Writings of an Outcast

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Hello. This is the topic where I will post my writings, which are also on DeviantART, under the account name SnakeUniverse. My first writing is a set of two alternate endings to the story The Cask of Amontillado. If you think my writing is bad, don't be afraid to tell me. If you like my writing, don't be afraid to tell me that either.

Alternate Endings of The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe

Endings by Slimeinator

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud —


"Fortunato!" No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return a final sound of the chains. I started, realizing that I, in an act of foolishness, had fastened one of the chains to niter rather than rock! A terrible screech and a crumbling cacophony; alas, my task was to fail! I grappled with the final stone, and as I thrust it into its rightful place, the hand of Fortunato shot through the crevice, accompanied by its cuff, a collection of coughs, and a feeble scratching. I cried out in surprise, the trowel and brick falling from my hand. So unfortunate was I that my foot happened to have been under the brick. The heavy missile hit its mark, causing me to cry in pain. I began to loose my balance, getting closer and closer to the wriggling hand of Fortunato, desperately reaching for something to hold. My hood became displaced in my misfortune and I tripped over my cloak. I plummeted and struck my head upon the brick wall, usurping the bricks whose mortar had not yet set. I cried out as the appendage of Fortunato found its goal, grabbing my neck and squeezing harder than the Devil's grip could muster. I cried for air as the hand constricted my windpipe, turning my face into a violet color.

"You violent hound!" Fortunato cried as his breath was dogged by the niter entombing him. I possessed my trowel at last, and in my potentially ultimate moment I thrust my tool into the wrist of Fortunato, the red fluid spilling on my hair as his heart beat his life force out of his left wrist. I wrest myself from Fortunato's death grip, gasping for air. I took my trowel and brought it down thrice only. The once-living hand of Fortunato descended in a rain of blood to the ground, its previous owner screaming with the sound of ten thousand Hells, his wrist pouring out the watery liquid that had once given him life. And in that moment, I drew back from my wall. I drew back from my foe, Fortunato, panting as I began to realize exactly how a hangman felt. I quickly took it upon myself to complete my task, setting the bricks I had undone anew, and, ignoring the death throes of Fortunato, I thrust the brick into the offending stump that emerged from the final orifice, struggling to build the wall I had started. At long last I completed my mission, muffling the screams of my enemy. With eyes wide and heavy breath, I re-erected the old rampart of bones. I backed away slowly, knowing that I should never sleep in peace again. I adjusted my heading, fleeing for my life as my old enemy bled and screamed. Every night, I pray to God Almighty to cease the visions in my brain of Fortunato struggling to escape the chains that I had forced upon him.

The next day, Lady Fortunato pestered me so with inquiries as to Fortunato's location. She launched an investigation with the local police. I invited them to search my home. They combed it twice over. I invited them to join me in my vault. However, they expressed a desire to avoid my family’s crypt. I offered them food and drink, and we made merry. When the men finally vacated my home, I spoke to Lady Fortunato in the solitude of my study.
“I am sorry, but I know not where Fortunato rests his head.” I said in a consoling tone.
“But it was you who were last seen with him! You must know something!” Lady Fortunato cried out, wailing and letting forth a flood of tears.
“Calm yourself, my dear. I cannot bear to see you in such a way! Come; let us fetch some food from the trattoria across the way!” I suggested with glee.
“No, no. I am too full of sorrow to eat.” She buried her dainty face in her hands. Thinking quickly, I augmented my plans.
“Tarry one moment. I may have forgotten something that could point to where Fortunato lays his weary head.” I cried as she made her way to the outside. She stopped and looked at me with hesitation. She spoke two words only.
“Take me.”

And so I led the fair lady down, down into the dark halls that contained the bones of my ancestors. I had prepared for this meeting, preparing in the peace and quiet of the gloomy memory of Fortunato's death. And so, I led her to the same hall, the same corridor, the same wall that had been desecrated by my old enemy, Fortunato. But it was different. I had collapsed the wall I had hastily built. In its stead, I commissioned the local woodworker to create a fine wooden door that would be placed with care to conceal Fortunato's tomb. I dislodged the stack of remains, and the lady beside me covered her mouth. I silently swung open the door... and there, in hideous relief, was the corpse of Fortunato! Oh, how the maggots feasted upon the flesh! Oh, how the stench billowed out! Lady Fortunato let out a cry and attempted a flight. But I clasped her wrist, and she did yet stay. She struggled, but I kept a harder grip still! I thrust her against my late enemy's corpse, and she vomited as she tried to come back to me and return to the garish daylight. But, quicker than a flash, I closed the door on her. I backed away from the passage, realizing that I had done another deed that will sentence me to far more cursed dreams and sleepless nights.

Years after the accursed deed, my brain wracked with guilt and disturbing visions, I alighted upon the highest window in my home. The wind blew and the foundations of my home shook I took my trowel and slowly ran it over my unprotected wrist. I cried out in pain, watching as my trowel descended down to the brick road below. I advanced, inch by inch, step by step. The thunder and lightning cried their condolences to me as the rain drops began falling on my head. I closed my eyes, the lightning flashes piercing through the red and white film of the eyelids like a serrated javelin. I took but one step more. Just one step. The wind whistled in my ears. The song of rain jeered at me as I felt myself falling away, simply falling away... Tumbling and turning, I descended. In just a few moments, my head bashed against the pavement, my skin releasing its contents and my soul leaving its vessel.








Alternate Ending #2



Years after the deed, my brain was wracked with guilt and disturbing visions. I poured a tall glass of wine and sipped it silently as the sound of nothing pressed in on all sides until an eerie ring sounded itself within my ear. I turned slowly and faced the opening into the hallway from my cooking place. I rose from my seated position and slowly raised my foot to proceed. For a fleeting moment, I had second thoughts and doubts. That is when my mind snapped its moorings and began to spin within my skull. I clasped my head and bent over, breathing heavily as all of the visions and guilt I had suffered over the years came to bear within my mind. I slowly arose and flew through the passages and dark corridors, into the dank crypt and into the same hall, the same corridor, the same wall that I had come to those many, gloomy and desolate years ago. I tore down the barrier of bones that prohibited my access and tore the door open. I leapt into the dark abyss, shutting the door behind me. I screamed a madman’s scream, the kind of cry that reverberates within the mind and the musings, until all else is lost and you find yourself lost inside your own insanity.

I came to slowly, grasping the walls and floor of the room I was in. I didn’t realize where I was – I could not tell. But then, my hand came upon a warped spherical shape with two apertures. I thrust my two fingers inside, and remembered in an instant. I had gone mad and thrown myself into the closet where I had murdered a man and his lady! I scrabbled for the exit, and found the door. I scrabbled at the frame and the wood, searching for a knob. I found no such thing. I remembered that I had had this door made to seal a living person within. I could not exit the chamber! I slumped to the ground, and found a rock formation that protruded from the wall. I slowly drew back my head, and closed my eyes (though for the darkness, it mattered not). I felt the air fly past my head. And then, there was nothing.

Darn, it erased my indentations. Oh well. I tried fixing, but it didn't work.