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 172: The stereo was turned back on as soon as she was upstairs.
The stereo was turned back on as soon as she was upstairs. As she sang and danced, Gwen emptied out every drawer and every shelf. There were some things she found she wanted to keep, but didn’t think she wanted to take them to her grandparent’s house. They were memories and she knew that Lisa would be a part of them. She didn’t feel the need to go through all of them just to remove her, but she didn’t want to have them around right now.
It was an additional category for her sorting and she managed to contain all of the items in one suitcase. ‘If Dad is setting up a bedroom for me at his place I can put it in the closet.’ She decided. ‘After all, there isn’t going to be much left to go in the closet.’
Feeling good about the memorabilia, Gwen set the suitcase aside. She spotted the trashcan she filled with all of the more recent memories she pulled from her pin board after the break up. Slowly Gwen took them out and looked at them. As she flipped through the photos she felt more annoyance than pain. Losing Toby didn’t hurt and as she looked at the photos of Lisa she realized losing her as a friend no longer hurt either. ‘Maybe it was the conversation earlier.’
Gwen snorted with amusement. ‘I guess her visit wasn’t a totally wasted effort.’ Gwen moved the photos from the small trash can to the garbage bag she would be placing in the dumpster. As she did, she wondered how Lisa’s forsaken former boyfriend was doing. He was angry enough to dump punch over them at the dance but no one mentioned him. Gwen hadn’t really thought of him since graduation if she was honest.
Feeling slightly guilty about that, she pulled out her phone and sent him a text. It was a general text meant to let him know she was thinking about him but trying not to stir up any drama or pain. She left it at that and decided the garbage bag was full enough to take down to the bins. Gwen turned off the stereo and gathered the two bags of garbage to take out.
They thump bumped down the stairs so she didn’t have to stretch the plastic by holding their weight. She opened the door and it was only when walking over concrete that she lifted them so the bottoms wouldn’t get abraded. She placed them on the driveway as she opened the top of the large plastic bin and then placed them inside. As she placed the second one in the bin the sound of a car pulling into the drive cause her to turn. She saw her father, waved and then lowered the top of the bin.
“Clear out going well,” he asked.
Before she could answer a second car pulled into the drive behind his. A well dressed woman exited the new vehicle.
“Fine,” Gwen said, even as his attention swiveled to the new arrival.
“Ah Morgan, excellent,” Henry said. He turned back to Gwen. “This is our realtor. We are going to do a walk through to see what furniture needs to stay so the house looks lived in for the sale and what we can shift out of the house.”
Gwen nodded. “My room’s kind of a mess with the packing,” she told him.
Ten til Midnight 