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…
Monday, March 25th, Day 61: ‘Probably not my proudest moment,’ she decided.
‘Probably not my proudest moment,’ she decided. Sophie was certain she could hear her mother’s voice in the back of her head tsking over her petty thoughts. ‘Its just enjoyment over what is. A bit of Schadenfreude.’
Sophie walked past Kristen’s desk and saw she was just settling in. She looked grumpy and didn’t acknowledge Sophie at all as she passed. Sophie moved to her desk and settled herself for the day. Surprisingly the day was quiet. There were no over heard conversations or visiting between cubicles.
‘I guess everyone is trying to focus,’ Sophie thought.
When lunch time came around, Sophie checked the food truck map, saw that one of her favorites made it to the park and slipped her wallet out of her bag. She locked down her files and left her cubicle. Kristen looked up as she passed but didn’t say anything. Sophie felt strange leaving at lunch time. As the others were still at their desks, she felt almost as though she was sneaking out to do something illicit.
She buzzed through the door and walked quickly towards the food truck court yard. As she was early, the lines were not too long. She tried not to feel conspicuous as she made her way into one of the lines. Sophie stood waiting, reading the menu board as she did.
“Hey there,” she heard to her left. She looked over and saw her neighbor he had been several people ahead of her in line and was leaving with his lunch.
“Hi,” she replied, smiling. It was nice to see him when they were each not sweating from morning workouts.
“I didn’t realize you worked in the area,” he said stopping to talk as she waited for the line to move forward.
“I do but we’ve been so swamped that I haven’t had time to make it out for lunch in a while,” Sophie replied. “I’m over at Havers.”
“Cool,” he replied. “Are you eating here or heading back in.”
“Back in I am afraid,” Sophie said. “It is al desko dining for me at the moment.”
He smiled. “Me too actually,” he told her. “But one day this project too will end. Hopefully while the weather is still nice.”
The line moved forward and Sophie reached the counter and he left to head back to his office. Sophie placed her order and as the truck was on top of their game she very quickly received her lunch.
While there were many people starting to settle at the available tables, others, like Sophie were taking their lunches back to their desks. Even though she knew she had plenty of time, Sophie hurried her steps. She showed her ID to the wall late and was buzzed in, her time back in the office recorded. She felt a little less clandestine as she got into the elevator and rode it back to her floor.
As she passed, Kristen glanced up. She looked more at Sophie’s lunch than at Sophie and turned her lip up at the lunch wrap Sophie chose for today’s lunch. As she found the scent tantalizing she ignored Kristen’s unspoken comment. As she set the container down on her cleared desk, Sophie heard sounds of movement from outside her cubicle.
Ten til Midnight 