The Young One

I am the youngest person on a submarine that is full of adults, yet here I am. I am only a teenager. A teenager whose father has dumped so he doesn't have to be saddled with him. A teenager whose mother abandoned because she didn't want to be a mom. I am a teenager who tries to act like an adult because I am in a place where I can't act like my age. I am a fifteen-year-old genius who already has a college degree. I am fifteen years' old who wonders why I am still here.

Not just here, you know, on this boat, but why am I here, still living. I have thought about it. My parents both feel like I am a burden to them. I am smarter than most people my age. I have always hated my life so why haven't I've done something about it. I just haven't had the courage to do so.

So why am I still thinking about it. Yes, I might be a teenager on a submarine full of adults. I might be a teenager whose parents abandoned him. I might be a teenager who already has a college degree. And I might be a teenager who might also happen to be a genius.

But what's different about now, then before I got on this submarine. The difference is that I know that there are people out there who care about me. People who love me because of who I am and not because I am a genius. The difference is that I am different now. I don't feel as alone and vulnerable as before. I don't feel as abandoned and weird as before. I might still be a teenager, but I make this boat full of people more like a family than as colleagues, and that may be due to me only being a teenager.

My name is Lucas Wolenczak. I am the resident genius aboard SeaQuest, a deep submergence vehicle, or in other words, a submarine. I am also the chief computer analyst and the youngest on the science crew. And I am only fifteen years old, or in other words, the young one.