Is this Murder or is this Madness?

The Madman

The old man always smiled and whispered "The end is always nigh..." As he always had. Assured nothing of the man's routines changed, I'd take my own mug and watch his evil eye.

Authors Note- Hello, all! This is for all of the Edgar Allen Poe fans out there! This article is highly inspired by "The Tell-Tale Heart" By Edgar Allen Poe. Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended by this article. This is only my take on it and I am sharing this for those who would have liked to see the story a little more in-depth, detailed way. All feedback is appreciated and if you like it, go ahead and hit that like and follow button! If you are a returning reader, it's good to share my work with you again! Stay safe and make good choices! (✿◡‿◡)

---

The room was dark and cold, an iron table with a microphone in the center and an empty metal chair on the other side of the table were all that kept me company. The cuffs dug into my wrists making me uncomfortable with every movement I dared make. The darkness was succumbing, not at all unlike that man's bed chambers. I heard the door click but heard no rustle of clothing, no footsteps to accompany the new presence. But I saw his figure as he approached the light from the lamp above the table. The light was so bright and still, it could not pierce the rooms enveloping darkness.

No matter, seeing the pale man sit across from me excited me! Finally, he returned to the room to hear my side! His long black cloak billowed around his form as he sat down and folded his hands on the table. He had no face, no eyes, no judgment, like a mannequin with dark hair framing his pale complexion. Care, I did not. At least he didn't have that evil eye! That demon eye! Wasting no time, I began my tale and told him exactly as I remembered- why, I remembered it so clearly!

"It's true, why... it's fact! Nervous, I am so dreadfully nervous. Was? Am. I remain nervous, even now, you see!? But you cant call me crazy! No, you aren't even real. You're a disease! You've come to infect my healthy mind- I am healthy! It is healthy! It's you! Or is it me?" I cleared my throat fighting the voices, couldn't they be quiet? Silence! Is all I ask... It's my turn to speak my turn to be heard! Be the children you are! Sit! Quiet! IT'S MY TURN!

"This disease has strengthened my senses..." I chuckled, readjusting myself in my seat. "First I was sick and then I felt weak but now I am strong and my senses! I can see, things I never had before and I can hear things beyond this very floor, up above, down below-- farther than the God's light and deeper than the Devil's growl- I have heard it! How could I be mad then, eh? I'm brilliant, yes, a brilliant man! Hear it! See it! See how I may calmly explain this to you, how simply I may paint this whole story, just listen with your eyes! Let me tell you what my brain has demised." The man looked motionless- careless! Had he no feelings, no pride as I? I shook as surely he could be at the edge of his seat, maybe it wasn't the way it meant to sound, it was? No, it wasn't! He wants more vigor, more blood! We aren't there yet, shut it! Yes, shut it. Why cant the voices stop? They're mine, I'm theirs? They listen not! They should be left to rot in my mind- Rot! My mind is perfectly healthy! Yes, this man will see, this black coat is not like the white coats! He will hear! Can he hear my voices, dear me, I hope not. So what if he does, we have a story to tell!

"It is hard to say, unlikely to hear! How the first idea came to my brain, it infected my mind! But once it conceived, my! It haunted me day and night." I shook with pride as I exclaimed that fact. Perhaps not pride, I shook with fear. Yes, a fear so deep it sent a shiver of excitement up my spine.

"The voices! They were right! There was no object, no passion, no motive. I loved the old man, trust me I did! He never did me wrong, never spun me lies." My shivers stopped, my body shook no more as I spoke with a still compassion I'd not felt since this all started, I almost missed it, but then I remembered, yes this is why! His forsaken eye! "He'd give me no insult but still! I cared not for his gold, this I promise you. No, it was his eye! The eye? Yes! The eye! That third one on his temple, there. Pale and blue, see it had film over it! The eye of a vulture on this old man's temple. Whenever he did gaze on me with that eye, winter grew under my skin. I could feel it! The ice in my blood, the cold air in my lungs! It took a little time but I had made up my mind! I must kill this old man to rid myself, this eye forever."

"Now, see my point? Hear my plea! you fancy me mad! But mad is not me! See, madmen know nothing, but you should have seen! The caution and wisdom, my careful precision, I went to work! The old man had never seen me kinder, you know! Not more kind than the week before I ended his life, took away the vulture eye, that'll teach it not to look at this guy!" I gestured my thumb to my chest, hearing my chains rattle at my movement but delighted still by my own words! The voices had silenced finally!? No, but will you finally silence? No! It's still my turn!

"Every night, at right about midnight, I turned his door latch and creep it open, just so easy, you wouldn't notice. When the opening was finally large enough for my own noggin, I put in a dark lantern all closed up, sealed so that no light could show-- Then my head would thrust in! Oh, you would have found it funny, hysterical to see how cunningly I thrust in! I moved so slow, very, super, extremely slow so that I might not disturb the old geezer in his sleep. Oh, it took me an hour to finally get my whole head past the opening so far that I could see him lay upon his bed."

