A Small Spark

Stephen

The tension in the submarine was palpable following Gee’s daughter. The man would not talk or even look at Mason, Julie, and Stephen. No one had ever died for Stephen before. She was just a kid and she died because of him. She did not deserve that.

In the week following Gee’s daughter’s death, Mason, Julie, and Stephen kept primarily to themselves, not speaking to anyone else on the submarine more than necessary. Besides, no one really wanted to talk to them after all that had happened.

The three of them never much left one another’s side. They sat at meals together, were ignored by everyone else together. One day, Mason, Stephen, and Julie were sitting in Mason and Stephen’s room. “I’m really tired of everyone ignoring us,” Mason stated.

“We killed Gee’s daughter,” Stephen mumbled in reply. “It is what it is.”

“That’s really a very pessimistic way to look at it,” Julie interjected. Stephen shrugged, he really did not have the energy required to believe that everything was going to be okay.

“Well, that’s it,” continued Mason, standing up. “I’ve had enough of this.” With that, he turned around and marched to the control room. Julie and Stephen followed, mostly because they were insanely curious as to what was going to happen.

Captain Thomas and a handful of the crew, including Theodore Allen, were standing there talking quietly.

“Hey,” Mason shouted, drawing the eyes of everyone there to look at them. “Alright, listen, I got something to say, alright? You guys can keep walking around and actin’ like we don’t exist and all. But here’s the thing: we didn’ mean for Gee’s daughter to die. I told her to stay away while I ran in, but she followed me. She had guts, alright. Now, you can keep actin’ like jerks, you could at least acknowledge our existence.” Silence answered him. “Also I sign your paychecks,” Mason added.

When Captain Thomas smirked at that last remark, the rest of the crew eased off of them. The tension flew away. Mason smiled at them proudly.

Mason had always been like that. He was probably the greatest person who ever lived, but no one knew it. He was the kind of person to walk into a full elevator and not turn around to look at the doors like everyone else. He had no understanding of social norms, and that was just fine with him. He was the kind of person who would see trash on the ground in the park, pick it up, and see if it was edible before eventually throwing it away.

At Homecoming, their senior year, he made it his mission to be the background of every photo that was taken that evening. He was braver than just about anybody.

For their high school prom, Mason got up the courage to ask Marci Jackson to prom. Marci was probably the most popular girl at their high school. They had grown up with her and while she was popular, she was insanely smart. But sometimes, she acted like a jerk around the other popular kids. She was one of those girls from Mean Girls. (Again, he only ever watched these movies because Julie wanted to.)

So, when Mason asked her, in front of all her friends, to the prom with a bouquet of roses, she took the roses and said sarcastically, “Yeah, right. I’m going to blow off my boyfriend for you.”

To this day, Stephen was not sure if Mason thought it would be funny, or if he wanted to teach her a lesson, or if he really believed she meant it, but he showed up at her house with a limousine before the prom. She was surprised, but after laughing, she finally agreed, which made her boyfriend really angry.

But that was Mason in a nutshell. He really just did what he wanted and did not care what people thought about him.

That night, when they all crowded in the dining area for dinner, Mr. Allen walked over and sat with them. They all sat there for a little while before Julie broke the silence.

“How are you enjoying the expedition, Dr. Allen?” Her voice was full of respect, like how she used to talk to their old school teachers.

“It has been an interesting trip, Miss Garcia, certainly one that I did not foresee.” That was the understatement of the country. No one really knew how to respond to that. “May I ask,” continued Dr. Allen, “how long have you been looking for the Lost City?”

They all glanced at each other. How could anyone really explain something like that? Dr. Allen notice their interaction, and he smiled regardless.

“My father always believed in Atlantis,” he said. “He had this wall full of articles and theories of the existence of Atlantis. Said he would find it one day. My brother thought he was raving mad, but I disagreed. I believed him. When he died, I told him that one day I would find the city for him.”

“That’s why you stuck up for me against the captain?” Stephen asked him. He nodded.

“He was the reason I decided to become a marine biologist.” He laughed a little to himself. “They all thought I was crazy for believing in it. Said that it was just a myth.”

“Sometimes,” Julie spoke out, “the greatest things in life are the things we can’t see with our eyes.”

“Quite true, Miss Garcia.” It was then that Stephen decided he could tell him about the truth. He trusted Dr. Allen. Stephen told him everything they knew, how they had been looking for years, how they were going to find his parents.

Instead of excitement, like Stephen had expected from him, he just stared at him in disbelief. “You think there is life on Atlantis, Mr. Lewis?”

“Yes, sir,” Stephen replied.

“Stephen,” he began, “I must disagree with you. There cannot possibly be life on Atlantis. The city submerged after a tsunami hit it back in 300 B.C. No one could have possibly survived that.”

“No, sir,” Stephen answered. “The people that kidnapped me and Julie were Atlantean. People still live there.”

“You are incredibly naïve, Stephen. What proof do you have to back your claims?”

“This,” Stephen replied, pulling out the letter that his parents had sent with him. “No one in the world can translate this. Trust me, I know, I’ve tried. The word at the bottom of the page is different from the rest, it’s Greek. It means Poseidon. That’s how we know about Atlantis. The Internet is a magical place, a place where you can find almost any information you are looking for, especially if your best friends like to hack things in his free time. This word refers to the files being kept in none other than Hawk Industries.”

Dr. Allen looked over at Mason. “Your father believed?”

“He didn’t tell anyone about his secret obsession,” Mason commented. “He never even knew I hacked into his personal files.” Dr. Allen absorbed the information they gave him before sighing.

“You think you’re Atlantean?”

“No, sir,” Stephen answered him. “IknowI’m Atlantean.”

He glanced back at the letter, probably wondering why Stephen carried it in his pocket. Stephen could not explain that, why he kept the letter with him, he just did. Finally, he handed the letter back to Stephen, unbelievingly.

Suddenly, the submarine shuttered around them, and the lights flickered for a moment. Captain Thomas came running into the dining area and looked at him directly. “There’s-there’s land,” he said, like he could not believe it himself. “We-we’ve found it.”

Without hesitation, Stephen ran up to the control room where the periscope was. He looked through the small lenses. The world stopped around him. There it was.

The Lost City of Atlantis.