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 158: She took a deep breath and thought about making the plants nearest her grow.
She took a deep breath and thought about making the plants nearest her grow. She thought she saw a twitch of the vine but couldn’t be certain it was her magic and not an air vent.
“I am afraid my dear, you can’t be trusted any more than your parents,” Peter said. “I had hoped to make it look like an accident, but you have made that impossible.”
“I’m not sure how accidental a bomb looks,” Penelope said before she could stop herself.
“True enough I suppose,” Peter said. “But I will have what is mine.”
He lifted his hands, and Penelope saw a crackling amber light around his fingertips. She then saw that light rush towards her. Instinctively she raised her arms to shield her face. She felt something smack into her arms but then it seemed to rebound. She flew backwards from the impact but landed on a soft cushion of greenery. Something soft splattered and she was surrounded by the scent of strawberry and orange.
Penelope was knocked flat to the ground and she felt dazed. Her vision blurred and she felt her stomach rumble, just before she passed out.
When Penelope blinked her eyes open, the world around her was chaos. She was laying on several crushed strawberry plants. The strawberries themselves crushed and smeared beneath her. Oddly they didn’t seem to be in pots but rather growing all around her. The cart she was using was to her left and she could see that a strawberry seed packet had been ripped open and as the seeds spilled they grew in a blanketing carpet. The small foot tall citrus trees she picked out were now close to eight feet tall. They and all the other citrus were hit with the same growth. All had were the size she would expect in an orchard and had limbs heavy with ripe fruit.
Everywhere she looked was thick with greenery. Penelope started to get up and winced as she moved her arm. She looked at her wrist and saw the bracelet she put on earlier. Each of the beads was etched with some form of sigil. Shen she looked them up many of them appeared to be protective, which is why she felt comfortable wearing it.
Now several of the flattened metal beads comprising the bracelet looked burned and half melted, their sigil blackened and flaking off.
‘Peter,” Penelope thought. She looked to where the older man stood. She knew he attacked her and could easily do so again. She looked around frantically waiting for the next attack. It didn’t come. All she managed to do was smear more strawberries over herself.
For a moment she thought he had gone. She started to relax and then she saw movement in the greenery. Penelope looked towards it and saw a pair of shoes sticking out of a bundle of vines. The vines were wiggling. Penelope slowly got to her feet.
She had half risen when Agent Michaelson came crashing through the leafy blockade.
Ten til Midnight 