Into the Maelstrom

***

 

The horizon undulated like a slumbering giant.

The ship plunged into the tumult, caught in a furious dance of black waves.

Sea slammed against the hull, a relentless assault. Metallic groans of strained wood and metal. 

The crew, faces pale in the sickly glow of the storm, like ghosts, clung in desperation. Faces etched with terror, their countenances ghastly illuminated by lightning's cruel flashes. Rain lashed, the deck bucked, and the metallic taste of salt lingered. 

A rogue wave loomed, plunging the crew into a heart-stopping descent. Fear-stricken faces gripped the ship's timeworn edges, clinging to reality as the storm's wrath engulfed them.

And then it hit them.