[Adapted from “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. A classic monologue of obsession, guilt, and growing paranoia, as the narrator insists on his sanity while revealing his madness] ———————————————— Can’t you hear it? It’s calling my name! Like thunder rolling— Like a curse in my veins! “I am not mad… no, no, no… only aware, so very aware…” (No sleep, no peace) (No silence remains) (The tell-tale heart) (Beats on and on again!) (The tell-tale heart) (Beats on and on again!) [Verse 1] I watched him sleeping, silent breath, That eye, unblinking, filled with death. Ticking clocks, the night stood still, I waited… I listened… I measured my will. [Pre-chorus] Does he see me? Does he know? I hear it whisper… soft and low… A sound that swells beneath the floor, Growing, gnawing—beating more! [Chorus] (Can’t you hear it?) No, no, it’s only in your head! (It’s calling my name!) You’re imagining things again! (Like thunder rolling—) No, just the wind outside! (Like a curse in my veins!) It’s all in your mind! (No sleep, no peace—) You need to calm down! (No silence remains—) But what if they hear?! (The tell-tale heart—) It isn’t real, stop this now! Then make it stop somehow! [Verse 2] I held my breath, I took my chance, That cursed eye will never glance. Yet still it beats, it won’t be still, A hollow drum, a pulse that kills. [Hallucinating Bridge] “It’s inside me… inside me… inside me…” “Make it stop, make it stop, MAKE IT STOP!” [Instrumental Chaos] [Madness Chorus] (CAN’T YOU HEAR IT?) STOP IT, STOP IT, SHUT IT DOWN! (IT SCREAMS IN MY HEAD!) IT NEVER STOPS, IT NEVER DIES! NO, IT’S BENEATH THE FLOOR! THEY KNOW, THEY KNOW, THEY KNOW! [Loosing his mind Post-Chorus] (No sleep, no peace—) YOU CAN’T ESCAPE IT! YOU LET THEM IN! IT’S BEATING, IT’S BLEEDING, IT’S SCREAMING! IT WILL NEVER END! [Instrumental Collapse] “Please make it——stop!”