The Flat Earth Society

• Sarah Ciccarelli, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2017

His legs ached from days and nights of endless walking. The brown leather of Xin-Li’s shoes had become supple and weathered, having traveled across countless terrains. They’d seen the whirlwinds of coarse dust in the desert; the rough concrete of suburbia; and now, the bite of the icy tundra. He’d walked across oceans, admittedly not very gracefully, spilling salty water across his argyle socks until each step he took became cold, damp, and unpleasant. Had he eaten? Perhaps not since passing through Indonesia. Had he slept? Not since Australia. He kept his feet moving forward; step by step.
In the distance he saw it — a steep descent into the void, similar to a horizon. Patiently he continued his steady pace to the edge, feeling the cool breeze tousle his dark hair and nip at his skin.
In these seconds, Xin-Li chose to think about the events in his life that had led to this moment. The monotonous humdrum of office life was easy to recall, as were the dark nights spent alone in his cold apartment with his measured diet of pills. He winced at the memory of it.
Upon reaching the edge, he sat calmly on the ice with his legs dangling. His fingers curled over the edge to grasp it, holding the earth like a saltine cracker; assessing its fragility, he thought that if he pulled hard enough he could snap it in half.
Xin-Li looked down at his worn and dirty shoes that now dangled among the stars beneath him. He was rather proud of himself for having come so far without rest. “You did it,” he whispered, smiling down at his shoes as though praising them, while tears threatened to invade the corners of his eyes. Quickly, he composed himself, shut his eyes firmly, and breathed out a final exhalation.
His fingers uncurled from the ice and he leant forward. As his body left the earth, the abyss engulfed him. He fell with elegance through the darkness, his hair billowing out in silky waves and a small smile of content forming in the corners of his lips.
His velocity picked up. Xin-Li’s feet began turning brilliant white with heat. Slowly it spread up his legs, past his waist, climbing up his chest. Eventually, he was completely enveloped in dazzling white light. He burst.
The white dispersed into the darkness and Xin-Li was gone. In his place hovered a white dove. After a brief moment of confusion, the bird soared back up towards the saltine cracker hanging in the sky, ready to go home.