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 123: Penelope picked up Amelia’s book of research.
Penelope picked up Amelia’s book of research. She settled herself to read and followed along with Amelia’s trail of study. In the beginning there wasn’t much. Amelia searched out books and read them, finding nothing helpful. It was depressing to read the first few pages where Amelia seemed to be going in circles, hunting down information and then finding only dead ends.
Penelope could almost feel Amelia’s frustration etched in the words. Then she came across a manuscript. She couldn’t help but smile at Amelia’s description.
‘Most of the work is utter balderdash,’ Ameila complained. “The theories preposterous and easily disproven, however there is a mention of a few other resources that might provide assistance and I think at least one of them might be useful. The author if this idiotic tome, found a mention of the blending of inherited bloodlines over time, the abilities no longer being separate and distinct but part of a singular bloodline over time. I admit his description of the process sounds ridiculous, but as he laughed at the outlandishness of the idea ‘despite the results of the supposed experiments’ I have hope. And considering his work is laughable and his ‘experiments’ designed only to prove his theories not actually test them, I have hopes the book will provide at least some insight.’
Amelia went on to detail what she thought was wrong with the idiotic tome. She marked down his name, Brace Collington, so that she could avoid any other works she came across with his name on it. Her reviews were quite scathing.
‘No need to be polite in your own journal I suppose,’ Penelope thought.
Finding the mentioned reference book proved harder than she thought and Ameila’s quest took her through many libraries. She added scraps of research along the way, gathering knowledge. The story was engrossing, Penelope was certain she would have found it so even if it had not been relevant to herself. However her eye lids were growing heavy.
She fought off sleep for as long as she could telling herself she wanted to read. She knew that part of it was that she didn’t want to go to sleep. She wasn’t so sure she liked the lake and really didn’t want to see what it had for her tonight. Still there was only so long she could fight before her body took over.
When she had to read the same sentence three times and felt her eyes grow gritty, Penelope gave in. She set the book on the nightstand and turned off the bedside lamp. She slid deeper into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. She closed her eyes and before she could hope not to dream, she was asleep.
Once again, she found herself standing on the pathway in the park. The fields of multicolored flowers stretched out in every direction with the shining water of the lake on the horizon.
Ten til Midnight 