Katherine's Castle

Katherine Bent glanced up at the palace that stood in front of her. It’s looming towers and tall drawbridge doors looked almost ancient in the noontime sun. The curtains that gently blew across the windows looked as if someone was flickering them to signal to a passerby below. Katherine’s mother, Noreen, was reading from a guild booklet that she had picked up on the way into the historical site and her father, Art, was snapping pictures busily every so often mumbling about how the stone work was just gorgeous. He was an architect you see. And last of all was Kenny, Katherine’s 7 year old brother who was pulling everyone toward the castle and telling everyone that he knew about it. Of course he knew about it, his class had gone on a field trip to it only the month before and Katherine had felt bad for Kenny’s teacher who had to take a class full of 7 year olds up into this castle. “Honey, slow down” Katherine heard her mother remark to Kenny “the rest of us want to see the outside first”. Noreen again buried her head into the booklet and began to read. “Katherine honey, it says here that this castle was built over 5 centuries ago on this very hill.” Noreen began to turn pages “Oh and it says here that the king who lived here had a tragic tale. His wife died and all that he had left was his daughter who then in turn ran away with a peasant whom she said that she loved dearly. The king locked her up in the tallest tower for her safety and it was said that the curtains would ruffle on even the most windless nights because she was trying to signal to her beloved whom she did not know had died”. Katherine sighed, ‘What a perfectly spooky tale for a perfectly spooky castle’. “I think that the story is perfectly stupid!” shouted Kenny “If I was a prince I wouldn’t run off with someone who wasn’t a princess” Katherine smiled “Not even if it was Abigail Common?” Kenny turned around a gave her a Look. Katherine knew how to keep Kenny quiet.

Read more in the next part.