Royal Responsibilities, a Prinxiety ghost story

Part Two

Ducking behind buildings and run-down kiosks, Virgil quietly made his way to the main walkway and poked his head out from behind an overturned pretzel stand to raise his camera for a good look out at the castle in front of him.

It was a beautiful and devastating sight.

To one side, enormous spires which had once gleamed pristine white were now yellowed and spotted with mildew from the merciless Florida humidity and sun.

Vines had latched onto the sides of the structure and now held the lower half of the castle in a leafy embrace, almost entirely obscuring the hundreds of yards of disintegrating police CAUTION tape attempting to block off the entances.

Then there was the collapsed side of the castle.

The ivory towers which had once mirrored the remaining white spires had been almost entirely destroyed on this side. Where they had once stood there was now a chasm, a gaping dark maw of aftermath, with half of one remaining spire lingering somewhat precariously over the palace's open structural wound.

While the remaining exterior structure seemed to almost glow in moonlight, the vanta black darkness of the damaged side revealed absolutely nothing of the castle's interior. It was almost as if the darkness swallowed up any scraps of light and Virgil wondered if this was due to soot and ash coating the inner walls.

It was a surreal sight to behold and he hoped his high-def camera would do it justice.

After another check for guards, Virgil made a beeline for the walkway bridge leading into the castle and came to duck by a wall of cement at the very edge.

He paused there, listening carefully. This was perhaps close to the spot where one of the guards online claimed to have been commanded by a disembodied voice to STAY AWAY.

All he could hear now were crickets, and a chorus of amorous frogs living in the unkempt moat below the bridge.

Nothing seemed to happen, so after a few minutes, he continued on towards the castle. He didn't take the bridge, however.

Virgil's online reconnaissance had led him to a post made in 2004 about an employee entrance at the side of the castle, which many former cast members seemed to think had survived the catastrophe.

With their instructions in mind, he looped around the bridge and followed the outer edges of the moat and its surrounding walls to a small alcove created by a few connecting, now dilapidated panels. Moving closer, he spotted the subtle space between two of the panels and slipped through into the employee area of the park.

Aside from the side view of the ruined palace, the place was unremarkable. There were abandoned dumpsters, a few moldy golf carts, and dozens of plastic crates strewn over the walkways.

The backstage area didn't interest Virgil. No accounts of ghostly activity had been reported from there, at least not to his knowledge and so his focus quickly returned to the castle.

There it was.

The employee entrance had been a glass door, similar to the type seen outside of convenience stores, only the glass was entirely smashed in, and once more he stared into unforgiving blackness inside of the castle.

He'd found the door. Now, to get in there and investigate.