The Fifteen Minute Novel 2024: Day 251

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 251: Sophie found herself actually smiling when she unburied her dress form and found the in progress dress still pinned to the form.

Sophie found herself actually smiling when she unburied her dress form and found the in progress dress still pinned to the form. Somehow the dress she was finishing for Janine escaped damage.  It was wrinkled from it’s fall and press into the carpet, but seeing it whole made Sophie feel like something was actually going right.

She set the dressmaker’s dummy up and patted the top of it like a puppy. “Maybe I’ll work on you after I finish cleaning up,” she told it.  Sophie looked at the rest of the room and the various open drawers and piles of sewing notions she still had to put away.  “Maybe tomorrow I will work on it,” She amended. 

Sophie picked up her metal ruler.  It was the one she generally used when cutting fabric.  The thin metal was light and slipped easily over the cloth without a problem but the metal meant that she could put her scissors right up against it for a cleaner line.  As she picked it up she heard a knock on the door.  She glanced at the clock.

“I guess Kevin did stop by to check right after work,” she told herself as she left the sewing room and headed towards the door.  It was the time she got home the day before when she carpooled with Kevin.  Him being at her door now meant he came her straight away.  She tried to tell herself it was foolish to be pleased by that, but she was.  At the door she realized she still had her ruler in her right hand and reached for the door handle with her left.  She opened it.

“If you want to know if I am up for pizza,” Sophie began.  She stopped when she saw that instead of Kevin, Kristen was standing there.

“How dare you send the cops to question me,” Kristen demanded.  Sophie blinked but even though she was stunned her hand had other ideas.  She lifted the ruler up and wacked Kristen on the head with it.  It made a metal ringing sound but was too thin and light weight to do any damage. 

“Did you destroy my apartment,” Sophie demanded.  “Squirting Barbeque sauce and cutting up my clothes?”

Kristen rubbed the top of her head and still managed to smirk. “I guess you have nothing to wear for work then, huh,” Kristen said.  “I guess you’ll have to replace all your designer stuff with off brand now.  There is no way you can afford to replace it all is there?”

“So you did destroy my stuff,” Sophie demanded.   “What about the mailboxes?”

“It should have only been your apartment,” Kristen said.  “You should have picked up your mail.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Sophie said.

“You are what is wrong,” Kristen yelled.  “You got me fired.  You made Ryan break up with me.  You made my husband leave and now you sent the cops to question me like a common criminal.  Even my parents are questioning my behavior.  Do you know they made me take anger management classes after you made me burn the parking lot?”

“I didn’t make you burn the parking lot,” Sophie said.

“You parked in the wrong spot so I damaged Linda’s car instead.  If you had been parked where you always parked I wouldn’t have had to pour gas over the lot, would I?”

Sophie looked at Kristen.  Her eyes were wild and her face was set into hard lines.  She looked deranged.