THE TROUBLE IN THE SEA
BY LUIS UMANA
My version of Scylla and Charybdis
They are all gone..., my men...gone. We were sent from the government to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the 8 ships passing along the Mediterranean Sea, and the other mystery cases there. The reports say that it was caused by some kind of small ship. One minute the ships are there, and then in a blink of an eye, poof, they're completely destroyed. There were some reports from locals, which were saying that body parts of the missing men sometimes floated onto the beach or found in rivers.
It happened at the middle of night. Since I was the captain I decided to take the first four hours of patrolling the ship, so that my men can rest well to investigate the sea tomorrow. At first nothing was happening, and I was getting drowsy after two hours of patrolling. I go to the break room decide to make some coffee to keep me up. There was nothing but silence. That was all there was out in this sea. I didn't hear a single thing. It was so quiet that I couldn't hear the splashes against the ship, or the sound of the fishes spiraling out of the water.
"Why are we even out here?" I thought. "It is so peaceful out here. What kind of thing would cause 8 ships to sink? How can a simple a few men tear apart a man's body? Did a tiny ship and its crew really cause it, or was it something else?" As I was lost in thought a sudden cry for help was heard.
I snapped out of my thoughts as I rushed to the sound for help. I was about to report what happen to my men, but when I got to the source of the screaming there was nothing there at all. "I must be hallucinating." I said as I looked at the time. I only had thirty-minutes left until my shift was over. I shine my light at the empty black abyss of the sea night to see if there were any stranded ships or sailors. That is when I saw a sinking ship with a small pirate boat, the one that was in my report, next to it...
I go and signal off the alarm to wake up my men, but it was already too late. The men on their ship, which was called "The Charybdis", already started to border ours. I heard gunshots everywhere as I fired back at the pirates. I couldn't do anything but hide behind the protecting cover. I felt helpless as I heard the screams and cries of men for help. Many bullets went through my feet and hands as I fell to the ground dying. They drag me out to the cover, and I see all of my men dead on the floor as a man, wearing a blue mask and black jacket, were chopping their limbs off one by one. I could see him smiling as he was chopping their limbs since the mask didn't cover his mouth.
Now I'm here surrounded by the group of men who did this. They all seem to be wearing a mask similar to a mythology monster, Scylla. "What was their purpose? Why are they doing this?" I thought as I lay helplessly on the floor. Suddenly four of the men stretched out my arms and legs while they were tying me up to a piece wood. I stared at their hideous masks as they were opening up my body. Screaming from the pain, those men were slowly taking away my organs. Before everything went black, the last thing I saw was the barrel of a pistol. Suddenly I woke up.
I woke up gasping for air. "What is wrong captain?" A crew member of mine asked. "Nothing..." I said. "I just had that same dre-" I stopped at mid sentence as I saw the small boat in my dream. I pointed my scope at the ship called the Charybdis.