Sarah+Ricker

Dear Diary,

Lately some strange happenings have been going on around the castle. Prince Hamlet has been acting very unusual, he has exhibited behavior that I have never seen in him before. He seems sad, distraught almost and I know it has something to do with the death of his father. But I have a feeling there is more than what meets the eye. Being the head seamstress in the castle for nearly twenty years now, I have always been the one to mend and repair the clothing belonging to the king, queen and Hamlet himself. The other night I received one of Hamlets coats, it had some stains on it and I was to clean it and make it look as if it were new. I began my routine of checking pockets and tightening any loose buttons when I felt something inside the front pocket. I pulled out what seemed to be a letter. Oh how I knew I should not have opened it, it was none of my business. But, I wasn't thinking at the time, it could have just been an invitation to a party or something along those lines. I was wrong however, and it was a diary entry written by Prince Hamlet. As my wandering eyes began to read, there was no way I could make them stop or make them believe what they had read. It said that Marcellus and Bernardo, our guardsmen, had been seeing a ghost dressed head to toe in armor, the armor just like Hamlet's father. It couldn't be true! I thought he couldn't be back from the dead. Ghosts are not real, Hamlet was just seeing things. I put the paper down, I couldn't finish reading it. I looked around, but no one was in the wash house at the time. I picked it up and started reading again. It said the ghost was indeed the ghost of his father and was back for a reason; to let the truth be known and justice to be served. King Claudius was behind his death! And so was Queen Gertrude! It says that he had been poisoned, robbed of his life and everything he had fairly earned. I had never suspected such a thing, but according to this letter, Hamlet had; he had all along. Even though I had never clued in that they could have been behind it, it did appear strange to me that both Gertrude and Claudius were not emotional at the funeral because everyone else was. Hamlet also kept mentioning revenge in his father's name, that he will not stand for this and until he can come up with a plan he must go. Go where? What does this have in store for the castle? Our country? I should never have known about this, but what do I do? I don't know if I should confront Hamlet, go to the king and queen about it or just forget about it! The burden that comes with knowing such a secret rests heavy on my heart and every other part of my body.

Adrianna