Some Old Books
"Alright, you guys know the drill. Dust for prints and bag up anything that can be used as evidence," Detective Greene said to his crew. "We've got to make sure this guy stays locked up for good behind bars. No stone unturned."
Detective Greene left his post to wander into of Allen's library. He put on his kid gloves and started to go through each of the drawers, hoping to find something of value to help in his case, as if catching the man in cold blood wasn't enough.
After opening every drawer in the desk, he decided to go through the bookshelf. There was a black leather-bound book that caught his attention. It was lying underneath the chest of drawers, with a few scattered papers on top. The book itself did not warrant so much attention, but something about the book kept drawing him to it.
He reached for it, delicately trying to lift it up, to as not to make any major movements that might disturb the scene. He opened the cover, and started reading.
"This is the worst day of my life," the handwritten novel started. It appeared to be a diary. Disregarding the possibility that wading through evidence like this might not exactly be legal, Dan Greene kept reading.
"My Lenore, the beloved Lenore whom I have wanted to share my heart and life with, was suddenly and cruelly taken from me tonight.
"Not even a week ago I saw her with another man. While that man has been taken care of, I have yet to confront my Lenore about the situation. Maybe I had hoped that by ignoring it, it would go away. Maybe I could have forgiven her outright. Regardless, it is too late, having been taken from me so abruptly. Oh, how I lament the time we will never share.
"I suppose it is a cruel twist of fate that I have had a life taken from me. Just as I have taken a life myself, however I would have accepted this searing justice had it been anyone but my Lenore
"In one swift second, she was taken from me by a drunk driver. Clipped as she was walking home. If only I had one more day left, I could finally say good bye.
"I have not left this house since I have heard the dreadful news, which was about a month ago. I cannot bear to venture outside and take what pain this world has to offer. I have decided to entertain myself with this pen and paper, and also I have made friends with a bird who visits me.
"The ominous raven visits me daily, and we talk about the pains of life. We share a common bond of loneliness, for no one associates with the raven because of his grotesqe nature, and I cannot keep those that I love alive.
"Though through the death of my Lenore I have gained a new friend, none can replace the dark-haired maiden of yore, and I shall see her nevermore."
Detective Greene paused as he read the final thoughts of this man.
"....wow," He muttered to himself. He knew this man had severe mental problems, but reading the scribbling of the innermost thoughts of this maniac even shocked him.
"We've got to lock this guy up for good. Who knows what this guy is capable of..." Dan thought to himself.
I wanted to write this as a diary entry, since The Raven was written as a sort of monologue. In the original story, the author is writing about his lost lover Lenore. In it he says how he misses his lover Lenore, and saw a raven and asked its name, only to hear the word "nevermore."
I decided to change this somewhat, since the character of Allen is after all a madman, and he killed a man for cheating with his Lenore. I wanted to give him the same "intelligent mournful" feeling that Poe expressed in The Raven. You get a true sense of humanity in Allen, though he really is a monster inside.
Another fairly big change is that I added that Lenore was unfaithful to Allen, but this was never really mentioned in any of Poe's poems. I only had Lenore be unfaithful to give Allen a reason to kill the man in the previous story. In the original poem of The Raven, Lenore is just being lamented for dying, and Poe makes it fairly clear that the narrator loved Lenore. I still wanted Allen to love Lenore to keep some continuity, but I felt that I should clear this up.
I also wanted to have Allen treat the raven as a friend, to add to his already deteriorated mental state. After killing a man by walling him in brick by brick, and losing the love of his life, I figured he might have lost it, and having the raven be a talking friend really reinforces that. Again, this is differs somewhat from the original, because at first the narrator of The Raven laughs at the raven for being somewhat comical, but eventually becomes irritated at it.
Although one may think that this story is majorly altered from the original, I still did my best to maintain the theme of a loved one taken away. In The Raven, it is not clear how Lenore died, or if she has even been dead a short time. It is possible she had died many years before, and the man is still mourning her, but I decided that having her die swiftly would deal a bigger blow to Allen, and add some dramatic effect.
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