https://scvincent.com/2018/05/03/thursday-photo-prompt-ascent-writephoto/

image by Sue Vincent

Thank you to Sue Vincent for this lovely #Writephoto prompt! This is our first attempt, and involves using a ping back, so hope I have the right head on this morning!

The Lost Wife

When I finished work on Friday, I couldn’t wait to get home to tell my wife all about the creepy old Castle Museum I had visited that day. They needed some renovation work done and I had been called in to give an estimate. She used to love exploring spooky old buildings, so I hoped she would jump at the chance to pay a visit, especially after I finished describing the place.

Tomorrow was Saturday, so I suggested we spend the afternoon there. “You never know, it might be just what the doctor ordered for both of us,” I said, more to myself, for, as usual, she wasn’t listening to me.

“Don’t get lost now,” I called after her, as she took off the minute we walked through the door. Left to my own devices, I took the opportunity to have another look at the renovations.

It was getting late and I hadn’t seen my wife since we arrived. A quick look around confirmed she wasn’t in the museum, so maybe she was in the Museum Café. I asked one of the attendants if they had seen her, only to receive a blank expression and the suggestion to look in the East Wing. “A lot of people seem to get lost in there…”

The East Wing was the oldest part of the Castle and more in need of help than anything I had been shown. It was like stepping into another age, dark, dusty, and smelling of old bones, and deserted.  Ahead of me, an old-fashioned stairway had a NO ENTRY sign hanging from a chain.

I spotted the man I had met yesterday and asked about my wife. “I can’t find her and have looked everywhere.”

“I hope she didn’t go up there,” he said, indicating the old staircase. “Never see them again, we don’t,” He paused, and seemed puzzled. “But didn’t I tell you about that yesterday?”