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 192: Sophie finished her sandwich, set aside her phone and got back to work.
Sophie finished her sandwich, set aside her phone and got back to work. By the time the day was out, she was pleased with her progress in the office. She was certain there would be a few days she needed to come in more than a few minutes early, but felt if she focused she could leave everything in a good place before she took off.
The end of the day rolled around and Sophie stayed a few extra minutes to finish the file she was working on before locking things down and leaving. There were still a few people left in the office so she didn’t have that same abandoned feeling she so often had with her previous department. ‘Even Linda is staying later,’ she thought as she left.
It made her feel better to not be the only one. Sophie left and drove home, her mind already switching gears. She made it upstairs and into her apartment without seeing anyone, changed, ate a quick dinner and started he assigned tasks. As she could more or less make the sleep sets in her sleep, Sophie found her mind drifting towards the items she wanted to pack and take with her. As she worked, Sophie mentally riffled her wardrobe.
Most of the items she kept were office wear. Some of them she could repurpose for life outside the office, but her closet leaned heavily into the office. ‘I do have that blue jacket with the peacock silk lining.’
For the most part it hadn’t been cool enough for her to get much use out of it. Sophie realized that she had no idea what the weather conditions might be at the time she was set to leave and she paused in her sewing to jot a note into her notebook full of lists, to check on the weather in the near future.
“I’ll be able to judge my wardrobe and packing better.” With those decisions put off, Sophie put on the Italian television show hoping the language skills she learned would be adequate.
The days before her vacation slipped past in a steady stream. Sophie started setting her alarm a little earlier each morning and getting into the office when it was quiet. Always happy to share her music, Janine provided her with far more high energy play lists than she could ever want. They kept her work productivity high in the office. When the workday was done, Sophie drove home, changed, ate and tried to knock a many items off of her list as she could.
She missed a little of the office camaraderie, but a the HR and accounting division was immersed in all of the changes that were filtering down from above, no one had time for lunch and nearly everyone was bringing in a small lunch they could eat at their desks. It was a productive group but quiet. Despite that, on the days Sophie had to stay late, she wasn’t the only one. There was a strange sort of companionship in that.
Soon enough her files at work started to go down and the to do list at home started to shrink. By the time Sophie finished the pieces under commission, she had a good idea of the weather she would be facing and decided to make a few garments to take with her.
Ten til Midnight 