In the Name of Calypso

Chapter 5 - Death

    Lee felt a sense of relief and happiness that he had most likely saved that man’s life. 

    Lee continued to slice off the heads of the dead sailors, all of them dropping like flies to the ground. When the last one was finally on the ground barely moving it’s fingers, Lee smiled in satisfaction. He then turned and started to shout for Gaara. 

    “Gaaaaara? Come out! I beat them all!” Lee said, putting his sword back in its sheath. 

    He walked around the whole of the island, surprised to see that he couldn’t find Gaara anywhere. Lee started to become more and more worried. Lee ran to the outer rim of the island, yet again going around looking for Gaara, hoping he just missed a spot. While walking, Lee stumbled upon a part in the sand that didn’t feel the same as everywhere else. His feet didn’t sink into the sand as far as everywhere else. He walked forward, back, left, and right. It seemed to be just a square of sand that felt harder. 

    He knelt down, brushing the sand away and finding that there was apparently wood right in that area. 

    “Did those… They did not…” Lee mumbled, brushing away more sand. 

    He was glad to realize that they didn’t bury Gaara. It was a trapdoor in the sand. He grabbed the rusty handle and pulled it open. It opened up into a room that had a ladder going down into it. Besides the ladder and the floor, Lee couldn’t see anything past that, meaning he had to go inside, and he honestly didn’t want to. It was extremely dark, and that meant he couldn’t see. If he couldn’t see, then how would he know if there was danger inside or not? 

    He finally decided, after almost an hour of conflicted feelings towards going inside, he would go. He turned and went down the ladder, his back facing the room. He was almost scared to turn around, and he had a reason to be. When he turned around, the bloody, sagged, and wet face of a sailor was hanging upside down in front of him. He jumped and yelled, running into the ladder that was literally right behind him. 

    “Lee?” Gaara asked from behind the body. 

    “Gaara??” Lee responded, going around the body and looking for Gaara in the dark room. Lee could barely make it out, but he realized there were shelves in the room. 

He couldn’t see what was on the shelves because whatever it was, it was too dark-colored to tell. He then jumped, yet again, because something grabbed his arm harshly. 

“Lee, I’m so- I mean, I’m- Um… Thanks for finding me,” Gaara muttered, holding onto Lee’s arm tightly. Lee could just barely make out the color of Gaara’s messy hair, but it was a little easier than trying to make out everything else because Gaara was so close. Lee could feel Gaara’s breath on his shoulder, which was a little uncomfortable. 

    “Why is that sailor upside down… and… Dead?” Lee asked, staring over his shoulder at the sailor. 

    “I didn’t do it…. He just suddenly died… Then I put him upside down just in case he wasn’t actually dead…. I got scared and hid in the back of this place,” Gaara explained, his voice breaking in certain places because he was so shaken. Lee sighed. 

    “Come on, Gaara, let us go before he comes back from the dead again and tries to bite us,” Lee said, leading Gaara out of the room and up the ladder. 

    When Lee finally got out, the sun blinded him, even though it was almost sunset. The image of the sun hanging just above the water would forever hang in the back of Lee’s memory. He loved sunsets on the water. That was one of the reasons he was so passionate about the sea.