DeKalb Early College Academy (DECA) senior Khalil Mohhamed Siddeeq is not your average 17-year-old.

Not only will he graduate in May with a high school diploma and associate’s degree, but Siddeeq will graduate knowing he has a bright future as an author after publishing his first book. He published his first novel, “The Buried Laboratory,” through a Metro-Atlanta company, BookLogix, after winning the 2017 Young Writers Contest. He was the first male winner of the contest.

“The Buried Laboratory” is a story about a teenage boy, Rouk Sabree, who was a subject of an uneventful study designed to pull an extra-dimensional being into the physical world, but has lived his entire life being completely, slightly above average.

With the advancements of science, however, “slightly above average” will not be enough to combat the threats soon to engulf the planet. Unable to understand what is happening to him, Rouk alone is equipped to face these dangers. Yet what can he do when the only ones who understand the changes occurring within him are also those who seek to destroy everything he loves.

Siddeeq has already been accepted into Georgia State University, but he said he is also looking at other colleges, such as Chicago State University, New York University, Morehouse College and Yale University.

The print version of “The Buried Laboratory” is available on Amazon and shop.BookLogix.com, and the eBook is available on Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com and Apple iBooks.

Contributed by Carla Parker