The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe. Read by Richard Burton (A.I).

The Masque of the Red Death is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe that centers around Prince Prospero and his attempt to avoid a deadly plague known as the Red Death. As the plague devastates his kingdom, Prospero gathers a thousand of his courtiers and retreats to the safety of his fortified palace. Inside, he hosts a grand masquerade ball in an elaborate suite of color-themed rooms. The revelry continues uninterrupted, except for the ominous tolling of a clock in the black and red room, which brings the festivities to a halt each hour.
As midnight approaches, a mysterious figure dressed as a victim of the Red Death appears, causing fear among the guests. Prospero confronts the figure in the black and red room, only to succumb to the plague himself. When the other guests seize the figure, they find nothing under the costume. One by one, they all fall victim to the Red Death, which has infiltrated the abbey. The story concludes with the line, “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
The tale is an allegory about the inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape it