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.”