The worst is not what happens. The worst is what every mother fears could happen. Imagination collides with maternal fear in this bold collection of troubling, twisted tales from a fiction writer who isn’t afraid to plumb the often terrifying emotional depths of the motherhood experience. A party across the street lures a trusting three-year-old into an adventure, but thrusts his mother into a nightmare. A mirror offers the gift of more time, something every parent longs for, but what will it take in return? A mother erases her seven-year-old’s painful memories to leave him with the impression of a perfect childhood. Only, it leads to imperfect consequences. Teeming with the unthinkable, this collection of six never-before-seen short stories tugs at every mother’s helpless heartstrings, coaxes out her deepest and darkest fears for her children, and presents them in the guise of fantasy fiction so that her nightmares won’t come true. Stories included are: The Party across the Street A Suitable Colour for a Ghost Memory Games* The Goldilocks Zone Hide-and-Seek** The Gift of Time *Memory Games secured an Honourable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, July—September 2023 quarter. **Hide-and-Seek secured an Honourable Mention in the Spring/Summer 2021 issue of Allegory Magazine, Volume 39/66.