Midnight Creek Tales

#5. Lunar Darkness / Chapter 7

"You guys can now unbuckle yourselves; it is safe to walk around and pursue daily activities. If there is anything you need just contact the station via radio; there will be hourly check-ups on you two to make sure everything is going smoothly. Other than that, enjoy the ride."

We unbuckled our belts slowly, now moving freely in space. I quickly dashed to the window of the spaceship trying to convince myself that this was all a dream of some sort and that it couldn't be happening, but when I pinched myself, I didn't wake up. I was in space! I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my messed up hair in relief.

"So what do you want to do? We're in space, so we might as well do something."

As Simon was speaking, still mesmerized I stared out from the window and looked down upon Earth. It felt as if we were only a couple miles away when in reality it was far more than that.

I felt a punch on my arm and turned back to see Simon annoyed, "What is it?" I asked rubbing my arm.

"We're going to be on this ship for days on end; we need to keep ourselves occupied!"

"You want to play Uno?"

"Didn't bring the cards."

"Damnit! I thought you brought them."

"I forgot! When you told me to get the cards, I was busy picking out clothes!"

"We're in outer space! We don't need that many clothes!"

"Well when we get to the Moon it's going to be an indoor city, so of course we're going to be taking off our space suits! Ever think about that?"

"Look Simon let's just get a game going or something, what did you bring?"

"Hmm..." Simon grabbed his huge suitcase and started to rummage through it, "Oh here... I brought Mini Jenga, Sorry, and Monopoly."

"Obviously Monopoly is the best choice, but why did you just bring those three games?"

"Because those were the only board games that were small enough to fit in my bag! Everything else was too big or oddly shaped, and you tell me how I'm supposed to fit Mouse Trap in my suitcase?!"

"Nevermind, let's just start," I said trying to avoid an argument within the first five minutes of the flight.

"If it makes you feel better we can do something else. I know that sometimes a game can drag on and get rather dull- ."

"Oh it's not that, in fact I like the intensity of our games. It's just that the man who closed the vault got under my skin. What did he say exactly?" I asked trying to scan my brain for an answer, but instead the remaining question was eating away at me like a decaying corpse.

"He said we'd have our hands full..."

"Do you believe there's a hidden meaning behind it?"

"I think you're over analyzing what he said; it was just some space humor. Utterly harmless." Simon said reassuring me.

Simon went straight for the Monopoly set and grabbed the box planting it on the table as he started to organize the bank.

I couldn't concentrate on Monopoly at the moment, I was still thinking about what the guy said...

The good thing about playing with Simon was that he always was the banker, and did a damn good job at it. He never took too long to start the game, he was always reliable, he never cheated me out of properties, and overall was faster than a racehorse when it came to dishing out money.

We set the game up on the floor; with Simon beginning to hand out the money as we started to talk.

"Man, I'm missing those gourmet meals so much. I haven't had food like that in my entire life, and now it's gone! All we get to eat is this stupid powdered shit!" He grabbed a packet of powdered chicken and threw it across the ship's control room.

I could feel the pain he was in, I was dying for more of that food. But to be completely honest, we probably gained a ton of weight from all the crap we ingested, and with us being some pretty lean guys that said a lot about the quality of the meals.

The first round began, and we were about forty-five minutes into it when our conversation became quite intriguing, (as well as the game being neck and neck, with me owning all the red and yellow properties and Simon having the pink and orange sets).

"You know what's considerably strange?" I asked.

"The fact that Mr. Marchisio always seems to live in secrecy?"

"What do you mean, 'secrecy'?"

"Well if I didn't know any better I'd say he could be a serial killer."

"What?! Why would you say that?! This ship could be under surveillance!" I whispered angrily hoping that no one had heard the comment or better yet the topic of discussion.

"I'm sorry that he's always in the shadows, that just creeps me out!"

"Mr. Marchisio isn't a criminal, what do you think he is Jeffrey Dahmer?!"

"No, but he's just such a questioning man. Honestly, I don't even remember who was before him."

"Wasn't it Mr. Burns?" I asked.

Simon was lost at first, but then his brain clicked, "Oh yeah, I remember Burns! What happened to him?"

I tried to remember what occurred, but it was no use, "I can't recollect anything, to be honest."

"Yeah, neither can I."

All of a sudden Simon's smile flipped upside down in fear.

"Simon?! What is it? Is everything ok?"

"What if Mr. Burns disappeared just like the people on the colony! Maybe there is a missing link!"

"What are you talking about? There is no 'missing link,' the only missing link is in your head!"

"Rich I'm serious! I think this could be for real, I mean look at the possibilities! Both are associated with the company, and both vanished unexpectedly!"

"That's ridiculous; that's like saying that all the kids on the milk cartons were abducted by aliens too!"

Simon pushed up his glasses and settled down, instinctively looking around expecting someone to be watching him from the corners of the ship.

"I don't feel good about this Rich; something isn't right. At first, I was sure of everything going as planned, but now my train of thought is foggy and even worse, I don't know what to expect."

"You're starting to sound like a bi-polar teenage girl on her period Simon," I chuckled. "You ok?"

He took some deep breaths and began to relax, "I don't know man... the Mr. Burns thing is starting to creep me out."

"Well whining about it in space isn't going to do anything. We need to strategize a plan, to come up with an idea in case something goes wrong."

"Like if aliens invaded the colony?"

"Yeah, something like that. As farfetched as it seems, there could be a small chance that it is the reason why all connections have been lost."

"So what do you suggest?"

As I began to whisper my plan to him, his eyes before lit up with fear, now beamed bright with a strong pleasurable wickedness...