The Room in the Tower is a short

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 horror story

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 by E.F. Benson, published in 1912. A shortened version was republished by Penguin Books

Penguin Books

Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...

in Level 2.

Plot summary

The story tells of a young man who frequently has nightmares, which tell of his visiting a friend's house during summer and then encountering the room in the tower, where he has to stay. The young man then is invited (in real-life) to a friend's house during summer, and he is surprised that everything there matches his strange nightmares. Eventually seeing what the room hides inside, it reveals to be a gruesome portrait of Mrs. Stone, the mother of his "friend" in his nightmares. The young man eventually encounters the true horror that the room hides... a vampirized Julia Stone.