These leather-clad giants, boots heavy and chains rattling, slipped past the night desk and appeared in the hallway of the children’s cancer ward — looking like some strange...

My mother-in-law, Dolores, stood over the trash can holding my daughter’s unicorn cake like garbage.The three vanilla layers I’d spent hours decorating with roses and a fondant unicorn...

The call came just before sunrise. The woman’s voice shook as she told the dispatcher that “something alive” was inside their couch. “It’s scratching… shifting,” she insisted. “At...

Richard Lawson wasn’t expected home before sunset.His calendar listed dinner with investors, his assistant had a car waiting downstairs, and the usual late-night reports sat stacked on his...

Vanessa Gomez had worked as a 911 dispatcher for fifteen years in Pinos Verdes County.She had taken calls at every hour, through storms, fires, and floods.She had heard...

When my daughter-in-law gave birth to twins last year, I was overjoyed. Becoming a grandmother had always been my dream. I imagined spoiling the little ones, hearing their...

The first time I flew with all three of my children, I thought I had everything under control. The diaper bags were packed, bottles ready, toys tucked into...

The station was quiet.It was close to ten o’clock when a woman of about seventy walked in, leading on a leash a stout, reddish dog. The animal wagged...

Little Emma had waited three long hours at the park pavilion her father had rented, watching the road for cars that never came. She sat beside a homemade...