Well.

This was a bit of a pickle.

She’d thought she’d found a shortcut when the wall panel behind her gave way, stepping into the dark passage without even thinking, the square gleam of light at the other end looking very like the visitor’s entrance.

But as soon as the panel had closed behind her, so too had the light gone, as quickly as though someone had switched it off. She’d turned, but only found smooth metal underneath her fingers, no handle in sight.

And she really, really needed to pee.

It wasn’t all dark, though. A beam of light shone through a funnel shaped opening, a sliver of the outside world still visible. She squinted. What was that? A person? A big blue bottle? A light bulb? She sighed. Holding an art event inside a medieval castle was all very well, but really, how were you even supposed to know what was art and what wasn’t, what with the things people came up with these days.

She sighed again, pushing her face as far as it would go into the funnel.

‘Hellooo!’

No answer.

‘I’m stuck in here, please help,’ she trilled through the opening, trying not to think about the artwork she’d seen in the other room that had emitted random phrases, making visitors laugh.

She tried again. ‘Helloooo!’

Her voice cracked a little. She was starting to feel desperate, both in her bladder and somewhere deep inside, where fear lived.

This was what she got, she supposed, for taking a day to herself. She hadn’t told anyone where she was going, waking early and letting herself out of the house, a hastily scribbled note, ‘Gone out, back later!’, stuck on the fridge.

Feeling for her phone in her pocket she pulled it out, the bright square screen somehow reassuring in the darkness. ‘No Service.’

She swore, then.

Someone would be along soon to let her out, surely.

Wouldn’t they?

This is my response to Sue Vincent’s #writephoto challenge. Sue has a knack for taking wonderful photos that inspire stories, and this week is no exception. If you’d like to add your own story, you have until October 13th to write a post, linking back to Sue’s blog.