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 57: She held out the folder to Sophie.
She held out the folder to Sophie. “There is no way I am going to get this done without an extension and they told me I am taking too many extensions, mostly because of you. Do you know how many I had to take while you were out?”
Sophie found her temper rising. She squashed it down. “Look I’d love to help you out but I can’t. My letter said I can’t take any more projects from coding not in my list and ‘m not allowed to stay late anymore to finish things. Plus I’ve got this new database to set up. Sorry.”
Carrie pulled the folder back and sighed heavily. “This sucks. I am going to talk to Don about this.” Carrie turned away and marched out of the office.
While Sophie was angry that Carrie was blaming her for not getting her work done, she had to admit that she took a petty delight in she and the others being held accountable. ‘And the bonus as well as the pay raise is nice,’ Sophie thought.
She folded her letter and put it in her bag for safe keeping. Since the others got letters of probation instead of complements and raises, Sophie was pretty sure it wouldn’t go down well. ‘Best to let them think I was yelled at for staying late and taking on their projects.’
The office quieted down after Carrie left and Sophie thought that there was the possibility that the others were meeting in Mr. Evers’ office. ‘Not where I would be,’ Sophie decided. ‘But maybe they expect him to fix it.’
As Sophie put her ear buds back in she heard Kristen walk back to her desk. Ryan was with her. “What are we supposed to do now?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know,” Kristen said. “There is no way I am getting this done without staying late.”
“But I have tickets tonight, I can’t stay,” Ryan said. “Even if I gave my extra ticket to someone else I’m not going to lose both.”
Deciding she didn’t want to hear their dilemma, Sophie turned on her podcast and reminded herself that eavesdropping at work only tended to fuel her anger, not make her feel better. Instead she turned to her own work.
‘I do wonder what will happen at lunch though.’
Sophie worked through the morning, slowly moving through her files. As mentioned, Mr. Peters made certain a second file for the new database was sent to her. Since she had been given the raise to look after those files, Sophie prioritized it and after she finished her open file switched to it, finishing it up around noon.
As she decided it was time for lunch, Sophie turned off her podcast and took her lunch bag from the drawer.
“What are we going to do for lunch,” Kristen said.
“I don’t know,” Evers replied. Sophie took out her boxed sandwich, drink and chips. “We’ll never make it to any of the restaurants and back in time, and they are watching the timestamps. At leat they will until we are all off probation.”
“You can’t give us just a little more time at lunch?” Kristen asked.
“I’m on probation too, partially for allowing the extra lunch time,” To her surprise Sophie thought Evers sounded irritated. “Plus, I can’t pass off any of my files.”
“The data base set up can’t be that much if She’s not allowed to stay late either,” Kristen said. “I can’t see why I can’t just get Sophie to help me catch up at least.”
“At the moment you can’t,” Evers said. There was a definite snap in his voice this time. “I suggest you figure something out.” He sighed heavily. “If you can’t get yourself off of probation, they will fire you,” Evers told her.
Ten til Midnight 