(2.8) - The Tell Tale Heart

The story begins with a man's thoughts about himself and what he plans to do, though what it is unclear. He convinces himself that he isn't mad, and then proceeds to explain he is going to kill the old man he presumably works for. He talks of how clever he is for planning ahead for a whole week, sneaking into the old man's room every night at midnight. He also tells that it isn't the old man he has problems with, but his eye. On the eight night he tells that the old man started when he put his head in, and cried out. But he stayed still, and stood in the doorway for an hour, but the old man was still awake, and groaned in "mortal terror." So he opened the cover on his lantern a sliver, and the light fell on the old man's "evil" eye, which made him furious upon looking at. His heart began beating faster and louder as he stood looking at the eye. Then he opened the lantern and lept forward, dragging the old man to the floor and smothering him with the bed, killing him. After making sure he was dead, he took the old man's body and dismembered it over a tub, hiding the pieces beneath the floorboards. But when he was finished, three policemen came to the door, as the old man's shriek had been heard by a neighbor. But he showed them about the house and brought chairs into the old man's room, placing his own above the boards under which he had hidden the old man. He convinced the officers nothing was wrong, but soon began going mad, as the sound of a heartbeat rang in his ears. The sound became too much for him and he admitted his crime and showed them the body, crazedly.