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 88: She wasn’t on anyone’s time but her own so she could stay up late after her nap if she wanted.
She wasn’t on anyone’s time but her own so she could stay up late after her nap if she wanted. AS soon as she thought of the nap, Penelope felt her eyelids grow even heavier.
“Very good idea,” she told herself.
Penelope made her way to the bedroom and stepped inside. She looked at the door and closed it behind her. After a second’s hesitation she locked the bedroom door as well. While she never really locked her bedroom door after today it somehow felt right. She toed off her shoes leaving them where they dropped and walked to the bed.
“Any intruders can trip on them,” she decided.
Penelope pulled back the covers and then looked down at herself. She knew even if it was only a nap she would be unable to crawl into bed in her jeans. She unzipped them and wiggled them down, dropping them on the floor. She tugged off her socks and then reached under her shirt to un hook her bra. She slipped it out of one of the arm holes and dropped it on top of the jeans.
“Only taking a nap,” she told herself as she crawled into bed. “I’ll be putting on the clothes again in a half hour, an hour tops.”
She pulled the covers over herself and closed her eyes. She was asleep almost instantly. The dream started as soon as she fell asleep.
This time there was a vast field of multicolored flowers stretching out in every direction. There was no attempt to color block anything and she couldn’t tell which of the flowers was the original shade and what might have joined the original.
The path was a strip of white unbroken concrete winding towards a lake. She could see it clearly in the distance as there were no trees and no mist. It was just a never-ending field of flowers with a path cutting through it to reach the lake that was somehow plopped into the middle.
Feeling like she ought to walk rather than simply standing on the path, Penelope started walking towards the lake. She half expected the landscape to change or some sort of fog to roll in. It didn’t. It was just a cloudless blue sky overhead with a bright sun shining down over a field of flowers.
“Nothing sinister at least,” she told herself as she moved. Given her day of cut brake lines, embezzled funds and rapidly expanding plants almost skewering imperial agents she was pleased to have a calm boring field of flowers.
“And they are pretty at least,” she decided.
The path curved gently through the field. A light wind blew so it seemed that the flowers were nodding at her passing. They almost seemed to be inviting her to join them.
Given her plant related issues she decided that keeping her feet firmly on the concrete path was probably her best option at the moment. Her steps took her closer to the lake. When she reached the edge of the lake, the path ended. Penelope was uncertain what to do. The flowers remained the same. The gentle breeze remained gentle. No mist appeared. Absolutely nothing changed.
As she looked at the lake, the surface barely rippling in the light air currents dancing over it, Penelope had the sudden urge to swim in it. She frowned wondering if that was a good idea. She wiggled her toes and felt the hot concrete underneath them. It felt as though it had been baking in the sun for hours. Penelope looked down at her feet, realizing for the first time that she was barefoot.
Ten til Midnight 