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 45: “So Gwen are you ready to play today’s game of Who Are You?”
“So Gwen are you ready to play today’s game of Who Are You?” Gwen blinked as the plastic haired man gestured to the player’s podium. It looked much like the one from the Jeopardy, with her name written across the front of it in a cursive hand. Gwen took her place and saw that there were two other places in the came show. Two other contestants looked to be joining her.
Gwen waited as the host turned back to the audience. To her surprise he had some sort of wind up key sticking out of his back like a mechanical doll. He spread his hands wide and from her place behind her, she could see the key start to turn as he spoke to the audience in the darkness beyond the lights.
“And for our next contestant. You know her, you love her, she is a an all-time favorite, It is Lisa Lewis,” the host said. From the darkness there was wild applause, the kind that didn’t sound canned as it had been for her. People cheered and called out. As Lisa stepped onto the stage she waved to the audience as though she was accepting an award or something. There were even a few flowers tossed onto the stage.
“We love you Lisa,” someone called from the audience. Lisa smiled and turned towards the voice. She lifted a hand to her mouth and blew him an air kiss before turning and walking to the podium. She didn’t even glance in Gwen’s direction, basking in the attention of others. Gwen felt odd emotions tangle through her. Lisa always liked being the center of attention and she was the one everyone seemed to love. Gwen always envied her that. She always felt a bit like a tag along. She went where lisa went and they did what Lisa wanted. Lisa was far more popular than she was and Gwen was just sort of accepted as Lisa’s best friend.
Gwen never really resented the popularity. She was sometimes jealous of the obvious love others seem to have for Lisa and occasionally she was annoyed when Lisa ignored her desire to do something different or ridicules something Gwen enjoyed that she didn’t.
‘But people liked me too,’ Gwen thought as Lisa continued to wave to the audience and ignore her presence. She thought of Stanley who, even though she stopped playing video games with him still stopped to talk to her even though Lisa didn’t care for him and often rolled his eyes when she wasn’t looking. There were others she was friendly with as well. It just wasn’t the crowd that Lisa had at her command. Gwen chalked it up to be a quieter person who was more focused. Even though Lisa and Toby made sure she went to parties and things, she preferred smaller quitter events
As she thought of Toby the host quieted down the audience, waving his hands in the air to shush them. They slowly calmed and a quiet expectation filled the room.
Ten til Midnight 