Madeline Usher’s Last Breaths
Now for a short story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
Madeline Usher’S Last Breaths
I awake gasping for breath and overwhelmed by the putrid stench of mold and mildew and earth. Utter darkness engulfs me. Continuing to gasp, I reach out… and touch a wooden surface inches above my face. I reach out to my sides and touch the same cold, dry wood. My heart flutters in panic. I attempt to shriek, but my throat’s dryness allows no more than a hoarse croak.
Where might I be? What has happened to me? I lift my hands again and use my palms to slap the wooden surface. Surely this is no more than a nightmare. Yet it feels too corporeal to be a mere dream. The wood feels solid against my back, and the cold seeping into my skin feels too acute.
Alas, I am trapped! But how am I here? Who would have placed me in a crate? I imagine a ruffian loading me onto a ship while I slept.
The fog of my confusion upon first waking drifts away enough to reveal my truly harrowing situation. I must be trapped inside a coffin! Gasping in horror, I begin clawing at the wooden coffin lid to no avail. My heart shuddering, I form each hand into a fist and pound on the wooden slab. I must escape this ghastly tomb!