Ghost Girl

* As told by Melinda

This story happened two decades ago when I was young, single and travelling around Regional Victoria and staying in Youth Hostels.

I took the coastal bus to Port Fairy.  It was a foggy, damp and dismal mid-winter weekend.

I was the only guest that unforgettable Saturday night at the two storey Youth Hostel.  The evening became even more depressing, with freezing cold temperatures and little company after the Warden went home for the night.

There was nothing on the TV so I packed myself up in the very empty 20 bed dorm with a hot water bottle and juicy book.  At about 10.00pm I turned the lights out and the room was completely shrouded in darkness.

I awoke with a start at around Midnight and lay completely still listening in concerned puzzlement to the weird noises which surrounded me.

Initially, it sounded like birds or mice rustling and squeaking, then growing rapidly more agitated akin to a kitten requiring it's mother or the like.

I was a little scared but said my prayers and managed to fall back to sleep again.

The next morning at breakfast The Warden asked whether I had slept well. 
“Yes” I said, “until I was woken up around midnight to strange noises.”

The Warden stopped what she was doing and asked me exactly what I meant.  I explained how the noises reminded me firstly of some small animals scratching and scuttling then of a piteous kitten.
 
The Warden stood stock still and said, "So you heard Her?"

"I beg your pardon" I asked,

The Warden proceeded to tell me this story …

Over a 100 years ago, a little girl was mistakenly imprisoned in her upstairs Nursery.  Somehow there was a miscommunication between her parents and governess.  They both forgot about her and went on separate extended trips. Sadly, she was discovered weeks later, when her parents arrived home again.

“You're especially lucky,” The Warden said, “you're the first one she has made contact with in many a long night.”

I gulped, swallowed and said, "Thankyou, I think?"

Needless to say, I caught the next bus home. I wasn't feeling that special!


* As told by Melinda