I am Diane Carter. I have worked as a 911 dispatcher at the Willow Creek County Emergency Dispatch Center for fifteen years. I have answered thousands of calls. Most of them are predictable. Heart attacks. Car accidents. Fallen trees. A lost child in a grocery store. But the call that came in at 2:17 p.m. on that Tuesday in September took my breath away.

The shift had been quiet until that moment. I was sitting at my station with my headset on, watching the computer screen. My coffee was cold. I remember thinking about my own granddaughter. Then the phone rang.

I pressed the button. ‘911. What is your emergency?’ My voice was calm and professional. I had said those words a thousand times.

There was silence for three full seconds. I almost repeated myself. Then a tiny voice broke through. It was trembling with whispers and sobs. ‘It was my dad and his friend. Please, help me.’

My whole body went still. I sat up straight. My fingers froze over the keyboard. I looked at my supervisor across the room. Something in that child’s voice made the hair on my arms stand up.

‘Sweetheart, are you okay? Can you tell me your name?’ I asked. I tried to keep my voice soft. I did not want to scare her.

‘My name is Abigail. I’m eight years old,’ the little girl said. Her voice cracked in the middle. ‘My tummy hurts really bad. It’s big, and it keeps growing.’

I felt a cold shiver go down my back. In the background, I could faintly hear cartoons playing on the television. There were no adult voices. No movement. No sign of anyone else in the house.

I typed as fast as I could. ‘Abigail, where are your parents right now?’ I asked.

‘Mom is sleeping because her body is fighting again. Dad is at work.’ She whimpered. ‘I think what they gave me made me sick.’

I signaled to my supervisor. I kept my voice calm, even though my heart was pounding. ‘What do you mean, Abigail? What did your dad and his friend give you?’

‘Food and water. But after they came, my tummy started hurting really bad.’ The little girl’s breathing quickened. ‘And now it’s all big and nobody wants to take me to the doctor.’

I had been a dispatcher long enough to know when something was wrong. This was wrong. Every instinct told me that this little girl was