Synopses: In The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, an unnamed narrator endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the narrator committed. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, attempting the perfect crime, complete with dismembering the body in the bathtub and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately, the narrator's actions result in hearing a thumping sound, which the narrator interprets as the dead man's beating heart. In Zero Hour by Ray Bradbury, Mink and the neighborhood kids are hard at work outside all day, playing a game called Invasion. Or at least that's what her mom thinks. Throughout the day, the mother continues to have strange encounters with Mink as she talks about her friend, Drill.

The Argument: Edgar Allen Poe and Ray Bradbury exemplify the idea of legends whose shadows endure across centuries. Their stories have been endlessly imitated, adapted, and parodied, yet never surpassed in their brilliance. Their legacy is the power of art to burrow into our collective memory, sensational and phenomenal, impossible to forget. Both Poe and Bradbury are legends whose words echo long after the last line is read.