The Maelstrom
Rain bludgeoned the deck of the Ophelia, her sails bulged and sagged. Captain bellowed orders. It was no use. The beast was faster than our ship. A writhing tentacle burst from the sea on the starboard side, a terrible crack echoed from cannons hopelessly firing into the depths below. 'A white whale,' they had called it. 'A creature covered with riches’. But the rot that plagued its hide betrayed their stories of grandeur. The ship fell apart, the center could not hold. I gazed into the vortex that dragged us into the depths, and it gazed back. God help us.