Benny managed to sneak away from the tour group once they were inside the Palace. He was soon lost in a maze of passages. He found himself in the centre of a large room, with decorative walls and an opening to the clear blue sky.

This was what Benny had travelled to India to find. Inside the palace ruins were countless examples of grand architecture and artefacts. He had no idea what any of it represented, but that wasn’t the point. It felt like authentic India.

Now he could contemplate. The noise of the busy streets of Burhanpur faded away. He took a deep breath, sat in the middle of the grand space and raised his hands to the sky.

‘There you are, Benny,’ squawked Marjorie.’What on earth are you doing? Come on the coach leaves in five minutes.’

Benny sighed. Maybe he could come back on his own one day, but the compromise of a package holiday with Marjorie rather than backpacking round India really wasn’t working out for him.

Written for ‘What Pegman Saw’, a weekly prompt based on a view from Google Maps. The idea is to write a piece of fiction of around 150 words based on the prompt. Full details can be found HERE.

For more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.