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 35: ‘They probably had further to travel.’
‘They probably had further to travel.’ She wondered where that was, sneaking glances at the sleeping pair as the plane and it’s crew prepared for take off. There were no real clues to figure out where they came from. No newspapers in foreign languages or books with strange titles. She was certain the information was on their tickets but their tickets were put away once they confirmed their seats.
They were dressed casually for travel, comfortable jeans and loose fitting tops. Like her they opted for slip on shoes to make it through security without the bother of laces. Nothing about them told her anything. She slipped on her ear buds and pulled out her book as the plane began taxiing to their runway. The takeoff pushed her back in the seat as the plane leapt off of the ground and into the sky. It leveled out and Gwen began to read, leaving the worry for the future and her sleeping neighbors alone as she tried to figure out who the murderer was before the detective revealed it to his audience.
The mystery was wrapped up just as the fasten seatbelts sign pinged back on. Gwen read the last of the reveal and then closed the book, slipping it and the music back into her bag. The ending, to her mind, was unsatisfactory. There were many other characters with a better reason for killing the victim. ‘And even though the timeline was possible, it didn’t fit quite right. It was as if the author decided on the murderer before writing and decided to keep it that way even though someone else actually committed the crime. The result left Gwen frowning.
‘Maybe I missed something,’ she thought as she put the bag in her lap. The plane descended and worrying about missing whatever clue she missed in the book kept her from worrying over much about the fact that her trip was ending. A while back the lights on the plane dimmed and the small directional light above, focused on her and her book was the only light in her aisle. Now as they began their descent, the lights began flickering on and people began moving.
The couple next to her slept the entire journey. The woman was the first to wake and she pulled her mask off and nudged her partner awake. He snorted awake looking bleary eyed and grumpy as he removed his mask and began to get ready to depart. The plane reached it’s destination and the same shuffling exit was performed as it had been on the last flight. This time she took note of the baggage claim area where her luggage would hopefully be waiting for her instead of a gate number. As she left the plane and began walking towards baggage claim, Gwen again felt nervous butterflies. Would her grandparents be waiting? Would she have to call her father to get their address and take a cab to their house?
She walked down to the baggage area and saw there were a few people waiting, one of them was an older woman with her name written on a white piece of cardstock. Gwen recognized her grandmother and walked over.
“Hi,” Gwen said nervously.
“Oh how grown up you look,” Her grandmother said. “We weren’t sure you would recognize us.” She hugged Gwen and then let her go. “We are so glad you are here. I’m guessing you have luggage?”
Ten til Midnight 