Lina beamed as she cradled her baby sister, Elsie, in the hospital room. “Now,” she whispered, “I have someone to keep the secrets with.” The words unsettled me, but I brushed them off as a child’s imagination. Back home, Lina adjusted easily to being a big sister, yet odd moments continued. I overheard her whisper to her dolls, “We don’t tell Daddy,” and once, to Elsie, “The monster only comes when he’s not home.”

Concerned, I installed a baby monitor. One night, I saw Lina standing silently outside our door. She denied it the next day. Under her pillow, I later found a disturbing drawing—a tall faceless figure looming over two small girls. Beneath it: Don’t let him take her. My husband James and I planned to take her to a child psychologist. But before the appointment, Lina vanished during playtime. Hours later, we found her hiding in the shed with Elsie. She said the monster was coming and she had to protect her sister.

When I gently asked who the monster was, Lina said, “He smells like Daddy… sounds like him when he yells.” Eventually, James confessed: during my pregnancy, he’d started drinking and sometimes lost his temper with Lina. He thought she’d forgotten. But she hadn’t. Her fear turned him into a monster in her mind.

James moved out and got help. Lina began therapy. The whispers and drawings stopped. Slowly, she healed. Months later, at bedtime, Lina looked at me and said, “I don’t need to keep secrets anymore.” Sometimes the monsters aren’t imaginary. Sometimes they’re the people we love—until they choose to change.