I Got Scared From a Photo, That’s Never Happened Before
A picture my wife sent me sent my anxiety levels through the roof.
A picture is worth a thousand words - unknown
Some background
I recently got married to my beautiful wife. It's only been a year and a couple of months since our love was sealed with I-dos.
I’ve always been a cautious person in my life, never trusting of others. I’m a big-time introvert, and I always tend to see the evil in people. It’s a weakness of mine, I know.
I was never afraid of anything except having to start a conversation, lol. Not afraid of the dark, not afraid of blood, gore, anything really.
I’ve always been obsessed with serial killers and horror movies. I follow true crime a lot, too. The one that's still in my head to this day is the Natalee Holloway case.
My wife tends to leave the house with her phone always at low battery; it just ends up happening.
She was chosen to present her paper on universal basic income in Austria at the Young Economist conference. It was a four-day trip. I was very excited for her to go. She wasn’t sure of leaving me and going, but I kept insisting.
So she left.
Off to Austria to make me proud.
What happened
As I mentioned, I have trust issues with people and don’t get scared easily.
I had told my wife to stay in constant touch with me.
I needed updates every hour. This was the first time my wife was going on her own for a trip like this, and I wasn't there.
Her conference had just ended, and she was to return to the hotel with a colleague she met at the conference. It was around 10 p.m. in Austria, so it had gotten dark and empty, and most shops had closed.
For some weird reason, Uber wasn’t available at this point. So they decided to walk.
She messaged me they had gotten lost, and there seemed to be some signal issues. I tried calling but to no avail. She also mentioned her phone was dying (of course)
After several minutes of no response, she sent me a picture of where she was. Then silence, no response.
I lost my mind. I started freaking out, I couldn't get in touch with her due to signal issues, and since she's never been to Austria before, I was worried sick.
I kept seeing those single check marks on WhatsApp, meaning she wasn't receiving my messages.
I was lost and not sure what to do. All sorts of scenarios were playing in my head. I was asking myself questions like a madman.
Has she been kidnapped?
Why did I let her go?
What was the hotel's address and number?
Who was her friend she was with? Why didn’t I get her name?
Where was this picture taken?
Who do I contact in Austria?
WTF Uber?
I was not ready for this moment. I kept beating myself up every minute she didn't reply. I’m usually a calm and collected person.
Was this the last image my wife would ever send to me?
How it ended
Thankfully, there's a happy ending. What felt like an eternity of dread was just 15 minutes of me being stupid and paranoid.
My wife responded she was back at the hotel warming up her food.
Finally, put her phone on charge.
She had been lost and scared, but thankfully, she figured it out and got back to the hotel.
I never thought a picture could instill so much fear in me.
I’m beginning to think I'm not as impervious to being afraid as I once was.
Life’s too short, so make sure you love and hug your special someone every day! And make sure they leave with their phone charged! Maybe don’t be as paranoid as me. Let me know in the comments if you’ve experienced something similar with a picture. Stay safe, everyone, and thanks for reading!
