Linda said, “Come on… you don’t want to keep the others waiting. Come along.”
Michelle could not move. “COME!” Linda shouted. The sheer noise of the shout woke Michelle up from her trance and she agreed to follow her to where everyone was. Everyone was sitting still. It looked like they were possessed too.
“What is going on?” asked Michelle. Nobody replied. “I’ll tell you.” said Linda, “See it was not just David and Linda who murdered me. It was someone else too.”
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“Sarah?” asked Michelle.
“No my darling Michelle. Don’t you remember? It was you who gave David the idea. You were always jealous of Linda and didn’t want her to be happy.
I’ve been in David’s head remember? I know all about your indiscretions. Needless to say, he also had some inappropriate thoughts about you.”
It all came back to her. How she told David to perpetrate the accidental death of Daniel! How she just wanted David to be happy and be with her instead of constantly worrying about his sister!
It was pathetic but she loved David and wanted him only to herself and this was the only way. They regularly hooked up in secret since then.
“Please don’t hurt them or my baby daughter. Your beef is with me. Take me. Leave them alone!”
“Oh I have plans for you, my darling Michelle. If you want your baby daughter to live, make sure that I get justice.”
“Please don’t hurt my baby… She’s all I have… I’ll do what you want. Just don’t hurt her.”
Lights flickered and Michelle was suddenly in her room, all by herself. She rushed to Sarah and told her what happened. Sarah decided to change her statement but only when they got back otherwise they might get another mission soon. She lied to her. Although she had no intentions to do so.
She just said so because saw something weird in her eye. They glowed red. Sarah asked Michelle to go to her room and rest. As soon as she went in, Sarah locked the door from outside. She then ran straight to Jeff. Jeff was a regular at his church and he also knew a lot about exorcisms. Linda was also there.
“Daniel is possessing Michelle now. She’s dangerous. We need to exorcise her.” said Sarah.
“What? Right here?” said Jeff, “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“But we need to do something to get rid of this spirit. It has shown that it is dangerous.”
“I have an idea but it is risky.” said Jeff.
“What is it?” said Sarah.
“Linda, I would need your help.” he said and explained both of them the plan.
Michelle was lying down on her bunk bed. Linda knocked on the door and went in. She said, “Daniel… is that you?”
Her eyes were welling up as she spoke. Michelle saw the tears in her eyes. Daniel took over. He said in Michelle’s voice, “Hello pumpkin.”
“Oh my puddin, I missed you so much. I thought it was an accident and I never knew David sabotaged your suit.” she said, coming towards Michelle as she did so.
“Pumpkin, I know that, I was in David’s head. I know it was all his doing and Michelle’s idea.”
“Baby”, she leaned in and kissed her, “I know you have been tormented for so long.” she kept kissing her and speaking in turns.
“I know it was hard thinking that the one person who you loved…” kiss “the one person who you trusted the most, ” kiss ” was the one who betrayed you.” kiss “Now that you know it wasn’t me, ” kiss “I think you would get peace… ” kiss ” won’t you puddin…”
“Not yet pumpkin. My revenge isn’t complete. I want Michelle to suffer and I will take away everything she has. I want to see her suffer like I have done for so many years. Then my soul will be at peace.”
“I don’t think that is who you are my love. I remember the Daniel who I fell in love with would never hold grudges. He was impulsive sure… but he forgave. Don’t you remember your life’s motto? Forgive and forget…” she leaned in and kissed him.
She gazed into his eyes for a long time and started kissing him. Both Linda and Daniel started remembering flashes of their time together. Tears rolled down both of their eyes. Daniel said, “Bye bye my pumpkin. I’m gonna miss you a lot.” and started kissing her again.
Linda could feel him going away. She stopped kissing and said, “Michelle?”
“What the hell am I doing here? Is my daughter safe? Did we take off? Why are you crying?”
“He’s gone…” said Linda on the intercom. She wiped her tears and hugged Michelle. Michelle was relieved that it was over and her daughter was safe. She needed to come clean to Linda.
“Linda…” she said, “I’m sorry… I gave David the idea of killing Daniel…. David worried about you too much… I didn’t even think what it would do to you… I’m so sorry… Please forgive me…”
Linda hugged her tightly and said, “Water under the bridge… You were in love… and love makes us do crazy things…”
This was the only mission that NASA didn’t publicly put in their records as the video recordings of the ship and the moon base showed things that did not make sense. NASA was afraid to cause a global panic so decided to bury the entire moon mission.
There was no mention of the unexplained deaths of David and Michelle. The rest of the crew were too traumatized by the events to come back to active duty so they resigned. Linda adopted Michelle’s daughter and she is finally at peace.
