The ceremony begins. We sit, nine of us in a circle. In the center it awaits. It is passed from one to another, where it begins and where it ends is inconsequential.A drink from the cup, the bowl, the...

"Sarah?"The first word out of my mouth is followed by an excruciating emptiness as I regain consciousness. The light in my eyes obscures the figures surrounding me, various medical devices in hand. I want to lift my head, the...

It's always the ones who think they can handle it that never can. They ask, they beg, they exude a confidence that gets stripped away from them the moment they finally come to face it. They're the ones who...

I hated my brother. And sure, that sounds like motive right there. But I didn't kill him, I swear. Maybe I was jealous, fine. Hard pressed to get me to disagree with that. I suppose it began when he...

I want to state firmly, before this all ends, that I always believed I was doing the right thing. This began with my employment as an escrow agent. Early in my career it was obvious that I had a...

Twenty four hours. That's all, I remind myself, and this will all be over. You chose this. A contest, that's all it is. A rather morbid one, but a contest nonetheless. You know when you're broke and you see...

It hasn't snowed yet this winter. Bare trees and dead patches of grass that are usually made more palatable by blankets and drifts of white loom outside the windows like corpses that were never buried. It makes it difficult...

I pulled off the road and into a deserted gas station, scanning the empty road ahead of me before making the decision. I'd been playing the radio loud, not really listening, but enjoying the distraction that it provided. I...

It began simply enough. That time of year arrived when the Halloween decorations were put out, and for the first time in ages I found myself paying them attention. I never decorated, in fact I never really celebrate any...

Instructions found in an envelope containing an unmarked DVD:Watch immediately. The images you will see are of a disturbing nature. Do your best to remain calm."So… you've watched the video?" I inquired."I have not.""Do you think we should?""Probably not,...