Downfall

My name is Roderick Usher, I am twenty-one years old, and I never really thought that this would be how I died, with my biggest fear running full speed at me and strangling me. That fear is seeing my sister dead.

My sister and I were always trouble when we were together, but I never thought that I would end like this- we would end like this.

We came from a fairly wealthy family, our lineage tracing back to being royals at one point, then being ousted from the throne from acts of invest between the queen and her brother. Anyways, my mother was a custom dressmaker, from a different family and married into the Usher bloodline; her name was Sophia DeMille, her ancestors coming from France. Mother had very pale blonde hair, what seemed to be porcelain white skin and sparkling ice blue eyes, her lips tinted the shade of roses, and her teeth made of ivory. I looked like Mother, and so did Madeline, and so did Madeline. I had very thin, almost transparent wispy blonde hair that fell over my head like a halo. My jawline was very sharp, along with my very sunken-in cheekbones. I was always described as looking like an angel, although my thoughts and actions weren't very angelic. Madeline looked the same as I did, but her cheeks were plump and her hair long and wavy; she actually looked like an angel whereas I was the fallen angel. Father on the other hand, was very unique; he was a man of many trades, some more favorable than others. He didn't look like Mother, Madeline, and I; e had dark, rough, curly black hair and unusual jade-green, almost cat-like eyes. Father was an ominous man, him being a very powerful, corrupt politician in the city of London.

Rumors said that he relied on the riches of past generations of Usher to use for his corrupt and dishonest campaigns, which Mother never mentioned to Madeline and I until we turned eighteen and found those secrets out for ourselves. Our Father was always away from home and left Mother all by herself to watch the house, and mostly fend for herself; so she asked her brother, Claud-Michel to stay with her. One thing we did not know was that the man we called Father was not our father, Uncle Claud-Michel was. uncle was a Frenchman, and looked just like Mother; he had the same blonde hair, clear blue eyes, and pure white skin. I knew that our family had history of incest, which is why we have serious medical issues, ranging from acute anxiety to cataleptical seizures that could paralyze a person in a death-like trance. Mother would have days where she would fall to the floor, and Claud-Michel would carry her to her sleeping chamber to rest there. Our Father's corrupt actions left him very naive, not noticing corruption he had created in Parliament or the incestuous affair happening in the family.

Several months later, Madeline and I were born. First born was me, by a couple of minutes. Madeline was then born, but something was unusual; the doctors did not know what. Miraculously, she lived, but grew up with peculiar medicinal infirmities. Shortly after we were born, Uncle disappeared, along with Father. Mother was left to raise Madeline and I by herself until we were seven, then she disappeared too. The police suspected that it was Father who killed Uncle. Before Mother left, she never let us go outside. That was how Uncle left; he left the house to get sustenance for us, but he never returned. Never did we see the beautiful blue sky, the green leaves on the tall trees, the puffy white clouds, or even the animals, running around and frolicking in the flower patches, things I read in many books. The gates were always locked and a deep, turbid moat was placed around the house. The only interaction I had with the outside would was that the house had small, eye-like windows that refracted the sunlight red, giving the entire house a very sanguine, gory tone. My sleeping chamber was next to the library, where the walls were lined with books, so whenever I had nightmares, I would go and pick a random book and sit in the middle of the floor and read, until my nightmares went away. Madeline's sleeping chamber was located above the morgue and family tomb, so she continuously experienced experienced numerous nightmares, whether it was the ominous history of the Usher lineage, or spirits visiting her throughout the night. Mother's being a regularly appearing apparition.