For those just tuning in, this challenge is about taking a story idea from bare bones idea into a fully fledged story by writing consistently every week day for fifteen minutes. The sentence I end with on one day, is the sentence I start with on the following. Part one was Bob’s story and has nothing whatsoever to do with the story below. Part Two follows a character named Penelope. I have a few basic sentences to act as road marks on her journey. I am loosely calling that an outline. We will see where she ends up by the time the story is done. For now, we start Part two of the 2025 Fifteen Minute Writing Challenge.
Day 11: She nodded, the strange paragraph now making sense.
She nodded, the strange paragraph now making sense. Finally the paperwork was done. Alvis handed her her copies as well as several sets of keys. She looked at the address and realized the town house was not too far from the office.
A thought began to glimmer. She remembered her mother driving out to this section of town on occasion, but she was very small. Occasionally they stopped and Penelope remembered being settled with a coloring book at a kitchen table. The occasions were few and it was a distant memory. ‘But maybe that is where that kitchen was.’
It certainly wasn’t the kitchen in the house where they lived. Penelope gathered all of the items she was taking with her. It was a notable stack of paper. Alvis walked her to the door and soon enough she was smiling at Yasmine and walking past on her way back out to the street. As she walked back to her car, Penelope thought about the stack of papers she now carried.
It was bound to bring attention at home.
“And I know they are at the house by now.” Penelope reached the car and unlocked the passenger’s side door. She placed the stack of papers on the passenger’s seat, closed the door and walked around to the side. She waited for a break in traffic and then moved to the driver’s door. She quickly slipped behind the wheel and closed the door.
‘I suppose I could leave the paperwork in the trunk,’ she thought. Penelope thought of the keys in her bag. The estate was a good several hours outside of town, but the town house was not too far away. ‘Even with traffic it shouldn’t take more than half an hour.’
She nodded to herself as she started the engine. Leaving the paperwork at the town house seemed like the best option. She took out her phone and plugged the address into it. The directions were fairly simple. She put the phone on the dash mount she used when following directions and looked for a break in traffic.
When she found it, Penelope pulled out of her parking space, merging into the lane and letting traffic sweep her towards her destination. As she drove, she checked the clock. The hour was edging towards rush hour which was why the traffic had increased. It would take longer to get back to the house.
“But looking for a place to turn around and go back would take just as long,” she told herself. She also knew that she was not going to be able to go back to the house without checking on the town house. “At least a brief visit to see if I can live there.”
Penelope sighed. The suggestions that she find somewhere else to live had been coming more frequently. She wondered if the push was to have her out of the house before Trinity’s birthday or if the two events were unrelated.
She knew Jannette didn’t like her because she was a reminder that she was not the first wife. Penelope knew that her father was having an affair with Jannette well before her mother died. She also knew Trinity was her half sister. Her father legally adopted Trinity when he married Jannette but it was no secret that she was his child. No one really tried to hide anything.
Ten til Midnight 