short stories for the soul

a crisis out in space (based on among us)

author's note: every crewmate will have gender-neutral pronouns because it's weird assigning gender pronouns based on colors.

tw: bl••d, m•rder, and mention of v•mit

We were all gathered around in a circle in the cafeteria, watching a big rectangular screen. Our mouths were agape in fright, and some of us even went so far as to vomit at the sight of what was in the screen. In the screen, laid our dying captain of our ship. His white suit was torn open, and he seemed to be bleeding from the stomach.

"It seems that the rumors were true." he says in a raspy voice. "It seems that a serial killer has snuck on this ship. I advise all of you to be careful. No one goes out alone or with just one person. And, before you try and go to the navigation room to try and save me, don't even bother. The doors are locked. Anyway, make sure to do your assigned jobs, and please...don't let yourself be killed." And after that, his eyes closed, and he was rocketed to an eternal slumber.

I clutched my face and looked at the rest of the crew, who were all silent and staring at the now-black rectangular screen. "How does he expect us to do our tasks like nothing happened?!" someone shouted. I turned my head to see who it was. "We can't just...pretend like this is normal and pretend that we hadn't just seen out captain die right in front of our eyes, and pretend that our lives aren't on the line right now and we can't even call for help because we are literally in the middle of space." Pink began to bury their face into their hands and started to cry silently.

Brown came up beside Pink, and began to talk. "I know it's hard," they said calmly. "but it's the only option we have. We have to stay in groups, do our assigned jobs, and try and pretend nothing ever happened, and keep our eyes peeled for anything suspicious. If we try and solve this by ourselves, it'll be hard, and we don't even know where to start. So just...go do your tasks, alright?"

Everyone hesitantly nodded, still traumatized from the situations, and pulled out a card that would state every job that they were assigned, and slowly dragged their legs out of the cafeteria. I looked at my card, it stated I had to go to the electrical room first. I walked out of the cafeteria, and as I headed out of the doorway, I looked behind, seeing Brown try to comfort Pink, before moving on.

I passed by the storage room, where I saw Cyan, Green, and White discuss with each other. I heard one of them say something like "Stay together. The killer could be anywhere." I would've been happy to join their little group, but I had more important things to do.

I looked at my card as I stepped into the doorway to the electrical room. I saw Orange, all alone, trying to piece together the wires. Perfect, I thought.

Sneaking behind him, I pulled out my knife, ready to end their life.