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 231: It was an apartment building and she knew several of her neighbors, but she still lived alone.
It was an apartment building and she knew several of her neighbors, but she still lived alone. Sophie lived alone most of her adult life and was, in general perfectly content with it. She never felt alone. Or at least never felt in danger alone. She lived in a well-maintained building with management that lived on site and there were security cameras. Her apartment building had little to no drama in it. The biggest drama she could recall was a watermain bursting during winter one year. It flooded the parking lot and iced in everyone’s vehicles for the weekend.
The pipe was repaired and the ice melted. Everyone was given a discount on their rent that month in case they had to call for rideshare services instead of using their own cars. Sophie hadn’t gone out that weekend and had been fine as Monday saw her car freed from the ice and herself off to work as normal.
She didn’t like the idea of someone skulking around her building doing harm. The elevator took her back to her office floor and Sophie went into her office. She also didn’t like the thought of having to go everywhere with someone. ‘Not that I go many places when I am in the office,’ she consoled herself. It was more the thought of having to make sure she left and entered the building at the same time as others.
‘I mostly do that anyway,’ she told herself. There were moments when she stayed just a few minutes longer to finish up a file so it wouldn’t be waiting for her first thing in the morning. She would have to watch that for a while. Sophie shook her head and slid behind her desk. She turned on her computer and unlocked her files. With the computer desk top open she glanced at the time.
‘If the detective is calling the office, there might be some news,’ she thought. She shook her head. ‘Lunch isn’t that far away. I’ll call then.’
Trying to push it out of her mind, Sophie focused on the computer and the files in front of her. There was something about knowing that she couldn’t stay late or come in early that made her want to work a bit faster. ‘And focusing helps me not think about the car,’ she thought as she closed one file and reached for a second. Even with her focus, Sophie found her gaze drifting to the clok at the bottom of her monitor’s screen every few minutes.
She made it to three minutes after noon before she closed the file she was working on and reached for her phone. Before she left for work she programmed the detective’s info into it. No, she pulled up the contact, took a deep breath and pressed the call button.
The phone rang and was answered.
“Hi this is Sophia Daniels,” she said after the detective identified himself.
“Ah Ms. Daniels, how may I help you?”
“I was wondering when my car might be released?” She made it more of a question than a statement.
Ten til Midnight 