The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death

It's true! I am nervous. I was very, very nervous then, and I am nervous now. But why do you say that I am mad?

My illness did not destroy my mind. It made my senses stronger. Most of all, it made my hearing sharp. I could hear everything in the sky and on the earth. So how can I be mad? Listen! Listen, and see how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

I don't know how the idea first came into my head. But once it was there, it stayed with me day and night. There was no reason for it. I was not angry. I loved the old man. He was always good to me. He never said an unkind word to me. I did not want his gold.

I think it was his eye! Yes, it was his eye! He had an eye like the eye of a vulture, a big bird that eats dead animals. It was a pale blue eye, with a thin white skin over it. Every time it looked at me, my blood went cold. So, slowly, little by little, I made a plan. I decided to kill the old man. Then I would be free of the eye forever.