The 3:12 Lullaby

Every night at 3:12 a.m., my baby monitor crackles to life and I hear a woman

softly singing a lullaby. I don’t have the heart to unplug it — my daughter

sleeps so peacefully when the song plays. Tonight, though, I woke up early

and went to check on her before the monitor turned on. Her crib was empty. But right as the

clock flipped to 3:12, the monitor lit up…showing my daughter asleep,

smiling, in a room I’ve never seen before — and the woman’s voice whispering,

“Shh. She’s mine now. Go back to sleep.”