The Fifteen Minute Novel is an attempt to take a single prompt and use the last sentence written each day as a start for the next day. This year I had several prompts circling around a similar story, so I have combined them. However, the story starts the same way each day, with the last line from the day before and a timer set for fifteen minutes. The hope is to end up with a complete, if very rough draft by the end of the year. Some stories are better than others, but I always learn a whole lot about my own writing when I do this so for me it is not only a nice way to work out a story, but it is a tool for helping my writing get better. And so, we continue this story for 2024 with…
Day 3: It was later than she thought.
It was later than she thought. Sophie swallowed back a curse and locked things down for the weekend, making sure all her work was safely put away. There had been many memos from the floors above declaring the need to lock all files away before leaving for the day. When everything was clear and locked down, she picked up her bag, stuffing her lunch bag into her larger laptop bag. She meant to eat as she worked but never got around to it. She tucked her MP3 player and ear buds into her bag and made certain nothing was left behind.
Sophie left her cubicle and called out to the empty sea of cubes around her. There was no response. She hadn’t really expected one but thought it would be polite to check before turning out the lights. She ran her hand over the bank of light switches and the world of the cubicles fell dark behind her. Through the windows she could see that the light was fading from the sky.
“Damn,” she said. While she often stayed late, Sophie didn’t like staying quite this late. She didn’t like the dark parking lot and tried to leave before the overhead lights clicked on. She made her way to the exit and as always had to show her badge to the electronic reader so her time out could be marked down. She knew that somewhere her time in and out was marked and recorded. She wasn’t paid overtime, but she knew that overtime often counted towards the end of the year bonuses.
‘At least if it does I should be getting a big bonus this year,’ Sophie told herself.
Somehow she didn’t think it balanced out, but at the moment there was little she could do about it. Her leaving recorded, the door clicked open and Sophie left the office, crossing quickly to her car. To her surprise she was not the only one in the parking lot. A few spaces over there was a sleek black car whose owner seemed to be having trouble getting the engine started. The woman saw Sophie and waved. Sophie stopped as the woman got out of her car.
“Hi, I don’t suppose you have a pair of jumper cables, my battery seems to have gone flat. If I can get a jump then I can get home and take care of it,” she said.
“Sure,” Sophie said. “I think there is a set in my emergency kit.”
“Oh, thank god,” she said. As they were the only two cars in the lot it was relatively easy for Sophie to move her car around and get the cables connected.
“I’m Elizabeth by the way,” the woman said introducing herself as they connected the vehicles by cables and got ready to charge the battery. “Elizabeth Walker.”
“Sophia Daniels,” Sophie said.
“Well Sophia Daniels, you are a lifesaver.”
They each moved to their respective driver seats. Sophie started her engine and then Elizabeth started hers. She sagged behind the wheel, visibly relieved when the engine started. Sophie saw her close her eyes and tilt her head up as though offering a prayer of thanks to the heavens. They let the cars charge for a moment and when they were certain Elizabeth’s battery had enough of a charge to make it home, they disconnected the vehicles and closed the hoods.
Elizabeth waved as they each got back in their cars and went their separate ways. “Well,” Sophie told herself as she drove home. “At least something good came from staying late.”
As evening traffic died down, Sophie had a relatively easy drive back to her apartment.
Ten til Midnight 