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 106: Penelope set the phone on the arm of the chair.
Penelope set the phone on the arm of the chair. “Three messages,” she said. Looking at the texts as they flashed on the screen but not pushing the button to show they had been officially read. She anted Trinity to see the delivered but unread message. Trinity usually stuck to about eight messages before attempting a call.
As expected the next five came in a row, each one along the same vein as the previous. Penelope was jealous and ruining Trinity’s life for no reason and was unloved and unliked by anyone. “I wonder if that means the party is cancelled?” Penelope thought. She looked to Amelia’s book but knew her thoughts would still be on Trinity.
The eighth text messages came in and were ignored. Penelope braced herself for the call and slowly counted to ten. After a measured ten count the phone rang. Penelope pressed the ignore button letting Trinity know she was there, saw the call and was rejecting it. Penelope let out a heavy sigh. That should be the end of it for a while. Trinity would know it wasn’t an accidental rejection or simply a matter of Penelope not being near her phone. She would be fuming, but there would be know calls for a while.
Penelope settled back in her chair and opened Ameila’s book. The phone rang again. Penelope frowned and closed the book, looking at the phone’s screen. It was Trinity again. Penelope again rejected the call. She frowned as the screen went dark. Trinity never tried calling twice in a row. She was usually so incensed that her call was being ignored that she ranted and raved for at least ten minutes before she could thing straight.
‘And then she usually destroys something in my room.’ Penelope tilted her head. “Maybe she tried calling again because there is nothing in my room to destroy.”
The phone rang and this time it was Jeanette. Penelope decided to answer it wondering if Trinity decided to use her mom’s phone or if it was Jeanette.
“Penelope,” Jeanette’s voice came out of the speaker with a ring of command in it. Penelope knew the tone it was the tone her step mother used when she felt like giving orders. “This has gone far enough. We need to sit down and discuss ways to fix this mess you have caused. Penelope looked at the phone and decided she didn’t want to talk to Jeanette any more than she wanted to talk to Trinity. She pressed the button to end the call without saying a word.
Penelope counted slowly in her head. She got to eight before the phone rang again. Jeanette calling back. Penelope pressed the button to ignore the call. She set the book to the side and stood, hand still gripping the phone. She couldn’t sit still. She left the library walking into the living room. She circled the space. The phone rang again and Penelope pressed the button to ignore it.
Penelope paced the length of the living room unable to sit down. She looked up, but knew that the garden on the roof was the last place she needed to be. She may have found the thought of sitting in a garden serene but the thought of the plants absorbing this strange energy she had buzzing through her didn’t seem like a good idea.
‘Going out in general seems like a bad idea,’ she decided. Not only were there plants outside but there were still people who might want her dead. So, she paced instead. Clouds scudded across the sun and cast the room in shadow.
Ten til Midnight 