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 114: Instead, she was dropped into a sea of mysteries.
Instead, she was dropped into a sea of mysteries. As Penelope walked downstairs towards the door she decided that maybe interspersing daily chores with all of the crazy might not be a bad idea. ‘Since I can’t go to the park for a run maybe I can clean out the linen closet when I need to move around a bit.’
She thought it wasn’t a bad plan. ‘I could start with the linen closet and then start investigating other closets.’ Penelope was certain there were rooms in the house she had only poked her head through the door to see what they contained rather than delving further.
‘And I can always use one of the spare bedrooms as a staging ground for things I might want to get rid of when I can leave the house.’
While she enjoyed the research and study, Penelope knew she needed to move around more if she was going to stay sane. She could only cram her brain full of so much information before she needed some quiet time to digest it all. “And at the moment it feels like I just keep getting new information thrown at me and then looking for ways to get more information.’
Penelope balanced the tray with one arm and opened the front door. She stepped through and set the tray on the wet table. She then took her keys and locked the door behind her, slipping them back into her pocket. She took the towel that was draped over her arm and wiped down the chair. She then lifted the tray, wiped the underside and set it on the chair while she wiped the table.
Looking up, Penelope could see several people across the street doing more or less the same thing. The door in the house next to her opened and her neighbor came out.
“Evening,” she said. We missed you yesterday.”
“Had some car issues and got stuck on the other side of town,” Penelope explained.
“I hope no one was hurt,” she said as she began wiping off her own table and chairs. It seemed a strange thing to say. Polite but why would car trouble cause injury? ‘I suppose a blown tire could cause a crash,’ she thought.
“Nope, no injury,” Penelope assured her.
“So happy to hear it,” the woman said. She smiled, but Penelope caught a flicker of something in her eyes. T was gone before Penelope could identify it, but she was certain she saw …something.
“So,” the woman asked. “Settling in?”
“Slowly,” Penelope said. She looked to the other neighbors hoping they would arrive soon. Their door remained closed.
“Oh they’ve gone off for the weekend,” the woman told her. “Longer actually, won’t be back until sometime next week.”
“I see,” Penelope said. She blinked. “I guess today is Friday, I sort of lost track.”
“It can happen.”
Penelope looked across the street and saw others chatting and enjoying their happy hour. She found something amiss with her neighbor and was hoping happy hour would soon end. She sat down and poured her glass of lemonade. She figured that she could stay until she finished it and then excuse herself.
“So what was the car problem?” The woman asked.
“It wouldn’t start,” Penelope said.
She made certain to look at the woman when she said it. The woman blinked with surprise. “It wouldn’t…start?” she asked.
“Nope,” Penelope replied. “I put the key in the ignition and just got clicking.” As something similar had happened several months ago resulting in an expensive repair, Penelope figured it would serve as a decent excuse.
Ten til Midnight 