Every year, one person is sent to the moon. This year, though you hid in terror, it is your turn to enter the rocket.

Posted in Science Fiction on Jul 17, 2021

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✍️ 125 stories

“Into the stars” by Mushroom (flammulina Velutipes)

Submitted to Contest #52

I can hear my heartbeat. My knees are pressed up to my chest, my eyes squeezed shut. The celebratory drum beats outside sound like a funeral march, the fake paper mache rocket they’ve set up on the stage is a pyre. I cover my ears, drowning out the laughter and the buzz of excitement and fear that’s everywhere. I can hear my breathing - erratic and quick and too loud, loud enough for them to hear. My heartbeat is the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings - unsteady and unpredictable, and it’s the gongs they sound to draw everyo...

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“Lunar Loser” by Zion Hintay

Submitted to Contest #52

Why?Why did it have to be me?Flashing lights followed by electronic clicks of fake shutters mimicked by their digital cameras. Big studio lights at either side of me were set up to capture the face of the winner.Me...I knew why I was chosen this year. As I shook hands with my corporate manager Michael Scottsdale. I was now lead researcher in sustainable animal protein reproduction. It was a fancy title for making fake meat out of vegetation.Mr. Scott's voice seemed distant even though I was standing beside him. How surreal my situation was."...

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“The Pull From The Moon” by Brandon Johnson

Submitted to Contest #52

That day I woke up with the feeling of anxiety and fear looming over me. It was the day...the day I would be sent to the moon. I constantly regretted pulling the slip that had my name on it. Participation was made mandatory by the government and anyone who didn’t take part in it would have been fined a hefty amount. I could never afford to take a backseat in this messed up game of chance so I laid there with dark thoughts about what was to come.Why were they sending people to the moon? What do they do there!? This sadistic program had been g...

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“Payment” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #52

“You’re being ridiculous, Edmund!” Dixie protested, slamming the silverware into a drawer. Edmund sat across the kitchen peninsula from her. “Dixie, please, you know what happens this time a year: someone leaves their home never to be seen again. How am I supposed to react, little sister?!” Staring him in the eye, she exclaimed, “Little?! I am a grown woman if you’ve forgotten.” “Who lives under my roof.” He leaned over the counter She mimicked him. “Says the one that begged me to help him with his son! He has a doctor's appointment tomo...

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“Fugue” by Amy DeMatt

Submitted to Contest #52

The sheets are damp again. And that little tendril of a curl on the right side of my temple that starts to coil when I sweat had started to form. Coffee, I thought. I need to get a cup of coffee and just gather my thoughts. It was the third night in a row of the dream, the same terrifying dream that I'd had since I'd heard the news that I had been chosen for the space launch. My flight instructor had literally laughed when I told him about it. Chuckled and smiled. I was mesmerized as his chuckle developed into a chortle and then a guff...

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“Sacrifice Island” by Joshua Scott Hotchkin Wordpress.dungherder.com

Submitted to Contest #52

A menacingly urgent beeping accompanied the countdown screen on the display which Learo was facing from the seat the Space Authority had buckled him into as he protested and fought against them. The sound was so penetrating that he could feel his own skull oscillating at its obscene frequency. High to mid range with some kind of chorus or tremolo. Then the engines began to rumble, and a subterranean bellow about a thousand octaves below baritone joined the unbearable countdown klaxon in a full on assault against his consciousness, and just...

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“Don't Choose Me” by Yaki Lim

Submitted to Contest #52

"Hurry, hurry! The TV must be turned on in the next 10 seconds! We have to listen for Japan's selection!" My mom was pushing everyone to get into the lounge room in time for the name-calling. She quickly switched on the television. My mom, my grandmother, my younger brother and I sat together and had our full attention on the news. "I wonder who's going to be The Chosen" My brother said. "Shush, this is very important, Take." I said. "If you're seeing this video message, it means Earth has been given the all-clear to once again conti...

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“To the Moon, With Love” by Courtney Haynes

Submitted to Contest #52

I miss the Sao Paulo cafe. I miss the simple ambiance and coterie of warm comments as I would glide in off the dusty streets to within its walls. It made this shy little girl of a carbon extractor feel like someone important. I miss the nostalgic feeling from a time when things were normal. When every day was not a race against time to come up with some new technology to purify the water or pump more oxygen into the atmosphere.It was like stepping into a time porthole and we were allowed to be a little foolish and not think work needed to be...

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“Biazorro World ” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #52

Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear or phobia of heights, especially when one is not particularly high up. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort, that share both similar causes and options for treatment. Every year in Biazorro World someone is chosen to do something that you wouldn’t do in a normal world, whatever that is. Well that’s where I reside at, today or yesterday or even the day before yesterday or Sadie Hawken’s day or Elmer Fudd week or the day before the deceased President...