"Ha, I could scream with laughter for you must see it now!" I nodded vigorously, slamming my fists on the table and leaning across it to the blackcoat who remained unmoved and unfazed. "Surely a madman could not be as wise as this!" I assured him but he still gave no response, no reaction. See him not react to this!

"My head was well past the threshold of his room, the line I had crossed in floorboards of his chambers! I undid the lantern cautiously, quietly! No creature could have mirrored my silence that night! I was wary of the hinges, they'd creak and squeak! I undid the lantern so carefully but the vulture eye spotted me! It saw me! The old man did not know what his eye had seen but that eye! That cursed eye! I made my flea only to try again the next night. I tried with all my might to be slow, be patient, careful, see?" I took a pause for his answer, reaction- something! But the blackcoat need not even lift his own chest for a breath. "A madman could not do as I had done! I did this every night for the week to come! But when his eyes closed the evil eye opened so it was impossible to fulfill my wishes! The old man never knew! He'd simply have no clue! I would race into the kitchen where he fixed his tea every morning, I did it every morning, yes! I asked how his night went, see if he'd slept well! You see he never suspected never suggested my crimes the previous night. He had no indication that I came to cut his breath short, end his pained muscles forever, free him of that evil, evil eye!"

"The old man always smiled and whispered 'The end is always nigh...' As he always had." I sneered and chuckled then cackled and leaned back forward, my eye starting to spasm again, I could feel its twitch in my skin but he must hear, must see! Hear my plea and set me free!

"Assured nothing of the man's routines changed, I'd take my own mug and watch his evil eye. Upon the eighth night, I was even more cautious and careful than I had ever been in opening his chamber door, A clock hand moved far faster than mine had. Never before that dark whispering night had I ever felt so powerful, determined. I felt divine acuity! I could hardly contain my own thoughts and feelings I could practically feel that sweet shiver of victory at the loss of that god-forsaken eye! To think I was so close and this old man had no idea, why! He couldn't dream I'd do what my heart yearned to do. I chuckled to myself, see? He must have heard me! For the man moved on the bed suddenly, quickly, as though he were startled or perhaps he was scared. You may think I would draw back and save my efforts for the next night, but no! No, his room was black with a pitch! A thick darkness filled the air. Not even moonlight to split it for his shutters were sealed in fear of robbers! So I knew that no matter what this old man may hear, he could not see me. Not I and not my intentions!" I coughed, clearing my throat again, I really mustn't yell, my voice was so hoarse now. Such a deep remorseful growl came from my lips as I proceeded. Conceited. Shut up, you'll get us locked up! No, the truth will set you free! Set us free! Speak he will see!

"I must have become careless," My growl refusing to soften, "Just only a little, for when I passed the door-- my hand moved to open the lantern only for my thumb to slip on the tin fastening. Careless! Oh, that was careless- but no matter! The old man cried out into the darkness, 'Who's there!?' But no answer returned for my lips were sealed. A whole hour I stood there, silent and watching, I said nothing and the old man dared not move, why! I never even heard him lay back down! He just sat upright in his bed listening closely to the darkness as I had so many nights previously."

"At the time I heard the slight groan and knew it was a groan of mortal terror!" A groan, no a moan. Then? No now! The blackcoat, finally, a reaction shared with me!? No, the voices, it's simply my mind playing tricks. The blackcoat still stayed idly still, almost lifeless breathless, but I speak the truth, I do!

"It was not a groan of pain or of grief, ha, no, no, no, oh! It was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when charged with awe and fear! I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, and I crept... it has welled up from my own depths, deepening, with its dreadful echo. Its blood-chilling sound- the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, I felt it too far many too many a time. I pitied him. I pitied his sound, his fear. Though my heart chuckled. My adrenaline grinned the way a predator would as it finally cornered its prey." I stilled myself and looked up at the lamp that began to swing, slowly, steadily... I began to whisper, choking on the dryness of my throat.

"I knew that he had been lying awake ever since my first noise. I knew he tried to reason his fear... His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He tried them excuses that had all fallen short. He had been saying to himself, under his breath, 'It is nothing but the wind in the chimney' and 'Worry not, it is only a mouse crossing the floor,' or 'It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp.' Yes, he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain" I slowly looked down from the lamp to the blackcoat and leaned forward, giggling.

"All in vain! All in vain! You hear me!? It was in vain! Oh... in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked the shadows he did! Death with his black shadow before him and enveloped the victim! And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel- although he neither saw! nor heard! To feel the presence of my head within the room..."

"Dear God, I had waited a long time. So terribly long- very patiently! Without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little- I must see! A very, very little crevice in the lantern to be! So I opened it, you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily... Until! At length a single dim ray, to keep shreds of darkness at bay... like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye. It KNEW!" I wanted to rake my nails through my hair but lacked the energy to lift my arms any longer.

"The eye! It was open. It was wide, wide open. Like a deer caught on the tracks! The fury in my skin, in my blood! I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness. It's dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot. The curse of an eye. That was all the light touched and all I could see. And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over acuteness of the senses?" I watched the black coat, nodding for him to agree but his stillness maddened me!

