Writing for Fun: Episode 2 — The Comic Series Continues

by Matthew Driscoll

In the previous post, Writing for Fun, I shared a sneak peak of the script for Episode 1 of Between Shifts. Now the story continues. Episode 2 is ready.

Here is the second episode of "Between Shifts".

Between Shifts

Chapter 1

Episode 2

Miguel’s phone let out a joyful melody, the same one he heard at the end of every shift. He rushed through the final boxes of his shift reports haphazardly with the small sliver of attention he had left.

The uneven plod of Angela's squeaky non-slip shoes echoed down the corridor. First faintly, then loud enough to compete with the heartbeat pounding in his ears. Angela turned the corner, too excited to reprimand Miguel on the many errors she had found in his paperwork. There was nothing but an empty cup lying sideways on his workstation, surrounded by drops of still-wet remnants of his liquid meals.

In the parking lot outside of St. Jerome’s main entrance, Miguel was fighting to straighten his helmet with one hand and searching every pocket on his scrubs for the keys to his moped. There was still time to reach Maria’s apartment before she turned off the lights and retired for the evening. The ignition purred, and Miguel accelerated between the rows of motorbikes that peppered the way out.

His wheels grabbed the road and threw it behind him. He was driven by desire, zigzagging to and fro between the jeepneys and commuters.

“Ah what time it is?”, Miguel reached for his phone in the front pouch of his scrubs. There were only a few minutes left to get across town before all hope faded of him seeing Maria’s face that night.

Ding. He felt the vibration and knew he couldn’t stop to check his text messages. There was too much momentum. The impulse won, and Miguel squinted through the smudges on his driving goggles to see if it was her.

It was her. His heart sang. His brow began to sweat, and his left foot tugged at his whole body. Miguel had neglected the first rule of the road: Tie your shoes. The tug quickly became a yank, and he suddenly felt himself and his bike part ways. This was at least the second time this month that Miguel had neglected to tie his shoes before mounting his moped. His body instinctually curled, and he let the bike take its own path in the opposite direction.