Creepypasta

To the Moon

Frank was strapped into his seat; he was one of the lucky ones. The trip was a way out, a way off this planet, out of the country that had abandoned him. Everything from the past was going to be forgotten, which was good for him. He would either spend ten years in a cell, or five years on the moon. The moon was a sure bet. There wasn't going to be any worrying about dropping the soap or getting shanked in his sleep. Not only that, but his family would be getting paid, paid well.

What could be better? He had always wanted to go into space, now he had gotten a free trip, all expenses paid from the government. Twenty years ago, it was just a pipe dream, going into space. Now, it was the lesser of two evils.

Even though these trips had been happening for the past six months without problems, he was nervous. He remembered all the disasters that had happened in the early years; he was a teen in 1999 so the really early problems were before him. He was still too young to remember the Challenger, but he had watched the videos. Then, there was the Columbia disaster, which he did remember.

Sweat was starting to form on Frank's brow. He looked over to the officers that were in the shuttle with him. One was smiling, a small comfort, but welcome nonetheless. The other was stony as always.

"Don't worry Frank," Officer Steel said. "There is nothing to worry about, it's just a quick trip, then you are free to do your services for the good of mankind."

Then, the engine started to rumble and Frank's breath became rapid.

The pilot was seasoned, he had flown twenty shuttles to the moon by now and never had any problems.

Frank wouldn't be the first convicted person on the moon. That was how the government was doing it; they would give the option to go to prison or to go to the moon and work on building civilization for future use. Granted it was dangerous, but no more dangerous than being in prison. In fact, the likelihood of being fatally harmed was much slimmer on the moon. There was never anyone who had murdered someone allowed to go, which brought down the man-made death to nil, at least in terms of people murdering each other. There will always be accidents; that was just a way of life and it didn't matter what rock a person was on, they couldn't avoid it.

The countdown started. Frank closed his eyes and the memories started to project on the back of his eyelids. It was not his proudest moment; there was just no other options that he could think of, and his family was starving. It was a bad time for the country; it still is. There is still more unemployment than there was since the great recession. Frank never thought they had truly gotten out of that era. The government would say that they had, but it seemed like inflated numbers and lies.

It was different from the days he remembered as a child. Maybe that was because he was young, but there was some major differences that he couldn't have overlooked as a young boy. The biggest of all was that the US didn't have a president any more. The leader was elected for life. For the past five years, the same man was in office, and he would still be in office when he returned.

The shuttle started to shake as it was propelled off the ground. Even though Frank could see out a window, he didn't want to. The speed of the shuttle was far greater than he wanted to experience. It wasn't long until they were passing the atmosphere. Then and only then, did Frank feel it safe to open his eyes.

Officer Steel was unbuckling his harness, the other officer was already floating around the shuttle. The fear Frank was feeling had turned into enthusiasm. "It would be like flying," he thought.

It was.

Once his trembling hands found the release for his harness, he pushed off the chair gently, the same amount of force he would use to get up from a chair, but instead of getting to his feet, he floated towards the ceiling of the shuttle.