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 155: Frowning, Gwen scanned through the posts looking to see if she could figure out what happened.
Frowning, Gwen scanned through the posts looking to see if she could figure out what happened. There was no news. No posting of the wedding being called off. No posting of the wedding being announced. There was no wedding post of any sort.
‘No break up posts either,’ Gwen thought.
Still frowning, she went to Toby’s site. Toby had not taken down any of his older pictures or posts and for a moment it seemed so strange to see all of them as things had been. They were standing in groups, at events both large and small. All of the things that both she and Toby did on their own and with Sam and Lisa were there. Nothing was taken down.
Gwen took a moment to look through them. She felt strangely disconnected. She remembered the events and she remembered being happy, but looking at them now, she didn’t look as though she was thrilled. As Gwen looked at them she tried to remember the circumstances around the photos. There were several photos taken at places Toby wanted to go. There was one in particular where she looked both bored and vaguely annoyed.
Gwen remembered having other plans that she cancelled simply because Toby insisted, she join him in visiting a car race he wanted to attend the same weekend. It wasn’t a Nascar race or one of the big races. Those she would concede could be fun. This was a pre, pre-race by people who would never make the cut and did all the work themselves. It was the sort of event that was only interesting if you worked on cars or were really into them. She fell into neither category. He begged and she caved. He then gave her the information and had her plan all the details including the route to get them there.
‘And then once we were there, he ditched me to hang out with some of the people he knew who were already attending.’ The picture was taken just before they got in the car to drive back to Westport. Gwen shook off the annoyance she felt. Looking at other photos conjured similar feelings and Gwen soon let them slip by.
‘He really was a crap boyfriend,’ Gwen realized. She looked at the other photos and wondered why she hadn’t seen it sooner. ‘And I thought I was going to marry him.’ The thought seemed ridiculous now.
‘Looking for information,’ She reminded herself as she shifted away from the photos and began scanning the posts. There were a few song lyrics posted. She knew Toby posted them because he thought it made him sound deep. Given the lyrics he was quoting she didn’t think it had the effect he intended. His own thoughts were few and far between and were mostly tag lines for the pictures.
Gwen started just before their breakup. He never mentioned their split. He never mentioned he was with Lisa. He complained about being doused with the contents of the punchbowl unfairly.
‘And then he jumps to photos of his car getting detailed.’ Gwen then saw a few pictures featuring Lisa and Toby. They were general shots with no taglines and there was no image of the ring he gave Lisa for their engagement as there had been on her page.
‘Well before she took them down,’ Gwen thought.
Ten til Midnight 