Welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Each morning I spend fifteen minutes writing on a singular story line. Each morning starts with the last line of the previous day. The goal is to get a (very) rough draft out of the simple story idea and to avoid letting the story idea languish in limbo forever, actually writing it out. This is the third year I have done this writing experiment and each year I learn just a little bit about myself and the way I write as well as creating a framework for the story. But without further ado…
Day 12: Her bedroom door closed and Gwen knew she was alone again.
Her bedroom door closed and Gwen knew she was alone again. Gwen put down her sandwich and wiped her hands on the paper towel she was using as a napkin. She turned and saw there was an envelope on her bed. Gwen walked over and picked up the envelope. Inside was money. Thee was a small note with the cash. Gwen slipped it out thinking it might be an apology. Instead it wa a simple list. Dress was listed along with the amount for the dress and then below that was the word alterations, also with a monetary amount. The two sums were totaled and the total circled.
Gwen counted the cash. The amounts tallied.
She put the cash back in the envelope and put the envelope in her underwear drawer. The money was nice. She had worked hard for it and saved up. With the money she spent back it was only time she lost.
‘Still an apology would be nice.’
The phone beeped again and Gwen walked back to the desk. It was Toby again.
‘Seriously, where is the car,’ he texted. Gwen rolled her eyes and ignored the text. ‘Why does he think I’ll still take care of it?’ she wondered. Then she realized the wondering was pointless. He expected her to take care of it because someone was always taking care of things.
The phone beeped again.
‘I’m going to be late if it doesn’t get here soon.’ Toby wrote.
“Really?” Gwen said to the phone without picking it up. “Unbelievable.”
The phone beeped again, this time the text was from Lisa.
‘Toby wants to know what time the car is supposed to be at his house.’
Gwen looked at the phone. She saw the missed calls, all lined up on her screen. She reached a finger to tap the screen to send them a text to let them know that their car was not her responsibility when the phone buzzed with another text.
“You aren’t seriously going to ruin my engagement are you?” The text was from Lisa. Gwen stared at the words and felt a flash of rage. Afraid of what she would say if she answered the call, Gwen turned off the phone. If there were any more texts, she didn’t want to know about it until it was far too late for any of her answers to matter.
Gen set the phone off to one side and finished her sandwich. She then turned on her laptop and began playing one of her favorite games.
Ten til Midnight 