Inked
Baltimore, October 7, 1849
His weary eyes strained against the lamplight. Edgar dipped the quill into the inkwell to etch the gothic poem onto blue parchment.
At the fifth word, his mind went blank as if struck by a lightning bolt. Stressed by the fleeting loss of masterful words, he dipped his quill again, but the nib came out dry. Panicked, he held the empty bottle to the flickering lamp.
Behind him, a phantom from hell lurked in the lamps dancing shadows on the wall.
“Edgar, an ink deal’s a deal. It’s time.”
Baltimore Newspaper - Cause of death: Congestion of the brain.
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Thank you for reading. If you are a fan, like me, of Edgar Allan Poe, you may like my story below. It’s a different viewpoint of his The Masque of the Red Death. The viewpoint of the Bearer of the Mask. Feedback is always welcome.
About the Creator
J. S. Wade
Since reading Tolkien in Middle school, I have been fascinated with creating, reading, and hearing art through story’s and music. I am a perpetual student of writing and life.
J. S. Wade owns all work contained here.
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Comments (19)
Whoa, this is spooky in such a cool way! I really really like this take on his death. You have such a unique style; I’m very pleased to have found your writing. 😊
Oh wow, I loved this!!! What a seriously clever take on the challenge. Bravo, Scott!!
Yesss, love this.
Beautiful story!
Whoa! This was such a brilliant idea! I love Poe, this is so captivating!! :) Very well done!
This is so well done. I love reading anything that relates to Poe. I'll definitely come back to "The Bearer of the Mask" to read tonight. ❤️
Whoaaaa, I just Googled him and put the pieces in your story together. Not that I don't know who Poe is but I never knew pretty much anything about him other than his work. This was awesomeeee!
I love Poe’s works. This is excellent.
Ooo, a good postscript to the movie.
Scott, I loved this! I love Edgar Allen Poe and so had it pinned as him when you first said his name! It was a great short story, filled with suspense and mystery! I would love to see you expand on this! I will be checking out the other story you recommended, soon!
Another GREAT job!
A suitably chilling micro-story Scott. He was destitute at the end, was he not?
This is brilliant 😁
very well done
We were just discussing the death of Edgar Allan Poe in my English class! I'll have to let the students know you solved the mystery. Great job with this story!
That was great! I wanted there to be more! :)
You have me googling his death! Loved the way you wrote this! 👏👏
Scorr, that's awesome!!! Fantastic micro fiction story!!!💖💖💕
Great Story😉