The 25 Christmas Gifts

25 gifts.

25 days.

25 chilling chapters

Robert Lyles has given up on Christmas and on life. Since his wife’s, Clara, untimely death, the lonely widower in apartment 126 has embraced silence, shadows, and total obscurity. It was ruled a suicide, but everyone blames him.

This year, the holidays feel heavier than ever. He’s barely leaving his apartment. Some days, he wonders if it would be easier to end things altogether because being blamed for killing his wife is too much to bare.

So when a small, wrapped gift appears in the mailroom December 1st, he’s stunned.

Then another arrives the next day.

And the next.

At first, the gifts seem harmless. Thoughtful, even. But they grow colder. Sharper. Crueler. Each one feels more personal than the last.

Now Robert can’t shake the feeling.

Is he being watched? Is he being studied? Or is this some twisted secret admirer or a cruel Christmas joke?

This year, Christmas doesn’t feel like a holiday. It feels like something is coming and Robert has no idea what it is.