Chapter 3 - WHY THEO HAD TO DISAPPEAR
The question still bothered me.
Why had Dad told Kelsey to hide Theo before the relatives arrived?
We already knew about the kennel.
But that alone did not explain his panic.
Then Aunt Rachel remembered something.
“When I picked Theo up, his onesie was backward.”
Grandma frowned.
“What?”
“The buttons.”
Rachel demonstrated.
“It looked like somebody changed him quickly.”
The original outfit from that morning was missing.
Police found it later inside Kelsey’s laundry basket.
A little blue birthday romper.
On the front was a small smear of red cake frosting.
Normal.
On the back was something else.
A printed sticker.
BAD BABY — RETURN TO KENNEL
My stomach turned.
Kelsey called it a prop.
Apparently she planned a series of birthday photographs.
Theo “stealing” cake.
Theo “going to puppy jail.”
Theo wearing dog ears.
She thought it was hilarious.
Dad had approved the idea.
Then I came home early from a sleepover because I had forgotten my medication.
I saw Kelsey trying to put Theo inside the kennel.
I objected.
The whole plan collapsed.
They changed Theo’s clothes afterward.
Why?
Because Grandma June was coming.
Grandma had already warned Dad once about the videos.
Three months earlier, she had seen a clip where I appeared to fall into the backyard pool.
It was staged.
Kelsey had placed a padded platform beneath the water.
I knew that part.
Grandma did not.
She called Dad furious.
Dad promised:
“No more scare content involving the kids.”
That promise lasted seventeen days.
If Grandma had seen Theo wearing the BAD BABY sticker, she would have understood immediately.
So Dad said:
“Put him in the back room before they get here.”
Hide the evidence.
Then tell everyone I ruined the party.
The kennel was not originally punishment for me.
It became punishment because I interrupted production.
That somehow made the whole thing feel worse.
Dad had stopped seeing moments as moments.
Everything was footage.
Every reaction had potential value.
Even discipline.
Especially humiliation.
The more investigators reviewed, the clearer it became.
When I cried, Kelsey filmed.
When I became angry, Dad told me I was dramatic.
Then the dramatic clip went online.
The adults controlled both the event and the edit.
I controlled nothing.
May you like
Until Scout brought the phone back.
---
