Chapter 1
I knew something was wrong when my four-year-old daughter started screaming every morning before preschool. Then I discovered her teacher had been covering the classroom camera before forcing her to “learn how to obey.”
For two weeks, Sophie had begged me not to take her to Bright Steps Preschool in Seattle.
“I don’t want nap time,” she whispered every morning.
I thought she was just having trouble adjusting.
Her teacher, Ms. Carter, always smiled when I asked.
“She’s sensitive, Mrs. Miller. That’s all.”
Then one afternoon, Sophie came home limping.
I knelt beside her.
“What happened to your leg?”
She immediately pulled her dress down over her knees.
“Nothing.”
That answer scared me more than crying would have.
The next morning, I asked Ms. Carter again.
“She probably bumped into something while playing,” she said.
Then she added, “Children exaggerate.”
That night, Sophie woke up screaming.
“Please, I’ll sleep! I promise I’ll sleep!”
I held her until she stopped shaking.
The next day, I refused to leave the school.
I asked the director to show me the classroom camera footage.
She frowned.
“That’s strange.”
“What?”
“The camera goes dark almost every day during nap time.”
My heart started pounding.
We watched the recording from the day before.
At 12:37 p.m., Ms. Carter walked directly toward the camera.
She looked around.
Then she threw a small towel over the lens.
The screen went black.
But there was still audio.
I heard children breathing quietly.
Then Ms. Carter’s voice.
“Sophie, close your eyes.”
My daughter whispered, “I’m not sleepy.”
A moment later, I heard a sharp sound.
Then Sophie cried out.
“Please stop.”
Another strike.
And another.
The director went completely pale.
I was already calling the police when a classroom assistant suddenly burst into the office.
“You need to check the storage closet.”
I stared at her.
She was crying.
May you like
“She doesn’t only use that stick on Sophie.”
Then she placed a phone on the desk and showed us a video she had secretly recorded three days earlier.
