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 151: He was wearing oil stained coveralls and wiping his hand on a rag.
He was wearing oil-stained coveralls and wiping his hand on a rag. He walked towards them. There was a spot for a name patch on the overalls. Penelope could tell from the stitching it had been oval shaped. The name patch was removed.
“Stevens,” Michaelson said.
‘Like the accountants?’ Penelope wondered.
“We have your car ready.” Stevens said. He turned and led them towards her car. It too was on metal strips over a pit in the floor. She didn’t see anyone underneath it. As happy as she was to see her car in one piece, Penelope couldn’t help but look around.
As they crossed the space to reach her car she felt little bursts of heat as she moved. As they stopped, she felt a prickling sensation on her skin, like ands crawling. She rubbed her arm and frowned at the sensation. Evens looked from Michaelson to her. He studied her a moment and then looked back to Michaelson.
“Sensitive?” he asked.
“It appears so,” Michaelson said. “She felt the heat in the car.”
“Burning or just warm?”
Again the question was directed to Michaelson. “Just warm,” he answered.
“Will my car be hot and prickly?” Penelope asked, more to show the man that she could in fact speak. He blinked as though he hadn’t actually expected speech.
“Prickly?” he asked.
“A moment ago,” Penelope said. She rubbed her arm again. “Prickly.”
Stevens frowned and stepped away. “Hank, you just do something?” he called. He was looking down and to the left. When Penelope looked she could see a man underneath the car.
“Yeah,” he called. “Protection spell just went in.”
Stevens nodded and turned towards her. “Prickling is when it is laid. Shouldn’t affect you in the car. It should be warm and not hot, but we’ll double check. Didn’t know you were sensitive. If it is too hot we’ll have to add a layer.” He frowned and looked to Michaelson as though he had deliberately kept this fact from him.
“Didn’t know,” Michaelson said with a shrug. “How would I? Less than three percent are sensitive.”
Stevens grunted in response and led them to Penelope’s car. He opened the door. “See about the heat,” he said.
Penelope stepped forward and got into the car. She felt a little warmth, as thought the seat was heated. Stevens closed the door. With the door closed the heat intensified. It was strong but not unpleasant.
The door opened and Penelope turned. Stevens held out a hand with her key in it. “Turn the ignition on and see if it gets warmer,’ he said. Penelope nodded and took the key. He closed the door again and Penelope inserted the key in the ignition. The engine turned over and Penelope blinked as the heat increased. It was noticeably warmer. She felt a line of sweat start at her scalp.
She turned off the car and opened the door. She took a deep breath of the oil soaked air. The air stank but it was cooler than the air in the overheated car.
Ten til Midnight 