(x = space)
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this was written to a prompt, requesting that we each write a flash horror story; I chose science fiction and verse
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The Haunted Spaceship
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How did it happen
Everything so new
It shone until it didn’t
Dials webbed over
Levers tarred
Footsteps on the ladders
No one there
A crew long dead
Remains reduced
To bones and ashes
What had happened
Smiles into cameras
Perfect launch
More smiles
Funding possibilities
Enhanced
First step into space
This far
To chase the satellites
That sang of Earth
Sending the best images
Of us
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So far away
Holo-communications
Brought them near
And we were glad to see them
The balanced crew
Representative
Diverse
And curious
Standing for nations newly
Treated into harmony
The fates of nations
Then
Riding along
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Voyager 9 had sent
A message as a surrogate
That said
Basically
Y’all come
X-y-z coordinates were sent
Along with certain helps
To make the journey
Doable and done
And so went
All Earth along
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And now a year or so
Into it
Passing a dark star in
Every way
Not foreseen
And then they started dying
Believing they were haunted
First
The ghosts in the machines
Entrails in food
Eyeballs in coffee
Someone did the research
On how to frighten Earthers
Locked in a ship
Passing through outer space
So far between worlds
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The air grew thin
According to the meters
Hallucinations thus enhanced
Even if they knew
They drew within themselves
And then took to each other
Unlocked weapons
Made their own
Attacked with nails
So well-manicured
Pretending claws
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The last two killed each other
There was no final message
The sun poured in
With unseen rays
Into chambers unadjusting
Atomizing everything
Except the ship
Become like consequences
Used to say
Of the breeder bomb
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A resource now
The Everest now rests
A peak in space
Of our adventure
It waits
Someone will come
From either place
Who knows
Or doesn’t know
What happened
And what happens now
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C L Couch
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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
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clcouch123 
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