"My ears! A low, dull, quick sound! Such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton! I knew that sound well, too! It's my senses! My heightened senses, can you not see it's not madness I possess but a gift! What I heard was not as one may expect, you see, for me! It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage! As the shade of red edges the bull to its victorious fight! As the cry of a child tugs the attention of its mother- That sound, his heart, it pulled at mine to strike." A cough and another, I sputtered blood in my hands and I knew what this was, who the blackcoat came to be. But he'd hear my story! I will be free. I. Will. Be-

"But even still, I refrained and kept still... Even... still... I scarcely breathed! I held the lantern motionless! I tried! How steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye- Meantime, the hellish tattoo of the heart increased! Its steady beat began to race it began to pace but it could not escape it could never race to see the light of day again, no matter how grey, no light of day... It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder in every instant! The old man's terror must have been extreme! It had exalted! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!" My voice rose as I hit the climax of my tale, the satisfaction piercing my lips in a sharp, devious smile, even as blood, sweat or saliva dripped down my chin! It could have been one nor the other, whichever it could be I didn't care, my voice need not falter!

"Do you mark me well?" I asked the Blackcoat, my tone dropping only for the question before rising again, "I have told you that I am nervous: so I am! Mark me WELL! MARK. MARK. MARK. ME. WELL- Now, at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house! So strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror! Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me, the sound would be heard by a neighbor!" The blackcoat stood and turned, facing to walk around the table, he would not look at me, he gave me no sound and my blood screamed for his attention, my nerves ached for even his fear. Give me your reaction, damn you!

"The old man's hour had come!" I laughed maliciously, "With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once! Keep that in mind for it was once only! In an INSTANT I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. Ha, I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done... But, for many minutes, the heartbeat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed! I examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. As pale as pale could be, as pale as even you... you see? I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes from start. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more... it could stare no longer. BUT WHY DO I STILL SEE IT WHEN MINE CLOSE!? No matter." A single tear trickled down my cheek. For once I felt weak...

"If mad, you think me still... think so no longer, you will- when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. Yes, a madman knows nothing but I was careful, precise! I was cautious! The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all, I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs... I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber and deposited them all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye, not even his cursed third, could have detected anything wrong. Nothing went astray! There was nothing to wash out, no stain of any kind, no blood-spot... ha, whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all... ha! ha!" The blackcoat stood still in place but still no reaction, not a flinch or a twitch-

"When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o 'clock in the morning. Still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, a smile on my face, for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. Finally, help had arrived! 'No they have come for you' My voices shrieked and in an inquiry of their arrival they'd told me that- ha... haha, supposedly! A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and the officers had been deputed to search the premises. Ha... I greeted them swiftly and kindly, allowing them past the threshold. Not I, I convinced them." I looked down at my hands, flexing my fingers before myself as I spoke.

"I smiled, for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome! The shriek, I said, was my own! In a dream. Nothing to fear! The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search, oh do search well... I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. That old man and his wretched eye... The officers were satisfied! My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted about familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still, they sat and still chatted. They were waiting me out I could feel it. The ringing became more distinct: It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definitiveness... until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears. It was in range of all around me. The sound was deafening." I began to grow pale just recalling it.

"No doubt I now grew very pale, but I talked more fluently! With a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound- much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath! Yet, the officers heard it not... I talked more quickly. I spoke more vehemently, but the noise steadily increased. It was so loud and the voices did me no favors this time about! I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key, and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. 'Why would they not be gone?' One voice vouched, but I paced the floor to and fro- with heavy strides! As if excited to fury by the observations of the men, but the noise steadily increased. 'Oh God! what could I do?' I foamed- I raved! I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder, louder, louder! And still, the men chatted pleasantly and smiled. 'How could they smile!? Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!' The forsaken voices know not to stop! 'No, no! They heard! - They suspected! - They knew! - They were making a mockery of my horror!' This I thought, and this I think or they do, my voices are not mine, you see? But they belong to me and I alone. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or surely die! Now -again! - Hark! Louder! Louder! Louder! Louder! - Even here, I still hear its foreboding beat." I shivered as a chill unexplainable rose, freezing my skin. Could this be guilt or be it the touch of death?

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! - There, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart! Take it, burn it, pay his eye, his evil eye no mind, I had to end its grotesque stare!" The Blackcoat approached, passing through the iron table as though it were nothing, his faceless figure directed at me. I felt my life as though it drained, a great depression escaping my body- "IT WAS HIS TIME!" I shrieked and the blackcoat nodded slowly, but his first response was not satisfying for I feared my own life, I stared at this black-coated careless ghost.

"The end is always nigh..." The old man's voice whispered and I stared in my chains as I understood, his coat hung on the back of his door was surely the same as the one I see stood before! Almost as if confirming my fears the pale face molded into the sad face of the old man, no longer etched in terror as it was in my memory. My last drop of living blood dripped from my chin as my heart stopped. His pale blue vulture eye staring me down in my final moments of death...