The Camera Footage
That evening, after Sofia had fallen asleep in her room, I went into the study where the home security monitors had been installed years earlier. I rarely checked them because I had always believed our house was a safe place.
The system stored recordings from several cameras placed around the property.
Including the garden.
I pulled up the footage from earlier that afternoon.
The video showed Lauren guiding Sofia across the yard.
My daughter resisted slightly, shaking her head while clutching her notebook, but Lauren dragged her forward by the wrist with clear irritation.
The camera captured everything.
Lauren opened the shed door.
She pushed Sofia inside.
Then she locked the door from the outside.
Inside the dim shed, another camera revealed something that made my hands freeze on the desk.
Sofia had knelt on the dusty floor and used her finger to write a single word in the thin layer of dirt.
HELP.
She stared at the door for several minutes afterward.
Waiting.
The room felt impossibly quiet as the video ended.
