By the time the first customer walked in, the cupcakes were lined up like soldiers. Rows and rows of them, stretching across the…
The first shrimp hit the plate with a wet, delicate smack, like a tiny body tossed onto a crowded lifeboat. By the time…
By the time the sun slips over the neat little roofs of their American suburb, the kitchen table looks like it’s been hit…
The baby’s cry sliced through the massive glass hall of JFK like a fire alarm, sharp enough to turn heads at the Starbucks…
By the time the police sirens started echoing through the quiet California cul-de-sac, Reyna already knew her worst nightmare had come true. The…
The first scream echoed down the cul-de-sac just as the American flag on the corner house finished its sleepy morning flap. “Oh my…
The rumor started before first period, sliding through the crowded hallway of Lincoln High like a text that got forwarded one too many…
The first lie started with a cheap blue ballpoint pen and a kitchen counter still sticky from last night’s takeout. Mikey Miller hunched…
By the time the metallic-blue Tesla slid into the California Department of Motor Vehicles lot, the bass was shaking the windows hard enough…
By the time the bell rang at 8:00 a.m., the principal’s brand-new electric car looked like it had been dragged through a paint…
By the time the tire exploded, the freeway traffic around them sounded like a stadium full of people cheering for Benny’s failure. One…
The smell hit Kyle before he even saw the kid. It cut through the usual cafeteria haze of pizza grease, french fries, and…
The man’s hand shook so hard the coins in his palm rattled like tiny earthquakes, catching the Los Angeles sunlight as a silver…
The boy’s stomach growled so loudly it almost sounded like traffic on the freeway. He pressed both hands over his faded T-shirt and…
The neon sign flickered like a wounded firefly above the worn-out strip mall, casting a jittery red glow onto the cold Los Angeles…
By the time the sun cleared the palms lining the quiet California cul-de-sac, the house at the corner of Maple Crest Drive already…
The glass façade of the World City Bank glittered like a sheet of ice under the afternoon Los Angeles sun, reflecting endless blue…
The night the trouble began, the desert wind swept across the Colorado highway with a sharp hiss, rattling the aluminum siding of the…
The night the world of the Bellamy family began to collapse started with the sound of crystal shattering—sharp, clean, unmistakable. A champagne flute…
It started on a blistering Los Angeles afternoon, the kind where the heat rises off the sidewalks like a mirage and every street…
By the time Sandra noticed the dark puddle blooming under her front tire, the California sun had already baked the asphalt into a…
The city lights of Los Angeles glittered like spilled diamonds in the reflection of Will’s water glass, and for the hundredth time that…
The glass doors of LUMINO — one of Los Angeles’s most aggressively luxurious fashion houses — exploded open as a blast of artificially…
A burst of neon blue light lit up the cracked asphalt as the Los Angeles sunset slipped behind a row of shuttered storefronts,…
The text pops up on Brian Stern’s cracked iPhone just as he wipes grease off his hands: Hey sweetie. Going to my boyfriend’s.…
By the time the scoreboard flashed 5–4 and the whole California gym started roaring, Theo barely heard the whistle. He only registered the…
By the time the first pink streaks of sunrise hit the strip mall sign that said “WANDA’S BAKERY – BEST CUPCAKES IN CALIFORNIA,”…
By the time the California sun starts to melt the frost off the Walmart parking lot flags, Lydia’s dream of walking without pain…
By the time the porch pirate bolts off the front steps, the California sun is still glinting off the Christmas wreath on the…
By the time the crystal chandelier caught the light and scattered it across the marble floor, Beverly Lane had already decided the world…