The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 125: He closed his eyes.
He closed his eyes. Sleep took him almost immediately. Despite being deep, his sleep was not a peaceful one. James tossed and turned in his bed. His dreams were dark and murky, faces and phrases floating out and mixing with the scent of blood and the sounds of gunfire. In his dreams the guns resembled the barrage of sound more reminiscent of movie gangsters on a killing spree than anything he heard or saw in real life.
In time he drifted deeper into sleep and the dreams quieted. A knock on the door woke him, startling him from sleep. James surfaced like a diver coming up from the depths, the change from sleep to wakening shocking to the system. He sat up in bed. A knock sounded again.
“I’m up,” he said.
The knocking stopped. James shook his head, tossed his covers back and climbed out of bed. His head had that strange fuzzy feeling as though sleep was reluctant to let him go. He tried blinking it away as he walked to the door.
James unlocked and opened the door, only thinking it could be someone sinister when he saw tucker standing there. The bright light of the white and well-lit hallway spilled into his dark room, making him wince in the brightness. Tucker looked as he had the day before. Same clothes and same expression. If he slept, it didn’t show.
“Time to get a move on,” Tucker said. “I’ll be in the lounge when you’ve dressed. Don’t take too long.”
His message given, Tucker turned and walked back towards the lounge. James reached for the light switch and turned it on. He then closed the door and walked to the bathroom. After relieving himself, James looked at the shower. There were no body towels, just the small hand towel he used to dry his hands after washing them.
“I somehow doubt Tucker want’s to wait that long,” he said to himself. The thought of tucker returning as he showered and tried to dry off with a hand towel killed any enthusiasm James had for a morning wash. Instead he splashed cold water onto his face in an attempt to wash away the last of the sleep and then dried his face.
As awake as he was going to get without falling face first into a vat of coffee, James returned to the room and pulled his clothes on. He felt a little better once he was dressed. James made certain he had everything he brought with him and then walked back towards the lounge area. Tucker was waiting. He sat in one of the chairs as though watching television, except that the television was off. At James’ entrance he turned. His face was expressionless, but then he blinked and smiled, all friendly good will again.
“Ready?” Tucker asked.
“I suppose so,” James replied.
Tucker rose from the chair and back towards the door. James stepped aside so Tucker could go first and then he followed. The blank look on Tucker’s face worried James in the back of his mind. ‘It’s more the quick change of expression,’ he realized.
Ten til Midnight 