(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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