At the Edge of the World

At the edge of the world, the water seems thinner before it falls into nothingness. That is what McTavish thought as the old ship spun about helplessly on the whirlpool, nearing a teeter on the edge of creation. The water was deadly deep, but the captain could see to the bottom, where countless animals and things he had never heard of frolicked in the undersea wind.

There's no way this can end well, he realized, as his crew died one by one on the journey. He was the only man left. His first mate, Flannery, had warned him against the edge of the world, of what old hands called "the drop of the flat map." But he didn't believe them in the pub. He believed now, though. Now that he was seeing it.