I know not why he took my life. I do know I am dead and hidden in the
floorboards of my chamber. I know that I
am in pieces. There is no pain for I am
dead. Only madness could be to blame for
my predicament. The madness of my
dearest manservant. Ours was a
relationship of mutual admiration spanning decades. So why did he do me so wrong? Even in my corpse
state, I shudder as I recall the terrible week leading up to my death.
Percival had been growing increasingly distant as I
aged. Once affectionate and attentive,
he withdrew from me in a most hurtful way.
I would stare at him across the dinner table, silently begging him to
talk to me and tell me what troubled him.
My gaze caused him such distress that he would leave the table. In the following days and months his mood
darkened and he became someone I did not know.
He became derelict in his duties and left me often in states of discomfort,
cold or hungry or uncomfortable. His
manner was abrupt and sometimes aggressive and I knew not why. I would watch him for some clue, some sign of
what had caused this terrible change. This
only seemed to agitate him more. He
implored me to stop watching him with that eye.
That Vulture Eye. It seemed my cataract caused him no end of
misery. I could do nought to help
it. It seemed such a strange thing to be
so distressed about. And then just as
suddenly as he withdrew he suddenly became attentive again. The old Percival was back. I was relieved and grateful. Once again peace
reigned in my household and I was content.
One night, about a week before my death, I awoke to hear the
creaking of the door. I lay still,
heart pounding. Was someone there? I dared not speak. I could not see who was at the door, so I
feigned sleep hoping the person would retreat.
But as I lay there a strange beam of light shone upon my face. Paralyzed by fear I could not move. As suddenly as the light came it was gone
and the door shut quietly. It was many
hours before I could fall asleep again and in the morning I told myself it was
all a strange dream. Up questioning
Percival, I discovered he had heard nothing and it had not been him. I thought I detected a gleam in his eye, but
it must have been a trick of the light.
The next six nights this same thing happened. A sound of the door, a beam of light, and then
nothing. Each time I feigned sleep and
lay there paralyzed with fear. What
could I do? I am an old man, feeble and
decrepit, certainly no match for whatever this was.
The night of my death I was sleeping soundly and I heard a
screech, like a hinge. I sat bolt
upright in my bed and called out. There
was silence but I knew someone was in the room.
I sat for a very long time. I
moaned and lay back down, hoping the spirit, for I was sure it was a spirit,
would leave as they had the other nights.
I knew not why this was happening to me.
I couldn’t fathom a reason, but it was making my heart weaker. I lay there staring at the ceiling and my
heart began to beat harder and harder. I
could hear it outside my body, the noise was so clamorous. Suddenly there came a blinding ray of light
right into my diseased eye. My heart pounded
louder and louder as my fear increased. I realized the light was from a lantern
and it was held by ….Percival! I yelled
at him and he screamed at me and knocked the bed over on me causing the heavy
rail to strike the back of my head.
Everything went black and I was no more.
And now here I am dead and dismembered and under the floorboards. I can hear voices above me. Percival is talking to some men. Detectives I
presume. I can feel my heart starting to
beat! Was I alive after all? I knew how foolish I was being, with my body
being so torn asunder there was no possibility of my being alive. Still, my heart beat faintly. Again, as on the night I died I could hear
it. I needed to get a message to the
men with Percival and let them know it was he who had done this to me. I wanted justice. I wanted revenge. I wanted him to pay.
I gathered all of my strength and forced my heart to beat louder. I could hear Percival becoming agitated. He could hear it! But could the detectives. I must make it louder and louder. Now Percival was near hysteria and the men
were now mocking him and laughing derisively which only inflamed Percival
more. Still, my heart beat louder and
louder. Finally, Percival screamed “I did it!
I killed him! Look under the
floorboards! I did it!”
The detectives took the screaming man away. I was rescued from under the floor and found
a new home in a soft warm coffin, my body rearranged in the correct order. I knew it was now time for my spirit to cross
over. I was happy to do so, for justice
had been served.
No comments:
Post a Comment