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 142: “Um, aren’t there security cameras,” Sophie asked. “Can’t you check those?”
“Um, aren’t there security cameras,” Sophie asked. “Can’t you check those?”
Elizabeth blinked. “I suppose they do cover the parking lot. I don’t know what they record though. It is a thought.” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “At the moment a case for harassment is tenuous. Sean saw the water being spilled deliberately, but everything else could be personal issues.”
“So they can’t be fired for yelling at me in a parking lot,” Sophie said. Somehow she hadn’t thought of that as a possibility.
“Not really,” Elizabeth said. “As it didn’t amount to much.”
She shook her head. “However, w are in the middle of evaluations and neither Kristen nor Ryan have a stellar work record. I am not sure how much they have improved but Sean is evaluating both of them this week and I believe an outside evaluator is being brought in so that we can be assured it is not a case of personal discrimination.
“Personal discrimination?” Sophie repeated.
“The company doesn’t want anyone suing for wrongful termination,” Elizabeth explained.
“Oh,” Sophie replied. She could easily see Kristen making such a complaint and nodded.
“I would appreciate it if for the next week or so you try to avoid anyone involved just to make things clear.”
“I can easily do that,” Sophie said.
“Excellent. And if you could keep this conversation between us?”
“I will,” Sophie replied. Elizabeth looked relieved and after checking in to see which file Sophie was working on, she left. Sophie shook her head and slipped her ear buds back into her ears. Not really in the mood for a podcast she was only half paying attention to, she turned on music and looked back to her files. As she got back to work, she wondered if both Ryan and Kristen would soon be gone.
‘It seemed like it,’ Sophie thought. While she didn’t particularly like Ryan, she didn’t care one way or another how it panned out. ‘But it would be nice to not have Kristen in the building anymore.’ Sophie tried to let the thought go as she returned to work.
Ten til Midnight 