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 42: After the workload of the week, it was a relief to simply play with her colored pencils and sketchpad.
After the workload of the week, it was a relief to simply play with her colored pencils and sketchpad. Monday dawned bright and early and in what had become her habit, Sophie started her day out at the gym. After a week of seeing her, the others decided she was now a regular and many called out greetings as she arrived or stopped by to comment as they passed. It was far more friendly than the office.
Kristen gave her a grudging, ‘morning’ as she passed and Sophie dropped off her bag and retuned to the file room to gather the accumulated files for the week. At her desk she put them at the end of her desk, still needing to clear out the remaining files from the previous month before she could get to this week’s work. Sophie hoped that by the end of the week she was at least started on this week’s files. It was a tall order, but she thought she was up to the challenge.
‘As long as no one adds to the stack I will be fine.’
The others seemed content to leave her be and Sophie was certain word of her refusal circulated. While no one spoke to her on Monday, Tuesday afternoon Carrie came by. Sophie gave her the same polite but firm refusal that she gave everyone else and she took her file away. Wednesday passed without incident. Sophie had just reached for the first file of the week, having finally cleared away the work from the month she took off, when Ryan appeared in her doorway. She again gave him the same refusal and he walked away looking more puzzled at her refusal than angry.
A short time later, Sophie realized she needed to go to the bathroom. She locked down her computer but left the files where they were. When she returned from the bathroom, she found three files had been added to her stack. Sophie flipped through them. One was Ryan’s, one Kristen’s and one Carrie’s. Sophie took a deep breath and set them, and her annoyance, to the side, returning to her own work.
When the others left en masse for lunch, Sophie picked up the files and returned each of them to the person who left them on hers. She then returned to her desk, ate her sandwich and got back to work.
Wondering what the reaction would be, when she heard the other’s return, Sophie turned off her music and let herself eavesdrop. She heard Kristen make a sound of disgust but heard nothing from the other two. Sophie put her music back on and continued to work.
Sophie worked late both Thursday and Friday and was pleased that by the time she clocked out on Friday, she managed to catch up. Not only had she completed the work that accumulated over the month she was gone, but she managed to complete this week’s work. On Monday she would only have the work for the week.
‘I wonder how that will play out,’ she thought.
It was a thought that twisted though her mind over the weekend no matter how many times she told herself to set it to the side. It just kept popping up. Monday rolled around and Sophie went to her morning workout.
Ten til Midnight 