The Thousand Year Inn

I rinsed the last bowl and placed it on the rack. Wiping my brow with the napkin I kept tucked in my apron, I muttered to myself. “All in a day’s work.”

I looked around the kitchen with its stone walls and high ceilings and smiled to myself. Even though everything in the kitchen was pretty much state of the art, I liked the fact that this particular room in the house was kept just the way it was. And I was sure that if I calmly perceived the air, that nostalgic smell of fresh pine leaves and the evening rain would still linger.

I halted my reverie when I heard a knock on the door. Who would be knocking at this time? Hadn’t I put the “closed sign” out? As I approached the door, the silhouette of the person behind it became familiar. I stifled a groan and opened the large brass door. A little.

“What’s the matter, Mart?”

Martin smiled and gazed down beatifically at my 5’3 frame. All six foot four of him. “How do you do, Lisa?”

“Quite alright. Tidying up,” I paused a bit for effect. “As I usually do, every day at this hour since you met me.”

He chuckled. That deep throaty chuckle of his that I found incredibly masculine. And maybe sexy?

Focus, Lisa I chided myself.

Fixing a defensive scowl on my face, I turned back to Martin. “I’m busy, Mart. State your business and allow me return to mine.”

He still smiled at me, as if he found my scowl amusing. “No need to be grouchy, Lisa. Was just checking up on you is all.”

My face was dubious. “That’s all?”

His voice went a notch lower. “And maybe I was hoping you’d invite me in for coffee?”

His face was so adorable as he said it, I couldn’t help laughing myself. I didn’t know what to do with this man. “Be for real, Mart. I’ve told you I’m not interested.”

“But why not, Lisa?” His head dipped and his mouth grew into a pout. Which was ridiculous for someone who was nearly the length of my brass door. I stifled the urge to laugh again.

“I just don’t need a relationship right now, Mart. Try to see it with me.”

“But I don’t even need that. We could be friends.”
Could’ve fooled me. “You know we can’t be friends, Mart. I find you way too attractive for that.”

That got him grinning so hard, I thought his face would split. “Then why are you pushing me away, Lisa? I’d be an amazing man to you.”

Did he think I didn't know that?

“I know but....” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because I felt something tingling in my pocket. It was my pocket watch. I was always conscious of it. How had I been so careless?

I looked at Mart whose brows were already creased in confusion. “Is everything okay, Lisa?”

I gave him a tight smile that I hoped didn’t betray the trepidation I felt inside. “Of course, Mart. But why don’t we finish that conversation, later.”

“But, Lisa-”

“That’s enough!” l yelled. At his broken expression, I added more softly. “Let us talk later, Mart.” His shoulders didn't need to slouch for me to know I’d hurt him extremely. Ignoring his broken expression, I shut my door and hurriedly moved back to the kitchen to round up my tidying.

Just before the stroke of eleven, I felt without even seeing, the moon rise up and slowly, I walked up the stairs, past the beautiful rooms to the last floor of my three-storeyed mansion. I felt my fingers shake and the pain in my knees grow before I opened the door to the last room of the mansion. Taking a deep breath, I pushed it open and smiled sadly when Cassie ran to nozzle my ankles. My companion in this thousand-year curse.

I sat at my table of woe and felt the tears that would have fallen on my cheek a lifetime ago, still in my eyes. What wouldn’t I give to have someone as amazing as Mart beside me? But he wouldn’t understand the curse over my head, which meant that every night from eleven to six am, my frail, papery skin, was revealed. Why would he stay when a hundred others had left? Who would want to be with a woman who was secretly a thousand years old?

I held my cheek and looked at Cassie, her whines of woe a sad melody in my ears. But maybe if he waited seven years more....just seven. I shook my head and squelched that childish hope. No good man would wait that long. I felt the full moon rise to its peak in the sky and let the tears fall then. Just maybe. A woman could only hope.

What I See

I see a woman surrounded by petals of roses, staring through her window. Dog and owner wearing a forlorn look.

What I Feel

I feel strong emotions hanging in the air like a sickly sweet perfume. Sadness, longing, but most of all....hopelessness.

Jhymi🖤

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_{Thumbnail is AI generated by @wakeupkitty.
This is my entry to PIC1000.}

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