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 21: No one directly asked her about it.
No one directly asked her about it. In addition to the talk about her tropical vacation, others seemed to be envious of her getting so much time off. As they often took days off and used up all their sick leave, none of them had any leave saved up. Even though they knew she never took time off, many of the comments she heard seemed to involve her getting some sort of special treatment.
Realizing that every overheard whisper was feeding her slow burning anger, Sophie turned her podcast up a notch so she could hear less of it. She knew they took advantage of her while she took up their slack, but the fact that they expected her to do so while turning around and talking about her was another matter.
‘At least I know someone will be watching,’ Sophie thought.
There was some consolation in knowing that while she was gone someone on the upper floors would be watching them to evaluate how they performed. There was the niggling thought that while she was gone the upper floors could decide that the office worked better without her and make her absence a permanent one. Given the conversation, she didn’t think it likely, but she couldn’t rule it out completely. And because of it she knew there was no grand vacation she would be planning.
‘But I am going to the fabric emporium.’
As the week dragged on and she plowed through the stacks of folders on her desk, the thought sustained her. She would go on Saturday and spend as long as she wanted in the emporium reveling in the feel of the fabrics on offer. Her purchases there would be her main extravagance. She would make the sleepwear and the casual dresses she talked to Janine about, but then she would make one utterly fabulous and completely impractical thing for herself. It would be her treat. It didn’t matter if she didn’t have a place to wear it, she would make it for herself anyway.
‘Much better than a tropical vacation,’ she told herself. Sophie smiled, she had never been a fan of the beach. ‘Well better than a tropical vacation when I am not 100% sure I’ll have a job after my vacation. If I go on vacation for real, I want to be able to enjoy it. And I would go somewhere other than a topical getaway.’
The week rolled on. Thursday night Sophie stayed later than even her usual overtime so that she would be able to take the time to go through the projects she knew would be coming up. She had enough to work through the day and while she would be leaving a few minutes behind the others, she wouldn’t be staying late this Friday night.
She made it through the morning with no interruptions. Lunch came and everyone trouped out in a mass gathering. The office quieted around her. When she heard a knock on the cubicle wall behind her, Sophie nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around and found Elizabeth standing there, a sheepish look on her face.
“Sorry,” Elizabeth said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Ten til Midnight 