The Tell-Tale Heart

It had been a peaceful night. The kind of night where everything is silent and

the moon is shining fairly bright in the sky. The butler, Narrator as everybody called

him but whose real name is Ivan had just put his master the Old Man to bed after

a well prepared dinner. His stomach rumbled. He hadn't eaten dinner yet as was

the custom in the household. Descending the polished stairway he thought to

himself, The eye! Why must that vulture eye taunt me. Staring at me with its icy

coldness. Why? At this moment he arrived in the kitchen. Everyone else in the

house had gone to bed, so he prepared himself a ham sandwich. He grabbed the

bread, mayonnaise, and knife from the cupboards along with ham from the cellar.

Ivan set everything on the counter and grabbed the knife to cut the ham. As he

held the knife in his hand, he felt a strange adrenaline rush through his body and

deranged thoughts of murder and death flood his mind. He sliced the ham with the knife thinking of it as the old man. Finally he sat down and started to eat his meal. The only thought running through his head was, The eye! I can't stand it! Soon. Soon that wretched blue vulture eye will haunt me no longer! THE EYE! About 20 minutes later Ivan had finished his dinner, so he went to check on the old man. After he walked up the stairs he turned left to go down the hallway to the old man's chambers. He opened the door slightly and let the door creak a little as he opened it. "Who's there?" the old man asked.

"It is me sir," Ivan replied. "I just wanted to check on you."

"Oh good Ivan," the old man heaved a sigh of relief.

"Do you need anything sir?"

"No, thank you Ivan."

"Ok, sir."

Ivan then left the dimly lit room. He closed the door and walked to his bedroom. His bed creaked as he laid down on it like usual. The only thought running through his mind as always being, The eye! I must rid myself of the eye! Finally he couldn't take it anymore, and like every night since he came to the old man's house took the lantern from his bedside table and the knife he cut his pork with from the kitchen. He lit the lantern and slowly and silently he crept down the hallway to the old man's room.

He opened the door slightly, covering the lantern with his fingers covering the light. Ivan put his arm in the open doorway. He peered through the crack and thought about the eye.

He prepared himself to launch at his prey and kill the man but he couldn't bring himself to do it. At that moment he realized that he couldn't kill the old man without seeing the eye. The old man's eyes were what taunted and urged Ivan to kill the person laying in bed before him.

Slowly he spread his fingers just enough to shine directly on the man's closed eyes. The old man opened his eyes at the sudden bright light and jerked upright.

"Who's there?", the Old Man questioned.

Ivan didn't answer. He just stood in silence being enraged by the piercing, blue vulture eyes of the old man. All of a sudden he flung himself at the man. Ivan threw the fragile old man and the ground and pulled the bed on top of him. He could hear the old man's breathing lose consistency, grow more withered until it stopped along with the heart stopping it's beating that gave the old man life.

After this Ivan took the bed off of the old man's corpse and grabbed the knife that he used to cut his pork. With the knife he sliced the arms and legs off of the man's corpse. There was a loose floorboard in the room that Ivan loosened and slipped the remains of the man into the crevice.

After he finished there was a knock at the door. Ivan got up from the floor where he knelt and walked down the stairs with ease. He opened the door and policemen stood clad in their uniforms.

"A neighbor called and heard screaming. According to them it sounded like someone was being murdered," one of the policemen said.

"We would like to investigate,"said a second.

"Alright gentlemen come right in. Check wherever you like," Ivan replied rather calmly.

The policemen came in and asked where the old man's bedroom was. Ivan showed them and they checked for the remains of the man. They searched everywhere, but found nothing. As they searched Ivan started rambling on about what happened, confessing to the officers. They just sat and laughed.

After a while. One of the police went out to his police car and came back with a straight jacket.

"We have a special place for you. The insane asylum,"the police officer with the straight jacket said.

"No!"Ivan struggled with no prevail.

The officers put him in the straight jacket and called in more officers to clean up the remains of the old man. Ivan was sent to an insane asylum never to be seen again.