ok so umm i had this assignment in school 2 write an alternate ending to the pit and the pendulum, by edgar allen poe, and...yeah. here it is. enjoy!
Those putrid rats scurried restlessly up and down my wasted body. I could feel the myriad of sharp claws digging into my skin, penetrating the coarse fabric of my robe. To my astonishment, they started nibbling at the leather straps that bound me to this wooden damnation. It was too late for me to hope to live now, though. The steel murder was coming in for the kill.
I heard the quiet hiss as it swished through the air, and descended upon my shivering body, slicing the topmost layer of my battered skin. The pendulum swung up, yet again, not yet killing me, but slowly driving me to the point of insanity. It sliced through the air, and this time it would kill me, or so I thought.
The rats still scurried, oblivious to my oncoming death, which came nearer and nearer every second. Just as the pendulum swung, one ran right into the path of the hated torture device. This time, instead of mutilating more of my already maimed body, the wicked pendulum gouged into the rodent. Its high-pitched shrieks were cut short as it was violently flung at the wall, from which it fell into the deep abyss, falling, falling, deep down into the pit.
The evil swaying pendulum was now spinning in all directions. I closed my eyes, ready for not just my torso, but now the whole of my corpse to be ripped to pieces. It hacked and it slashed, cleaved and tore, until at last it stopped completely. Involuntarily, my eyes slowly opened, expecting to see the walls covered in gore. It was exactly as I perceived. The dismembered parts of who knows how many rats were strewn about the chamber, splayed all over the walls, the grimy floor, and even my worn out body. They had saved me from the cruel torture.
Preoccupied with the sight of the torn, crumpled remains of the vermin, I didn't realize the bonds had been slashed apart until it was too late. I heard first the echo of heavy footfalls, and next a trapdoor in the wall creaking open. It was around this time that I took in the fact that I was free, yet also that I would never be free again. Two brawny men charged into the small chamber, coming straight for the weak, crumpled mess of a man on the table.
The pendulum still dangled not inches above my head. Peaceful now, it looked like a giant silver half moon gleaming weakly in the dim light of the chamber. So long my tormentor, soon to be my savior.
The first of the two men stopped in shock at the sight of blood and countless innards scattered all around. Staggering, he wobbled and disappeared down into the pit. The second brute kept charging forward, intent on catching his prey. But I would not take any more torture. Quickly, I used my cunning to devise a simple plan, in which I would no longer be put through this torture, free at last to die, moving on peacefully to the grave.
When the man approached, I used the last of my quickly fleeting strength, and jumped off the table, and rolled into the pit, where I tumbled down, just like the rat and the man, dead before I hit the bottom.
That had been my intent. Instead, as I tensed my muscles to make that great leap of freedom, the monster of a man misjudged his steps and ran straight into the pendulum. The sharp blade gouged into his fiendish face, and he was dead in seconds, his blood flowing freely. Now unsure what to do, I looked around the small room, whereupon my eyes fell onto the door.
I looked at the brute, the pit, the pendulum, and without another thought, ran out the door, and began my journey to freedom.