by Lily Garner

Created on: July 15, 2009

The Innocent Ones

On a hill sat a magnificent Northumbrian castle, looming over the unsuspecting town. It had always fascinated Harriet, to the point that she would often take her sketch book and sit on one of its old walls, gazing in, imagining the secrets it held. Yet nobody ever entered. It was deemed unstable, and had been left deserted for over a century now. Harriet had never been inside.

Often she would yearn to go in. In her dreams, voices would beckon her to the castle. She would slip in unnoticed and see the crumbling walls, the empty chambers, the shadowy corners. She would tiptoe around, examining every room, imagining ghosts from the past living as they always had done. Something would guide her around, through rooms and dark corridors, down spiralling staircases, until she reached...

She would wake up at this point. She had never seen what was down those stairs she ascended nightly. But there was a desire within her to know more. She couldn't explain it. Something was telling her to enter the castle and discover what was down those spiralling stairs. Something was urging her to know more.

She had always been interested in medieval history, and seeing castles like the one on the hill was always a treat for her. But the desire went further than that. In a certain sense it was mystical. She couldn't understand it, she couldn't explain it; she just knew that she had to do it.

"You're not going alone, Harriet." Her best friend, Freddie said, running after her down the path that led to the castle. "You shouldn't even be going at all!"

"I knew I shouldn't have told you!" Harriet shouted back. "Come with me, if you want, I don't care. But I'm going, anyway."

Freddie scuttled up the lane, trying to catch her up. He was always so nervous, never daring to do anything. He wouldn't enter the castle with her, Harriet was sure. He'd never do anything so dangerous.

"You know that the castle's closed for a reason, Harriet! It's unstable; apparently it could collapse at any time now!"

Harriet smirked. "It's been around centuries, Freddie, what are the chances of something happening tonight? I bet it's not even dangerous. Health and Safety rules are just too uptight." She wanted to add that in her dreams nothing had ever happened; it was as safe as it could be. But she didn't. Freddie wouldn't understand. He would just think she was mad. "Look, I just want to see inside, okay? Come with me if you want, it'll be fun."

Freddie continued protesting until

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