Note: All text in brackets denotes stage directions.

[All lines delivered by Anna-Georgina Plume]

Audio Diary of Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, Assistant Professor of Social and Architectural  History at Hollingsworth University. Recorded in my home office, formally Classroom 1A, Ellis  Field Elementary School 

[voice seems tired of task at hand] 

Elevator Speech, take [Pauses, sighs] 25. You can do this.  

[More formal] 

My research focuses on late 19th and early 20th century educational architecture, with a particular  interest in school buildings marking the social movement away from one-room schoolhouses.  These buildings tell us more than simply about school structures. They tell us about the  transformation schools—and education as a whole—was undergoing within the United States at  the time. I am also interested in Normal School architecture, where teachers were trained and  students received education beyond what was available to them in their local schools. Actually, I recently purchased a building that was first a Normal School and then a community school after  they consolidated and closed a number of area one room schoolhouses. [start to speed up here]  Interestingly, this was the school I attended from kindergarten to third grade. 

The building was in use until about three years ago, and the district held onto it until I bought it,  so it was surprisingly well preserved. [Speeding up…] And everyone always asks if it is haunted,  and I found a box of documents in the basement including a planchette from a Ouija board, and I  may be in over my head… 

[Pause]

[Less formal]

Nope. That’s not it. [sighs] 

Okay. So. I need to work on that. Leave the haunting stuff out. [Sharp inhale, determined] Because it’s not haunted. [less confident] I think. I don’t believe in ghosts. [muttered] though  that hasn’t stopped them from haunting me.  

To review the facts: [Says number]

1. I have dreamt of the third floor of the building, a floor that was removed years ago, before I—hell, before my grandmother—set foot in the building. These dreams are eerily  similar to dreams I used to have as a child. [Pause. Matter of factly]. But that makes  sense. I am back here again. I only had those dreams during the school year. It was a big  part of my life… [trails off] 

2. In these dreams, I’m looking for someone named Lucy. Incidentally, the school was  founded by one Lucy Hobbes and her older brother Algernon, a fact I recently learned.  This can also be explained because I *may* have stumbled on the fact somewhere before and forgotten it. Except that I don’t forget things about this building, and a woman  founding her own Normal School is especially noteworthy for my research interests. If I  had known about this, I would not have lost this information.

3. There was a woman at the gate this morning. I know I’ve seen her here in the school when I was younger. But she doesn’t appear to have aged in 25 years. Though that could be explained both by the fact that I haven’t seen her in years and memory is fallible.  Also, maybe she has good genetics. I envy her. Still, who is she? I don’t seem to  remember her in a classroom. That rules out her being any sort of guest speaker or  substitute teacher. Also, why is she here when the building has stood empty for three  years? 

Currently even less explainable:  

1. Why the young woman who works at the coffee shop always looks like she’s seen a ghost  when she sees me. 

2. The fact that every time I enter a room, it feels like someone else just left it. And the fact  that I’ve caught glimpses of someone at the end of the hallways at night. 

Finally, there is the whole matter of the carousel in the gymnasium… Which I would have  less issues with if it didn’t turn on suddenly at 2 am. I should probably call an electrician… 

End Credits

[Spoken by Victoria, the voice actor who performed as Anna-Georgina]

Lavender Evening Fog is a fiction podcast written by Victoria Dickman-Burnett, directed by Ben Baird, and produced mixed and edited by Nick Federinko. Executive Producers are Ben Baird  and Victoria Dickman-Burnett and the voice of Anna-Georgina Plume is Victoria Dickman Burnett. This short preview episode was brought to you by the glow of a campfire around which  you tell your ghost stories.