When I was done, I checked everything and turned to the boy. He pointed at me and laughed.
“Do I look funny?” I asked with a smile.
The boy grinned even more and nodded his head up and down vigorously.
“Okay, I’m getting into the hatch now.” I turned the wheel on the transparent top and lifted the hatch up. Dropping down inside, I closed it with the wheel on the opposite side.
The boy walked over towards me and put his thumbs up. I nodded and reciprocated and then the boy disappeared. For a quick second, I wondered if I had been tricked, but then I felt the floor beneath me drop and I fell into the comforting cold water of the Pacific Ocean.
Checking both directions, I chose to swim backward away from the submersible so the students in the sub wouldn’t see me. I turned on the navigation system and was warmly greeted by the A.I. I set my course for the restricted beach and headed in that direction.
I was so used to the propulsion device that I became impatient at how I didn’t seem to have any progress towards my goal. A few great white sharks swam nearby me and I panicked for a second, but then remembered the camouflage mechanism of the suit was now fixed and nothing could see me.
It felt like hours, but I made it to the surface and crawled up onto the beach so exhausted that all I could do was splay out on my back, heaving in the magnificent air I was so accustomed to. Reaching up, I tore off my itchy face makeup, revealing my own skin beneath it.
Breathing in deeply, I slowly let the air out and sucked in more oxygen. My muscles felt like jelly. I didn’t know if they’d ever move for me again. I know I laid there for at least an hour trying to get some strength back into my limbs. They all threatened to cramp up on me and I just didn’t know what else to do other than wait it out.
When I was certain I could walk again, I scrambled to my feet and went directly to the rabbit hole. I found my bike and unearthed it. My legs screamed out in pain as I rode the several miles back to the house. It was only an hour or two before sunset that it came into view. Police cruisers were on the driveway and I found the strength in my wobbly legs to run when I saw them.
Flinging my bike onto the dead yellow grass of the front yard, I jumped the steps onto the porch and burst through the front door. Dashing into the house I yelled, “Gran?”
“Alexandria?” came a voice riddled with sobs.
“Gran?” I ran into the living room to see her surrounded by a couple of her friends and a few police officers.
“Oh, my dear granddaughter, my baby.” Gran scrambled to her feet off the couch, stumbled over, and embraced me so tight my lungs were squeezed empty.
I wheezed slightly as I tried to speak. “Gr…a…n…I…ca…ca,”
She must have gotten the message because she released me and grabbed my face in both her hands instead. “Oh, Alexandria, I was so worried. I was beginning to think the worst. I started seeing you lying in a ditch somewhere or trapped in a hole in the ground, or locked in some sicko’s room. My mind saw so many different things.”
“It’s okay, Gran. I’m fine, I escaped.”
Gran’s chestnut brown eyes widened. “Escaped from where?”
Hearing that, the police barged in on our grandmother-granddaughter moment. “Who kidnapped you, miss? Can you give us instructions on where to find them?”
My eyes drifted from Gran to the police and back again. I took both of Gran’s hands in mine and led her over to sit on the couch with me. “Gran, I’m going to tell you what happened to me, but you have to listen closely with an open-mind.”
“Oh, no.” Gran released my hand and cradled her forehead instead, shaking her head back and forth, as more tears welled in her eyes.
“I went to this place called Oceania. It’s…” I paused and sighed quickly, garnering the strength to tell the truth even though it sounded like something from a dream. “It’s an underwater city.”
Gran’s brow furrowed and she immediately removed her hand from her face and placed it on my forehead.
“Gran, I’m not sick. I’ve been going to Oceania for months now with Dylan. He’s from there. We’ve been hanging out in the city and I’ve been learning so much about it. It’s off the restricted beach just north of here. We’ve been having a great time. I’ve been going there almost every day for weeks, but they found out about me. They found out I was a Land Dweller so they captured me and imprisoned both Dylan and me. We just barely escaped thanks to a couple of friends of his.”
“Alexandria, what happened to you?”
“Ma’am, if I can suggest something. I think whatever happened to your granddaughter over the past couple of days must have been so traumatic that she has invented this story to cover up the horrors she must have seen. We’ve seen this in several severe cases of kidnapping.”
“I’m not making this up!” I shouted to the police officer. His black hair stuck smartly outside of his police hat and his blue eyes held pity in them for me as if I had gone crazy. I turned to Gran. “Really, Gran, I’m not making this up. It really happened.”
“Allie, my poor baby.” Her tears began to fall freely down her face as she rubbed my cheek.
