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 253: “Put the gun down,” someone called up the stair well.
“Put the gun down,” someone called up the stair well. Sophie’s heart leapt into her throat and she could feel it beating hard and fast. She tried to swallow it back down as she looked out of her window. She shifted slightly and the curtain twitched. Kristen saw it and turned towards the window. Sophie backed away fast, falling off of the dresser she climbed on and landing on her back on the floor.
She threw her arms up over her face as she saw the glass shatter. The noise from the gun was loud, deafening. Her ears were ringing and Sophie skuttled across the floor away from the window. She didn’t want to be near any openings facing Kristen if there were any more shots.
Sophie’s retreat wasn’t graceful. It was more a scoot across the bedroom floor in a backwards crab walk until she reached the small square of hallway.
“Bathroom,” she decided. Sophie got to her feet and went into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door. And then stared at the closed bathroom door. Her ears were ringing and she rubbed them. She didn’t know how long she stood there, it felt like a lifetime. The ringing slowed and Sophie heard a knocking. She rubbed her ears again and heard her name being called. Cautiously Sophie opened the bathroom door. Someone was knocking on her front door.
“It’s over Ms. Danials, Are you hurt?” Sophie realized she needed to open the door and let them know she was safe if she didn’t want them breaking the door down. She took a deep breath. Stepping out of the bathroom was the hardest thing she had ever done and even when she stepped forward, Sophie had to fight to let go of the door frame. Once she did, Sophie found herself scurrying to the front door fast. It felt that once she got over it, she could get back to the safe zone.
Sophie swallowed hard and opened the front door. Kristen was no where in sight. The very shaken building manager holding the ring of master keys and several uniformed officers were. The manager looked relieved to see her.
“Oh thank god,” he said. He sagged with the relief of not finding her dead on the floor. Sophie looked at the door. There were several holes in it and the locking plate was badly damaged. “Several of the shots went through,” Sophie said, marveling at the holes. She turned away wondering where they got to.
“You weren’t hit?’ one of the officers asked.
“I was in the bedroom,” Sophie said. Her voice sounded breathless to her own ears and she felt dazed.
One of the officers guided her to the couch and sat her sown. She noticed her new slipcover had a hole in it and there was a draft where she usually didn’t expect it. “One hit there,” she said pointing to the hole in her slip cover. She turned and realized the cold draft was coming from the window. There was now a hole in the glass. Both couch end and window were in the direct line with the door.
“She was going to kill me,” Sophie said. She shivered.
Ten til Midnight 