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 164: She climbed the stairs to the main floor.
She climbed the stairs to the main floor. The stairs took more out of her than she thought they would. She paused for a moment leaning against the door frame and breathing. She was exhausted and hungry. She also smelled of strawberries. The scent was beginning to make her feel nauseous.
“Either that or I burned up too much energy and am feeling nauseous because of that.” She couldn’t decided. She looked at the kitchen and tried to decide if she had enough energy to make anything to eat.
“One handed,” she reminded herself.
She decided she didn’t have it in her. Instead, she took the box of cookies off the shelf and took it into the bedroom with her. The cookies went onto the night stand and when she removed her clothing and put the soiled garments in the hamper, the scent of strawberries at least dissipated. She was certain there was some in her hair, but she didn’t have the energy for a shower. Getting her clothed off had been enough of a struggle.
Penelope managed to pull on an oversized t-shirt and felt out of breath, her arm throbbing when she finally had it in place. As dressed as she planned to be, Penelope went into the bathroom and filled the little glass she kept there. She filled it with water and after struggling with the safety cap on the pill bottle, she used the water in the glass to wash down two of the pain tablets.
She refilled the glass and took it back to the bedroom. The glass went onto her nightstand with the box of cookies and then she had to go back to the bathroom to dig her cell phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. She walked back to the bed and could feel her feet practically dragging with each step. She plugged the phone in to charge and set it down on the night stand next to everything else.
“Cookies, water, phone,” she said looking at the lined up trio. She could think of nothing else to add and climbed into bed. She lay down on her right side hoping she wouldn’t knock into her arm as she slept. The pain pills started to kick in and she felt a little floaty. The pain in her arm lessened but instead of hurting it felt like another pulse.
Penelope closed her eyes wondering if she would actually manage to sleep. When she opened them again it was morning.
Penelope blinked awake. Her arm was hurting and she felt ravenous. She sat up slowly taking inventory of everything as she did. She felt achy all over and her arm was throbbing with pain. She looked at the glass of water but realized she left the bottle of pain pills in the bathroom.
“Probably a good thing,” she thought recalling how floaty the pain pills made her feel. “Maybe I’ll go with something over the counter to dull it back a little instead.” She reached out for the box of cookies and opened it. She was clumsy using only one hand and she was pretty sure she cracked several of them into bits in the bottom of the box, but she didn’t care. Her stomach needed something in it and the cookies were there.
She gobbled three of them down quickly and then paused to drink down her glass of water. She then took out another cookie, this time eating it more slowly. She was still hungry, but the cookies took the edge off.
Ten til Midnight 