Flash Fiction # 25 - Battling the Waves
- Jacob RD Johnson
- Nov 28, 2025
- 2 min read
Picture Prompt:
300-word Flash Fiction
Post # 25
Week Ending: 11/28/2025
Genre: Alternate History
Title: Battling the Waves
In a parallel universe, there is a version of history where the Mayflower and company never arrived in America. The story below is an account of how that transpired:
The crew of the ship had traveled for days. The journey had been relatively smooth and they were making good time. One day soon, they'd certainly find a new land to settle.
But following several days of fabulous weather, it turned quickly. Clouds rolled and the crew watched as the sky filled with a billowing cumulonimbus. The bottom of which transformed from a light gray into a terrifying charcoal.
Wind was making it impossible to manage the ship. The team—a well-oiled machine—worked together to batten down the hatches and drop the sails.
The air had gone from merely humid to an absolute deluge instantly. So much water was coming down, it was hard to tell where the rain ended and the ocean began. With everything properly secured, the only thing the crew could do was try to keep up with bailing the bilge with large, wooden manual pumps. They had to work in shifts as the downpour continually filled it with water.
The job made even harder in the swelling waves over a story high. The ship rose up and back down, bouncing members from side to side. Shipmates were lost overboard, injured from falling, and occasional fatalities from the overwhelming raucous.
This continued on through much of the night. The remaining able bodied crew members were losing faith in their chances to keep up with the storm. If the ship didn't capsize, then the onboarding water would sink them.
Just as they had given up, the torrent subsided. The waters calmed. Enough of them survived and they would be able to resume toward their conquest.
That's when the pirates arrived.
Comments