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 104: To her relief most of the cobwebs were old as though after a while even the spiders forgot the hidden spaces existed.
To her relief most of the cobwebs were old as though after a while even the spiders forgot the hidden spaces existed. Still Anya felt better with them gone. Deciding the arm chair and rug had stood in place for too long to be useful without an intense cleaning somewhere else, Anya pulled the reading char out of it’s space by the fire and placed it in her own clean reading space. She left it there, wondering if anyone would be able to see it or if it would be as hidden as the door.
“Of course they can see the books, they just can’t open them.” Anya rolled up the rug, ignoring the puffs of dust that rose and tickled her nose. She carried the log of carpeting out and leaned it on the chair so that as little of it was touching the clean spaces as possible. With the floor now bare, Anya took the books off of the shelves and stacked them on the work table, letting them cover the objects that were laid out across it’s top. None of them looked breakable and for now it was the safest space for them.
Anya used a wet cloth to wipe down the walls and then the book shelves. Leaving the shelves to dry she began scrubbing the stones of the floor with the brush she found buried in the bucket of soapy water. By the time the floor was clean, Anya herself was feeling rather filthy and the water was dark and murky, a few left over soap bubbles still attempting to cling to the surface. She hauled out the bucked and emptied it down the drain hole used to drain the large bath.
Before she could refill the bucket from the cistern for the bath another knock sounded on the door. Anya ignore the state of her clothing and went to answer it. Waiting outside were the Matron and Marta. The matron blinked at her in surprise.
“Well I suppose Gerta made her delivery,” she said.
“She did,” Anya said. “Thank you for sending her.”
“Yes,” the matron said. “It seemed prudent. “May we come in?”
“Of course,” Anya said. She stepped to the side. Marta and the Matron entered. They both stopped and stared at the moldy chair and ancient rug.
“I suppose you can see them?” Anya asked.
“Um, yes,” the Matron said.
“These came from the hidden study here?” Marta asked. She reached out a hand to touch them. Her fingers connected and she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the feel. She pulled her hand back and wiped it off on her skirt. Having rolled it up and hauled it from the room, Anya could sympathize.
“”We’ll send someone up to collect them,” the Matron said. I believe we have extra rugs in storage should you need a replacement.”
“I don’t know if I will use the space But I suspect that will be nice if I did.”
“Is there a firebox in the space?” The matron asked.
“There is,” Anya said.
“Hmm,” the matron frowned. I would ask you not to use it at the moment. “I doubt it has been properly cleaned and it would not be pleasant to have a fires start in rooms none can see should the chimney be blocked.”
Anya nodded. She had no desire to set the building alight. “I’ll be using the firebox in here,” she promised.
“And the book taken from the other study?” The matron asked.
Ten til Midnight 