My Short Short for the Day

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Jonah stretched out his measuring tape as far as it would go, then measured all the way around the entire ship.  He jotted this down in his notebook.  Next, he tried to climb up but the sides were too slippery so he measured as far as his tape would extend.  Then he picked up a pebble and tossed it at the ship.  It clinked against the metal, so he picked up another pebble and threw it higher.  He kept throwing pebbles higher and higher until they didn’t clink against the metal.  He jotted down more notes.

Hmm?  Maybe I should look for a door of some kind.  He thought, tapping his chin with his pencil.  “Yes, that’s what I should do.”  He ran his hands along the side of the ship, moving them up and down and back and forth.  He inched along, trying not to miss any small opening or indents or anything that might be an entrance into the ship.  That would be so awesome to go inside a real live spaceship.  See all the gadgets and buttons and weird containers of alien specimens from some unknow universe. 

A loud click interrupted his thoughts and he froze.  “What was that?”  He whispered. 

Carefully he moved his hand back over the spot and felt an indent about the size of his hand.  He pushed in on the indent and it moved.  He jerked his hand away and stepped back, mouth hanging open and heart thundering in his chest.

A puff of smoke rose from the opening.  There was a chilly burst of air, then all was still again.  He stared into the darkness of the opening but couldn’t see anything.  He stepped forward putting his hand on the edge of the entrance. 

“Hello? Anybody in there?”  Jonah stared into the darkness but didn’t see any movement.  He listened but couldn’t hear anything.

“I’m coming in.  I mean you no harm.”  Jonah took a wobbly step into the ship.  His eyes adjusted to the dim light and he could see a door a few feet straight in front of him and a long hallway that went off to his left and right.  He decided to try the door in front of him.  He touched the icy, cold metal searching for a doorknob or button.  After a few moments he found an indent and pushed it in.  The door creaked open ever so slowly.  The room was even darker than the hallway.  He blinked to adjust his eyes, then remembered he had a flashlight in his backpack.  He pulled out the flashlight and clicked it on. He gasped and immediately clicked it back off.

“I should go.  I should go.  Gotta go!”  He stammered, stumbling back through the door.  He was in the hallway but couldn’t see the entrance to the ship.  It had closed.  He was panicking now.  He ran his hands over the wall, desperately trying to find the indent.  His heart was pounding in his ears.  Sweat was trickling down his face and he shivered. 

“Clank!”

The sound was coming from the dark room behind him.

*******     to be continued     *******