The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is a attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 7: The water in the tunnel was now waist deep.
The water in the tunnel was now waist deep. The rising depth of the water pulled her out of her memories and forced her to pay attention to her surroundings. There was no light this far underground and away from the mouth of the tunnel where she entered it. Her hands remained touching the walls. While the texture remained rough and scaly to the tough, in places it was damp and slimy. She wondered if the water was dripping from above or if her fingertips were simply closer to the sections of wall near the water. Her hands she kept mostly at shoulder height because it was easier to touch the walls that way.
Occasionally she had to lower them to give her arms and shoulders a rest, but she tried to take it in turns, lowering the left arm while the right remained and then switching sides. Thus far the tunnel remained the same size, even if the water was creeping higher. With the tunnel remaining the same depth, Anya had fewer fears about drowning.
Unlike most of the girls in her village, she could swim if need be. When she was younger she went with her brothers to collect creatures from the small pools by the sea. While they were tasty to eat and on occasion Anya and her family feasted on them, the creatures of the sea were of more value in the market. Since she was unafraid of the water she was allowed to join the hunt. She was taught to swim as a safety precaution and it had when she was caught in a current saved her. She managed to swim, but her directions underwater were confused and she ended up in a vast under water cavern. Anya managed to find an air pocket to breath but had to remain in the cavern for hours waiting for the sea level to sink as the tide went out and she could see the light from the sky above.
Later the cavern she found proved to be a treasure trove of the sorts of creatures that sold well at market so her family profited from her misadventure, but after her time in the cave, Anya stayed away from the sea and deeper water. The well was as close as she would come.
The water was around her ribs now and Anya reminded herself that she could always back away to shallower depths. There was a thin current flowing, leading the water somewhere, but it was not strong enough to keep her against her will. The se currents had been much stronger. Anya pushed on.
Gradually she became aware that there was light filtering through into the tunnels. The sound of rushing water grew loud and she felt a quickening of the current. It wasn’t enough to cause her to lose her footing, but she could feel the pull increase. With the increased light came vision. The light was poor but as Anya had been a long time in the dark, it seemed as bright as day.
‘But it couldn’t be day,’ she thought frowning to herself. She knew she had been in the tunnels awhile but she knew she hadn’t walked all night. In the dim light Anya spotted the light source. It was some sort of lichen that adhered to the walls of the tunnel in patches. The patches were few where she was but grew denser further on. These glowing patches shed light into the dark space. It also let Anya see a small ledge of a walkway along the side of the tunnel. She stepped onto the ledge, pleased to be free of the chilly water. Her feet were clad only in simple cloth shoes with a leather sole tacked onto the bottom. She possessed no work boots like the boys wore. Her shoes were soaked clear through and her toes felt half numbed. Walking along the rough stone shelf she had to be careful where she placed her feet so she did not stub her toes before they warmed.
Ten til Midnight 