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 112: Mrs. Lewis laughed.
Mrs. Lewis laughed. It was dry and slightly dark rather than the light frothy laugh Gwen was used to hearing. “I imagine it would be an unpleasant surprise for her. Not the first of course.”
“Has something happened?” Gwen asked.
Mrs. Lewis sighed. “My daughter is finding out that actions have consequences,” she said. “One of which is that because of her actions you won’t be around to help her with her planning.”
“Or to attend the wedding,” Gwen added. “She thought that even if I wasn’t going to plan it then I would at least be in the wedding party.”
“As a bridesmaid? Of course she did,” this time the sigh seemed heavier. “I will make sure she understands. Thank you for letting me know. Now I would suggest that you put all of this out of your mind and simply concentrate on whatever it is that comes next for you. Use your planning skills for yourself for a change and get what it is that you want.”
“Thank you,” Gwen said. The call ended soon after and Gwen felt tears prickle her eyes. She sniffed them away. Part of her wondered what was happening with Lisa and part of her didn’t want to know. “I did my duty and made sure Lisa knows that I am not involved with the wedding.” She walked back to the bedroom still holding the phone. “It might be on her socials,” Gwen told herself.
She knew she shouldn’t look and that she should just leave it alone, but in the end she couldn’t help herself. She took her lap top to the bed and settled herself cross legged in the center of the bed. She opened the laptop and a few clicks later she was looking at Lisa’s public page. There were pictures of Lisa and Toby of course. There were close ups of the engagement ring as well. Gwen waited to feel a stab of pain, but it didn’t come. She still felt betrayal and the humiliation of having everything go on so long while she was oblivious, but it didn’t hurt like she thought it would.
She looked over the page and it seemed as though everything was normal until she got to the comments sections. Gwen’s eyes widened when she read some of the comments. Lisa was getting a lot of backlash from their classmates. While some of them were just nasty comments about Lisa’s betrayal, some of them sounded like they were in defense of her. They weren’t a huge class and she had known most of the class her whole life. There were several elementary and junior high schools but only one high school they all fed into. While some of the people in her glass she only knew for the four years of high school, others she started with in kindergarten.
Even those she didn’t know well seemed to be on her side. She frowned though as several of the comments were about her sudden disappearance. Gwen realized that since the break up she hadn’t updated any of her socials. ‘I just left,’ she thought.
Ten til Midnight 