Thresholds

“I’ve been here before.”

“Are you crazy? You have not travelled alone, and we’ve got you here for the first time,” hissed the mother to her teenage daughter.

“There is a brown trunk in the last room. There are gold coins and jewels in that.”

We walked ahead to check. There was a trunk, but it was empty. The caretaker spoke like a tourist guide,

“The heavy padlock was broken open a couple of years ago. The sight was horrifying. I wonder how scorpions and snakes got in there, some of them dead.”

“The treasure is stolen. I suspect Juniper. Raid his residence.” The girl was speaking as if in a trance.

The old caretaker’s expression changed, as he bowed down to the girl,

“Welcome back, Princess! You were the first woman to have stepped out of these thresholds, and the first to come back alive.”

“It took more than one lifetime to cross those.”

Thursday photo prompt: Open #writephoto