The Spaceship

Sheila didn’t want to die.

So why did she stop?

Sheila looked up at the ladder, the one she had climbed down into another part of the ship, to head straight for the escape pods.

But she just…came to a standstill.

This route would lead to the escape pods. Even if none of them were salvageable, she wanted to try. So why couldn’t she get her feet to work? Why couldn’t she force herself to run down that dark hallway, straight into the possibility of survival?

She leaned her head against the ladder. Her helmet grazed the metal, releasing a loud sound that left her ears ringing. She pictured all of the memories she had experienced with her crew members on the ship.

How they all used to laugh at stupid jokes. Host parties whenever it was someone’s birthday. Play games or build puzzles on board, because what else was there to do in the middle of space?

Despite several limitations, life was good.

Until a meteor hit their ship.

Once Shelia saw the red light flashing over and over, she pulled on her suit, determined to escape. Then when she ran outside to warn her other crew mates or help them escape, she found each of them sitting calmly in the dining room.

She was about to ask what was going on, but their captain was the first to speak.

“Shelia. There is no point.”

“No point in what? Why the hell are each of you just sitting here? Can’t you see we’re all about to die?”

She threw her arms in the air, toward the direction of her crew mates. None of them moved or responded.

Her captain stood up from his chair.

“Why do you want to live, Shelia? When we get off this ship into those escape pods, what is waiting for us out there? More work labor. More people telling us how we should live our lives while manipulating and controlling us for many years to come? Is that what you want?”

“Captain -’’

“Not even a family will bring us happiness. We would be bringing them into a world of destruction and death. But we can avoid all of that. If we stay here, and wait for death. Perhaps on the other side, there is a much better life for us.”

The captain pulled out a gun that was tucked into the back of his jeans. He placed it on the table in a calm manner.

“There is six bullets in this gun. One for each of us.”

With that said, the captain sat back down into his chair. Shelia watched in horror as the captain picked up the gun to place against his temple. She ran away from the scene, ignoring the multiple gunshots echoing within the ship.

She began her descend down the ladder…and that was how far she got. Without realizing what she was doing, she removed her helmet, letting it crash to the floor. Glass shattered once it made impact.

She climbed back up the ladder, as the red light continued to flash, along with a robotic female voice repeating over and over:

EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY.

She walked back to the dining room.

Everyone was dead.

Several of them were face down on the table, while others were dangling in their seats at an odd angle. The one thing they each had in common was the bullet holes in their heads.

Shelia sat down into the empty seat at the table, across from the captain. The gun was placed right in front of her seat, as if it was waiting for her. As if they knew she would come back.

She picked up the gun, and put it against her temple. She shut her eyes.

And heard laughter.

She opened her eyes to find the crew celebrating her birthday.

A cake was placed in front of her, and they were all obnoxiously singing the birthday song. The captain rolled his eyes at his crew, but she could see the amusement in his eyes.

Shelia smiled; grateful she got to have a family like them.

She pulled the trigger.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn