Lady Priscilla of Adwode Manor
The workers were blissfully unaware that they were being watched by a pair of critical eyes. The crew of eight men had been hired to renovate the long defunct Adwode Manor. Only, their overseer was no mortal foreman. Lady Priscilla hovered just out of sight, while the men worked sawing this, hammering that, bang, bang, bang. She didn’t appreciate these annoying trespassers altering the property. Adwode Manor belonged to her and her beloved husband. She’d been haunting the manor for the last hundred years. Her husband, Lord of Adwode Manor, rode off to battle years and years ago. She couldn’t possibly leave. Lady Priscilla was still waiting patiently, faithfully for his return. A century had passed already, and she would gladly wait a hundred more until she could once again set eyes on her beloved. But what would happen if these trespassers vastly changed the appearance of the manor? Would her beloved recognize their home they had built together from the ground up? Would he be able to find his way back to her?
As she watched the men work, she thought about how she could effectively get rid of the horrid trespassers. Lady Priscilla had always been a gentle, peaceful woman, so violence was out of the question. She didn’t care to harm them in the least way. After all, surely these men had families of their own, and wives who loved them as much as she did her Lord of Adwode Manor. She could never in good conscience impart on any living soul the suffering, the grief of loss, she had endured for the years leading up to her death, and the century afterward. But she did want them gone. She could easily frighten the workmen so badly, they would never likely return. Lady Priscilla knew she wasn’t the prettiest ghost. She looked grotesque, her neck perpetually bent at the angle it had snapped on the day she hung herself in the basement.
The ghostly Lady of the manor thought, for a moment, about making herself seen. That should do the trick, and send the trespassers running for the hills. But then one of the men’s words caught her ear, and she stopped to listen intently.
“The king wants the renovations finished before the start of the autumn season. The manor has more than enough rooms to make a proper school, and he wants the royal students moved in as soon as possible.”
Now, this piece of unexpected news piqued her interest immensely. A school? These workmen were converting her old home into a school. Lady Priscilla had loved children when she lived. Sadly, she and her beloved never had the opportunity to start a family of their own. A school would bring such life, such joy to the manor that had grown so drab and lonely over the years. The influx of children could be a source of entertainment, helping her pass the time until the day her beloved finally returned. Right then and there, Lady Priscilla decided to let the men finish the work they set out to do.
She was so excited about the prospect of having regular company, she momentarily forgot to conceal herself from the workmen. One of the men, working a mere few feet away, caught a glimpse of her. She knew he saw her, because his face instantly went ashen, and his jaw was left hanging on its hinges. She fled quick as a flash of lightning. Lady Priscilla had revealed herself for only a fleeting moment. Perhaps he could convince himself that she was only an figment of his imiganition, or heatstroke maybe?
“You alright, Ned?” one of the man’s colleagues called out jokingly, “looks like you’ve seen a ghost!”
Lady Priscilla did not wait to hear his reply, and retreated to the basement where she spent the majority of her time. She would not bother with the workmen another minute. Instead, thinking only of her beloved, and the imminent arrival of children to Adwode Manor.