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 56: To her surprise after a few minutes after she got to work, an in house messenger arrived, dropping off a sealed envelope.
To her surprise after a few minutes after she got to work, an in house messenger arrived, dropping off a sealed envelope. From what she heard over the cubicle walls, others got the messages as well. Curious, Sophie set her ear buds to the side and turned off the podcast. She heard Kristen ripping into her envelope as the messenger left. Sophie picked up a pen to slit open the sealed envelope.
“Oh my god,” She heard Kristen say before she could open her envelope. “How can I be on probation?”
Sophie blinked and turned to her own envelope. She lit the top with the pen and set the pen to the side even as she heard Kristen leave her desk. As her steps faded away, Sophie pulled out the pages. The first page basically covered the same information as was covered by Mr. Peters the day before. The company was happy with her work, wanted her to take on the tasks required to set up the new database and didn’t want her staying late. She was to contact Elizabeth Walker should there be any problems. Once the database was set up, there would be a meeting and a review.
‘And for my extra duties I am receiving a pay raise,’ Sophie thought. ‘Not bad.’ She blinked at the last line in the paragraph. In addition to the raise she was also getting a one time bonus for the extra work the others put on her. It came with an apology from the upper echelons for allowing it to happen, a promise that steps were being taken to remedy the situation and a reminder that she was not to take on any additional assignments from her coworkers.
‘And if they become insistent, I am to call Elizabeth,’ Sophie read. In the end they reiterated the fact that she was a valued employee.
“Well, that’s unexpected,” Sophie thought.
“I see you got one too,” Carrie said. Sophie looked up from her letter to find Carrie standing there, a folder in her hand.
“Um yeah,” Sophie said.
“I can’t believe I am on probation for getting back from lunch and needing project extensions. So what’s yours for? That month you took off to go to the Bahamas?”
“I didn’t go to the Bahamas,” Sophie said.
“Whatever,” Carrie said. “Look I really need your help. She held out the folder to Sophie.
Ten til Midnight 