The castle

It was raining hard. I was in the middle of nowhere and I did not know where to go. I put my scarf over my head, as I had not got a raincoat, but it did not do much help at all. I shivered. It was cold, and I was wet through.

I trod over fields of bracken and stinging nettles until I found it. An old tumbledown castle, that had seen better days.

You could hardly see it under all the ivy growing on it. Beautiful windows were smashed with mould growing on them. One of the turrets was not there, with a gaping hole in its place. This place might fall down at any time.

But I was desperate. I wrenched open the wooden doors and stood inside. Once the doors were closed I could not hear a thing. The hall was huge and somehow…familiar. The old rug on the floor came from China… How could I be so sure? I have never been in this place before.
The faces in the paintings on the wall reminded me of people I had met before.
But how could this be true? These people look as if they had lived years ago. Centuries ago.

I moved on from the hall to a large kitchen. I closed my eyes and I could hear a bustle of cooks, and someone said “A feast for the king and queen, hurry, for princess Mary is coming home tonight.” I opened my eyes as soon as I heard that. No one was there. All was silent. It must have been a hallucination, a trick of the mind. But I was scared. For Mary is my name.

I ran from the kitchen, up stair after stair. I didn’t know where I was going. But my feet seemed to. They led me to a room in one of the turrets. I pushed open the door.
‘It’s your room Mary.’ I thought to myself.
But it couldn’t be could it? I live in a flat in the town. Don’t I?

I explored the room and found a music box.
A tune played in my head that I had heard before. ‘This is the tune of the music box.’ I thought.
I took a deep breath and turned the rusty handle.
It was.
I put down the music box, now afraid of it.

I came to a trunk, at the end of my a four poster bed. I opened it. Inside there were many fuzzy black and white photographs. I looked at one of them. A family picture. I looked at all the people.
I knew I had seen them before.
And there was a girl about my age in the picture.
She…she’s me
The only difference between the picture and myself was that she was wearing a dress, and had long hair in ringlets.
“Mary you’re back, you’re back.” A voice cried.
I screamed and ran.