
She laughed lightly.
Fake.
Sweet.
Awful.
“Oh, honey,” she said. “Don’t look so serious. We were just playing a little game.”
I looked at her.
Then I looked at my father.
And something inside me broke open.
I sobbed so hard I could not speak.
Dad held me tighter.
His eyes lifted to Brenda.
May you like
And for the first time, he did not look confused.
He looked furious.
