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 144: Sophie began her day as usual.
Sophie began her day as usual. The morning progressed placidly and she felt good about what she completed. She ate lunch at her desk and no one seemed bothered by it. Sophie wondered if everyone knew about the upset from her former department. She suspected they did and she hated the thought of their speculation. She caught a couple of glances her way but as it was clear that no one else was going to be taking time away from their desks, she felt better about eating at her own.
Her lunch was shorter than usual and she soon had a podcast playing and a new set of files out on her desk. She hoped the rest of the day would go as smoothly as the morning, but around two, she looked away from her computer to find her supervisor once again standing in her doorway.
Sophie turned off her podcast and pulled the ear buds out of her ears. She set them to the side and frowned as Elizabeth walked in and closed the door. “Something wrong?” She asked.
“Did something happen at lunch?” she asked. “Something I might need to know about?”
Sophie’s frown deepened. “I ate lunch at my desk today,” she said. “So nothing really happened that I am aware of.”
Elizabeth blinked. “You ate lunch at your desk?”
“Yeah, I haven’t left my desk since I arrived this morning,” Sophie said. “I’ll probably go to the bathroom in a bit, but otherwise I hadn’t planned to leave the rest of the day and I’ll make sure to leave with the others, so I am not in the parking lot alone.”
“I see. Hold on one moment.” Elizabeth walked back to the door and opened it. She looked to those working closest to the door. “Excuse me,” she said. “Henry, isn’t it?”
“Yes Ma’am,” Henry said.
“Do you know if Sophie left for lunch today?” Elizabeth asked.
“No, she ate at her desk. I was kind of hoping she would go to the food court as I was going to ask her to pick something up, but she didn’t. She hasn’t left her office all day.”
“Right, thank you,” Elizabeth said. She walked back to Sophie’s office. “Not that I doubt you,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure there was a witness.” She closed Sophie’s door.
“A witness to let you know I was doing my job?” Sophie asked.
“No, I know you are doing your job,” Elizabeth said. “A complaint was just made that you were spreading defamatory gossip over lunch today.”
“Oh,” Sophie said.
“Clearly that was not the case as you haven’t left the building,” Elizabeth said.
“Usually, I go to lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays and eat in the office the rest of the time. Maybe someone knows my schedule and assumed that I did go to lunch,” Sophie said.
Ten til Midnight 