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 62: Her younger siblings looked much the same as when she left them.
Her younger siblings looked much the same as when she left them. ‘No vision of the past,’ Anya thought as the scene began to play. Anya frowned as she looked at the scene. It was different. She watched as the children learned their school lessons.
‘The clothes,’ Anya thought. The clothing of the younger children were better than those they wore when Anya left. There were signs too that the family had come up in the world. They weren’t grand changes, but noticeable nonetheless. The blankets on the bed were newer and of better quality than when she left. There were no careful patches. The inside walls looked freshly painted and there was a hired girl tending to the food and household chores. Anya frowned. They weren’t so much as making do as thriving without her.
“You seem puzzled,” the woman said.
“They are…much improved without me,” Anya said hesitantly.
“They no longer have to save.” The woman replied.
“What do you mean?” Anya asked, although she had the sickening feeling she already knew.
“If you knew there were funds for apprenticeships would you have agreed to go with Lord Mathis to work in one of the Great houses?” She asked. “And would the older girls have worked in the Laundry to earn both apprentice fees and their dowry if they knew it was safely saved?”
“No,” Anya replied. “The money brought with us. They saved it. They didn’t use it in the care and feeding of us when we were younger,” Anya asked. While she knew that Kissa was upset about the lack of dowry she always assumed that the funds were spend as they were needed, if they had ever existed.
“They were put by,” the woman told her. “There was no need to spend them. Now that your sisters are settled and you are no longer in the house, the need to hide the funds away is not as great.”
Anya blinked. Tears rose to her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. “Why are you showing this to me?” she asked.
“Because you need to see.”
“And not because you want something?”
The woman smiled. “I want you to let go and be who you are. Who you were meant to be.”
“And who is that,” Anya asked. She felt the stirrings of anger inside her and used it to push the sadness away.
The woman Shrugged. “That is for you to decide.”
Anya studied the image and watched the scene play out. If nothing else everyone looked happy and healthy. She had no cause for concern. She was clearly not needed.
“And what of Lord Mathis?” Anya asked.
“Ah yes,” the woman replied. “Him.”
The word was hard and flat, somehow angry and it caused Anya to look up, studying the woman rather than the scene. Her lips were pursed together. She shook off her anger and waved a hand over the water. You are not the first he took. There have been others, both girls and boys. All marked with the crescent moon. “
Anya lifted a hand and touched her arm through the cloth of the dress sleeve.
Ten til Midnight 