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 222: As James ran and the distance grew, the sound faded away.
As James ran and the distance grew, the sound faded away. He only heard the sound of his own feet hitting the track. The sound of his own breathing was a steady rhythm in his chest. His mind was a whirl, but he felt centered in his body. As he moved in the seemingly endless loop of track, James felt a certain sort of clarity reach him.
What was done was done. He couldn’t take it back. He could just sit back and let it go. He provided Cassie a place to go that was safe. She would either go or she wouldn’t. What happened after, was not his concern. He had done what his conscious dictated. There were many layers between him and his actions, and it was doubtful if they could be harmful to him here.
In an effort to keep things separated, James decided he wasn’t going to tell Tucker. He would keep his information to himself unless it became necessary. With the decision made, James felt his world steady itself a little more. He continued his final laps, feeling lighter than he had all day.
The whistle blew, ending their session and James gathered with the others. He was sweaty but still felt loose and somehow relaxed.
“Next week we start running outside,” Gary told them. “We’ll still meet in the lobby and then go down to the outside course.”
“There is an outside course?” One of the women asked.
“It runs alongside the golf course,” Gary told them. “It is well lit and at this time of the evening there should be few problems from the golfers.”
James smiled. “Are they giving the other running groups a hard time?” he asked.
“There have been incidents of …” Gary began.
“Jurisdictional boundaries?” Terry added. Everyone looked at him and he shrugged. “Lawyer,” he told them.
“Something along those lines. It’s one of the reasons I chose this time slot to train with. It isn’t the most popular times slot, but it has its compensations.”
“Like not going to war with the golfers,” James added. He smiled. He thought of some of the games of golf he had been forced to endure and found the possibility of warring against them, or their compatriots, amusing.
“Well, I am more of a pacifist myself,” one of the women said.
“Good,” Gary said,” once again taking charge. “So Monday, we start outside.”
“What if it rains,” the other woman asked.
“Then we will stay running inside until it stops.”
“And the golfers win the first battle,” Terry said.
“And then we will shift outside when the weather clears,” Gary continued, ignoring the humor. “But there is no rain predicted so we should be fine. Same time, meet in the same place, and then we’ll go out.”
Everyone nodded their understanding and were released towards the showers. “You’ve been holding back on us,” Terry said as they moved towards the men’s changing room.
“I had a bad day,” James explained. “I tried to out run it.”
Terry laughed. “Did it work?”
Ten til Midnight 