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“The Girl on the Moon ” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #52

Shania stapled the receipt to the invoice, slid out the creaky drawer, and dropped it into the M division. The phone rang— not the business phone, but hers. She picked it up from the desk. Unknown number. “Hello, you’ve reached Diane’s Accounti—“ she laughed, catching herself. “I’m sorry, this is Shane speaking.” The voice on the other end didn’t laugh. “Good afternoon, Shania. This call is to notify that you have been selected to join the World Space Immigration. You have one week to prepare. More details to follow.” “Wait, what? ...

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“Hidden in the Taiga” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #52

Hidden in the TaigaSuzanne MarshI saw him standing at the edge of village, his beard white as snow, all I could think of was he was was Ded Moroz (“Grandfather Frost”). Here in the small Russian village of Okunevo nothing ever happens. I wanted to approach him but Mama grabbed my hand before I could move any closer. It was nearing January 7th. I wondered if Ded Moroz even knew our little village existed. Mama told me to stay away from him and the forest, bad things happened there, she warned. I was almost twelve but arguing with Mama was lik...

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“A dreamy tour to moon” by Samar Fatima

Submitted to Contest #52

A dreamy tour to moon Moon revolves around the Earth.It was possible for a human being to reach moon, but modern technologies made it happen. Every year one man is send to moon, this time it was my turn. Although I was scared of going, I was pushed into rocket and my flight started when a terrifying sound passed my ears. I was a quite nervous. As I was In the rocket I thought I should not miss the chance if I am given, most people wish to travel towards moon but they have no chances. I decided to avail this chance.I looked at the machin...

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“The Sacrificed ” by S. Closson

Submitted to Contest #52

Do you know that feeling you get when something overwhelming happens? Something so inconceivable that you just can’t believe it is actually happening? That was me in a nutshell as my name and serial number flashed rhythmically across the massive blackish-green monitor.The gentle hum of the round CRT screen that had only moments before permeated the silent square was overwhelmingly drowned out in the cascade of cheers that began erupting throughout the fervent crowd around me. It wasn’t any wonder why my dear comrades were cheering so loudly ...

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“Scared almost to death.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #52

Scared almost to death. “There is no way they are going to get me on that effing rocket. It’s a ploy. The moon is not what they say it is, and definitely and for sure no one has been there despite the bullshit they say they have. Also, I didn’t put my name down for this ludicrous lottery. There are plenty of people that want to chance their arm with this diabolical adventure.” “Despite willing volunteers that would want to sacrifice their lives on a fool’s errand, I get selected out by someone, I shouldn’t wonder by throwing a dart at a ...

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“This Side of the Moon” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #52

I hid. They found me. “Don’t forget your toothbrush!” the armed guards had joked, after they had escorted me to my apartment, so that I could pack my hand-luggage. I sighed. I’d yet to get used to how my newly-implanted haws functioned. It was a weird sensation, feeling them moving horizontally. I wanted to rub my eyes to get rid of what was not quite an itch… but I knew that my fingernails would probably burst my eyeballs, and where would I be, then? My employers told me that the nictating membrane was just the thing to stop me getting inf...

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Every year, one person is sent to the moon. This year, though you hid in terror, it is your turn to enter the rocket.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 125 stories

“Into the stars” by Mushroom (flammulina Velutipes)

“Lunar Loser” by Zion Hintay

“The Pull From The Moon” by Brandon Johnson

“Payment” by Kira Krieger

“Fugue” by Amy DeMatt

“Sacrifice Island” by Joshua Scott Hotchkin Wordpress.dungherder.com

“Don't Choose Me” by Yaki Lim

“To the Moon, With Love” by Courtney Haynes

“Biazorro World ” by Blane Britt

“The Girl on the Moon ” by Keri Dyck

“Hidden in the Taiga” by Sue Marsh

“A dreamy tour to moon” by Samar Fatima

“The Sacrificed ” by S. Closson

“Scared almost to death.” by Len Mooring

“This Side of the Moon” by Tanja Cilia

🌟 Similar prompts

Twenty minutes before you are about to get married, you find your mother and your fiancé kissing passionately.

You thought he was dead, but there he is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you.

"Come with us,” two burly men in gray suits say, grabbing you by the arm and handcuffing you. “You know what you did.” But you have no idea.

You are the only one in the supermarket during a blizzard. Feeling creeped out, you decide to leave, when suddenly you find a baby abandoned on the floor.

Contest #52

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

958

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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