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 17: Mattress ordered, Penelope returned to a list, determining what she would need to do before she moved out.
Mattress ordered, Penelope returned to a list, determining what she would need to do before she moved out. The list was, once Penelope got started, fairly short. She would have to drop off a change of address form with the post office in the morning and stock up on necessities like groceries. ‘But that I can do after I get the bed in.
Penelope clicked over to the post office website and found that she could actually change her address on-line. She did so and then went and changed the address for her cell phone and the few other bills she had. The bills were all electronic now, but changing them was easy enough and something she could do now. The utilities for the house were already taken care off. They were switched into her name at the law office before she even left.
With the technical necessities done, Penelope began to pack. She had suitcases stashed under her bed, mostly because she had to replace them a short while ago. Keeping with her trend of borrowing thing and not returning them until they were unusable, Trinity made off with her luggage. The larger bag ended up with a hole in it some how, Trinity never had explained that one. Penelope suspected the smaller bag smelled of mold and mildew due to a forgotten swim suit and the smallest of the set of three, the carry on sized bag looked like every item of makeup Trinity ever owned exploded inside the bag.
‘Taking her perfume bottle with it.’
Penelope tried to get the two smaller bags cleaned but in the end had to declare them a loss along with the now torn larger bag. She ordered a new set, making sure it arrived when Trinity was not in sight and then stashed it under her bed instead of the storage closet with the rest of the family’s luggage. Penelope was certain she would be told she was being selfish, but she paid for it and now it meant that she would not have to show the others she was getting luggage out and packing.
Penelope dismissed thoughts of her family and filled the bags. As they were filled, she stashed them back under the bed. All things considered, it didn’t take long. If nothing else Trinity’s thefts made certain that Penelope never kept a lot of things around.
‘Makes packing easier.’
By the time she was finished packing Penelope had time for a shower before she got dressed for bed. ‘Gotta remember to pick up some cleaning supplies, when I pick up groceries,’ Penelope thought as she dried her hair and then crawled into bed. She expected to stay away, anticipation of finally leaving keeping her awake. Instead, she fell into sleep quickly. As she slept, she dreamt that she was walking down a path. The path was composed of square and rectangle limestone blocks.
To the left of the pathway was a field planted thickly with little red flowers. She couldn’t identify them and when she tried to bend low to get a closer look, the flowers went blurry, like she zoomed in too far on a low-resolution photograph. Penelope straightened and looked to the right of the path. Those flowers were bright blue. Like the red ones they were short and bright and when she bent close they became fuzzy looking.
Ten til Midnight 