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 159: “I suppose it would depend on who exactly Sebastian Marsh actually is.”
“I suppose it would depend on who exactly Sebastian Marsh actually is.”
James stared at the computer screen. The name Sebastian March didn’t sound familiar. He wasn’t really sure anyone outside of romance novels was actually named Sebastian. He thought about it and decided that the name could equally suit a well-muscled mechanic or an ill-behaved earl. It certainly didn’t sound like a name that would pop up in his life.
“Although my life has gotten somewhat strange at this point.”
James saw that there was a link with Sebastian’s post. Most of the mourners had them. The names linked to their own or their company’s facebook page for the most part. James stared at the link and wondered idly if the links were provided for verification purposes so that no one was falsely offering condolences or if it was viewed as advertisement for the company.
He shook the thought away. Even knowing he shouldn’t James navigated to Sebastian’s link and clicked. The link took him to a facebook page. There was a cartoon insert where the page owner’s face should be. The page was locked against casual observation. If he wanted to see more, James would have to send a friend request. At the moment all of his social media accounts had been disabled or deleted. He was no longer a part of the system and even if he wanted to send a friend request, he would have to first create a new account.
While he still wanted to see Sebastian’s details, he wasn’t yet willing to set up his own account. While his agents had been very direct about deleting his old accounts, they didn’t cover setting up new ones. He suspected if simply fell into the category of too stupid to mention. It would after all be quite idiotic to simply place a new name with his photo on line when he was attempting to hide.
“Of course now I’m pretending to be dead.”
James sighed and before he could do something unfortunate, he logged off and closed down the computer for the night. Sebastian’s message was trouble, he could feel it. But he couldn’t investigate it on his own without causing additional trouble for himself.
He set the laptop aside and decided on a shower. It was early, but he was sweaty from unpacking boxes all day and had the unmistakable scent of cardboard fluttering about himself. He suspected that the scent still stained the air as the room still had many boxes left to unpack, but he wanted the scent at least pushed away from his skin for a bit. He wasn’t in the mood to unpack any more, but he wasn’t ready to just flop out in front of his newly hooked up television.
In the shower James took his time. He lathered his hair into a mass of frothy suds, for the first time in his life lamenting that he never let it grow longer. He suspected longer hair would take longer to wash. He rinsed out the suds and added conditioner. It advocated letting it sit in his hair for two solid minutes so he counted as he lathered his body with soap. Having no watch in the shower, he counted using Mississippi as a spacer between numbers to keep his rhythm. James finished with the soap and placed it in the niche designed for it. He then rinsed off his body, finished his count and rinsed out his hair. Feeling like any longer delay would just be a waste of water, James turned off the shower. He reached for the towel.
Ten til Midnight 