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 163: Penelope looked at the bracelet.
Penelope looked at the bracelet. “I don’t know how to replace them.”
“It isn’t difficult to learn,” he said. “These other ones are fairly basic. My guess is the protections were as well. It was just the fact that there were so many of them and they were so many different types that made them work.” He frowned and looked at the bracelet.
“Actually,” he continued. “The simplicity might have helped. Someone hurling deadly spells would expect strong and complex counterspells and would have prepared. The more basic spells might have slipped under where a more complex one would have been blasted aside.” He held out the bracelet to her and she took it, slipping it into her pocket.
She tried to move only her right arm but jostled the left a bit with the movement. Thankfully the doctor came in.
“We have some good news and some bad news,” the doctor said. “Which do you want first?”
“Bad news,” Penelope said.
“Bad news is that it is a break. The good news is that it is a simple break and one that doesn’t involve all of the little wrist bones. It is actually your arm that broke, not your wrist. That should make healing a little easier.”
He put the x-ray on the lighted screen and pointed out the break in her bone. Once it was diagnosed, things moved quickly. Penelope was given a cast and a timeline. She was also given a bottle of pills for pain. She frowned at the bottle.
“Something wrong?” the doctor asked.
“I was expecting more of a prescription than the actual pills,” she explained.
“Ah well, that would involve a pharmacy, and we like to keep things in house when we can,” he told her.
Penelope decided she didn’t want to ask any more questions.
With her arm as patched up as it was going to be, Michaelson escorted Penelope out of the office and back to the car, leaving the other two men behind. As she got into the car, she realized that she didn’t know either man’s name. Neither had been introduced to her. She assumed she would see the doctor when it was time for her cast to come off, but quite frankly didn’t really want to see either of them again.
Michaelson pulled up to the curb in front of her house and Penelope found she missed happy hour once again. As she hadn’t been planning to attend it wasn’t that concerning. She was pleased not to have to see any of the neighbors though. Somehow parading the fact that she was now injured in front of people who might want to do her harm seemed like a bad idea.
Michaelson got out of the car with her and they both watched another man approach. Penelope tensed, but it was just the agent who brought her car back. She took her keys and he left.
“I will drop by some plants and seeds once clean up is done at the green house,” Michaelson said. “And I will look into your neighbors. For now, rest and recover.”
Penelope nodded. She was too tired and hungry to think up a response. She reached her front door, unlocked it and stepped inside. She closed the door and locked all of the locks it had.
Then she took a deep breath. She could feel the house around her like a protective shell. “Home,” she said. The word brought a smile to her lips. She climbed the stairs to the main floor.
Ten til Midnight 