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 109: Gwen looked and saw a sad look cross his face.
Gwen looked and saw a sad look cross his face. “You don’t like coming here?” she asked hesitantly. Gwen was more than willing to step outside her own drama for a bit, but didn’t want to step on any toes.
Michael shrugged as they walked. “It’s not bad,” he said. “I just don’t really feel like I fit. I get here a few days after school lets out for the year and about a day after I get here, my siblings are shipped off to summer camp. They will get back about the day before I leave so it is just me in the apartment. So I play video games with friends back home.”
“Oh,” Gwen said. It sounds …lonely,” she said.
Michael smiled. “I know poor me, time to myself and only all my friends to play with on line. How are you doing with the whole Toby/Lisa thing?”
“I suppose I’m doing okay. Trying to adjust. Figure out what to do.”
“Because you had a plan,” Michael said.
Gwen smiled. “Because I had a plan.”
“Because you always have a plan,” Michael said.
“It is good to have a plan,” she replied.
“True,” he said. “I would really like a plan, or at least a real plan anyway.”
“You don’t have a plan?” Gwen asked.
Michael laughed. “Don’t sound so surprised. I planned to get around to making a plan, but I never did. Then my parents decided that this was the best place for me, so I am to stay with my dad and take the year to figure out what I want and maybe apply for schools. They were both adamant I take a gap year to figure myself out. It was the first thing that they agreed on since the divorce actually. And it was decided without the help of lawyers.”
“Maybe it’s because you ae eighteen,” Gwen said.
“Possibly,” he replied. “I think it has more to do with the fact that my father wants me to be a lawyer and my mother wants me to be a doctor and they are both worried that if I rushed into school I’d choose something they didn’t like.”
“Something other than doctor or lawyer?” Gwen asked.
“Pretty much. What about you?”
“well I was taking accountancy classes and then …well everything happened. I came to stay with my grandparents since I didn’t know them very well and when I went to my grandfather’s office to shadow the accountants and other people I decided I didn’t want to be an accountant, so I will be taking cooking and baking classes so that I can at least feed myself while I figure out my plan,” Gwen said.
“That’s more than I’ve done I suppose. I started looking at the stack of brochures my parents gave me.”
“Is there something you want to do?” Gwen asked.
Ten til Midnight 