They stood in front of the great castle door and pondered if their parents would find out what they were doing. But no threat of a huge scolding from their parents could hold them back as curiosity filled their innocent minds.

They pushed open the doors slightly and all of a sudden came a scurrying of feet. Rats, hundreds of them, scampered out. They pushed the door as hard as they could and stepped into the castle. The children tipped toes into hall of the

 castle to avoid stepping onto any rats, but the rats soon climbed onto them and started biting the thick leather boots that they wore. They shook th

e rats off as quickly as they could and bravely continued embarking on their journey deeper and deeper into the castle.

The hall was covered with an awful smell of rotten fish but the furniture were posh and elegant; Golden painted table edges, gold plated chairs and candle stands. As they brushed their hands cross the gold paint, golden grains appeared on their palms. They rubbed their hands together and the gold grains felt like little rock. Their minds were filled with unimaginable 

excitement; the things they could do with all these gold! But their minds too question; what kind of family inhabits a castle with furniture which has gold pounded into them. All of a sudden a loud "Clank" broke their train of thoughts, something had dropped but it wasn’t by the children. Sarah and Jerson ran quickly towards the sound but they were minutes too late, the only thing that was left behind were several broken pieces of glass. Upon a closer examination, however, they noticed something very strange. There were pieces of bones among the shattered glass, bones that still had some muscles attached to it. It belonged to a animal, possibly the remains of a dead rat. But event this gruesome discovery did not frighten our 2 brave children. Their imaginations feast on their new discovery: "Maybe those rats were hungry and ate their own kind?" thought Jerson, " perhaps the prisoners of this castle were hungry and started eating the rats?" Sarah offered. None of them were sure who could have such a disgusting appetite to venture so far as to consume rats. But one thing they did know; they know that the person or animal responsible for this was definitely hungry, so hungry as to consume rats, raw.

Sarah and her brother walked up the flight of stairs and entered the third level. A quick glance showed them that the floor was utterly empty aside from a few portraits; no furniture 

or pot of plants were there to beautify the place, the family portraits were left hanging in an awkward position. They walked along the walls to get a better view of the dust covered pictures. As they walk towards the end they notice a picture that was strangely familiar to the children. A closer observation produced a gasp in the children. The 2 adults in the picture bore such a striking resemblance to their parents. But no, it could not be! In their arms they cradled 2 babies, 2 little babies barely a year old . Sarah and Jerson were shocked and confuse, were their parents related to the family in the castle? Were these even their parent? There was a piece of copper label hanging underneath the portrait but the label was attacked by rust and they couldn’t make out the words that were carved onto it. With a hundred, no a thou

sand, questions racing through their little minds, the children raced down the steps towards a dungeon, and there they met with a chilling gust of wind which blew pass them and brought fear to their spine. This time they were truly afraid. The barely lit candles which previously lined the dungeon way burned even brighter as they walked past. It was as if someone, or something, was guiding them towards somewhere or something.

The dungeon was lined with many little cells, prison cells maybe. Sarah and Jerson leaned towards the little glass window above each cell’s door and that allowed them a view of what was inside the cells without entering. They strained their eyes as hard as they could, the dark cell made seeing what was before them very difficult but slowly their e

yes grew accustomed to the dark and they saw. What a ghastly sight! The floor was littered with bones and whole skeletons decked in war armor. Sarah and Jerson retreated in fear and hastened towards the end of the dungeon. They were barely at the end when they felt a cold touch on their shoulders.

**Passage Incomplete