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Noah
March 4, 2014
Alternate Ending to The Masque of the Red Death
The life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods
expired but Darkness and Decay and the Red Death didnt hold dominion over all.
At the Ball Prince Prospero was holding, there was one doctor amongst the crowd, Dr.
Isaiah Johnson who had been admitted last into the Abbey. He was a doctor of prestige and well
renown throughout the country. He was the last person to arrive at the Abbey the day the doors
were sealed. He had been trying to get some of his medical equipment before he was locked in
for God knows how long. He ran as fast as he could to the slowly closing gates and just as they
were closing, Dr. Johnson slipped in with his microscope, blood samples taken from some of the
infected residents and all of his other research tools. As Dr. Johnson walked in, Prospero greeted
the doctor and showed him to his room. Dr. Johnsons room was an odd back room tucked away
in the back of the Chapel in the Abbey. He used this odd storage room as his research laboratory
since it had the best conditions for the plague to cultivate. As Dr. Johnson was researching and
conducting experiments, the captives in the Abbey were enjoying themselves with whatever
they could do at the Abbey.
One night, Prospero decided to lift the captives spirits and throw a Masquerade Ball for
them. The captives put on some of their best clothing, decorated seven rooms with the Princes
decorations of choice, and decided to not worry about what was going on outside. Prospero
invited every captive in the Abbey and invited Dr. Johnson as well. Prospero even went as far as
to go to Dr. Johnsons laboratory to invite him personally. But, Dr. Johnson was set in his mind
to continue to conduct experiments and continue his research. So, Prospero came down to check
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on how the partygoers were fairing. This is when Prospero took notice of the invader of his
Ball.
While the partygoers were falling dead Dr. Johnson was making great progress in his
research. A few nights prior to the Night of the Invasion, Dr. Johnson had taken notice of the
strange fact that the plague couldnt grow and reproduce when the incense from the Abbey
Chapel was burning, since the smell of death from the city was too appalling. Dr. Johnson went
on to find that incense that was bought from the local markets in town, the type used for city
folk, had no effect on the plague. As Dr. Johnson was trying to expand more on this odd fact and
possibly find a cure, the Prince Prospero and last of the revelers were falling over dead, pale as
snow and lifeless as statues.
Dr. Johnson never left his room unless he needed to ease his nature or eat a meal in the
grand hall of the Abbey. Dr. Johnson, the Night of the Invasion before everyone arrived
downstairs for the Masquerade, had decided not to eat dinner since he was on the verge of
finding a cure. At last, Dr. Johnson had cracked the case of this horrid plague that night of
Despair. Johnson, through his observations of the holy incense from the Abbey, discovered that
any holy item, such as crucifixes or holy water or holy incense, could inhibit the plague. So,
before he went into his laboratory for the evening the Night of the Invasion, Dr. Johnson had
gone down to the kitchen for his evening cup of ginger tea and he decided to bring some of the
tea pouches with him to have some tea while he was researching. Dr. Johnson went up to his
laboratory and made a cup of ginger tea but after he made it he placed it down only to knock the
cup over. All of the rich ginger tea spilled out of his cup into the petri dishes that held some
cultivated samples of the plague. So out of anger, Dr. Johnson grabbed a plank of wood in the
corner and was about to swing at his instruments and break every little thing in his laboratory.
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But something caught his eye and he placed the plank of wood back and picked up one of the
petri dishes that had been ruined by the tea. He noticed that the blood that was on the dish turned
from its infected blackish red color to the rich red color that normal human blood possesses. He
then put the dish under his microscope and saw that there was no trace of the plague left.
Stupefied, he looked at all of the other ruined petri dishes and saw that they were like the first
ruined one but the ones that werent touched by the tea still contained the plague.
As Dr. Johnson was making this breakthrough discovery, the Red Death was ravaging
through the other rooms of the Abbey and killed every last person. But when it came to the
Abbey
Chapel it dared not go near the doorway, since Dr. Johnson put the incense in the Chapel so as to
not distract him while he was conducting his final experiments, and it moved to the neighboring
room and Dr. Johnson was saved from the Red Death.
Dr. Johnson was thrilled to find the cure for this seemingly incurable plague that has
brutally murdered thousands. Overjoyed, Dr. Johnson ran out to tell all of the other captives
about his cure that he discovered only to find everyone was struck dead with the plague. He then
proceeded to burn incense from the Abbey Chapel throughout the rooms to inhibit the plague and
proceeded to leave the Abbey.
Dr. Johnson armed with his knowledge went to the sealed Abbey doors. He turned to the
Abbey and said I am sorry my friends, and slowly exited the Abbey. He went straight to the
local market and asked the last shopkeeper if he had any ginger root for tea. The shopkeeper
replied that he had a profuse amount since there was no one to buy any for a while. Dr. Johnson
then shared his knowledge about the plague. The shopkeeper became elated and ran to every
remaining home in the town to tell them about the cure and gave them some ginger root to make
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tea with. Slowly people started to return to their homes since they knew that the ginger tea would
keep them safe. People stopped dying, roads cleared up, and the country started to become
populated once again. Dr. Johnsons efforts were not without acknowledgement either. The
locals gave Dr. Johnson special treatment for being the savior of a whole country. He was given
rights to the palace of Prince Prospero and was given special permissions throughout the country
on things such as free drinks, free meals and other things of that nature. So when the life of the
ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired a new
hope emerged and Darkness and Decay held no morsel of dominion over them any longer.