The Secret Millionaire

The Secret Millionaire

            As I was sitting in front of the senior stairs I saw an unattended book bag. I went to see if it had someone’s identification in it. When I opened the bag, I saw a note. The note explained that it was my bag to keep. The book bag contained a map of the school. There was a second note. The second note had instructions on how to get a 1943 penny. A letter was attached to the map. So I began reading it.

                        Dear Treasure Hunter,

                                Congratulations upon finding this abandoned book bag. There is a

                        treasure of a 1943 penny down in Morristown High School’s secret room.

                        I couldn’t complete the mission because I needed a key to enter in the                                room. I know the penny is there because the principal confirmed it when I                           asked her in the auditorium.

                                  This penny is special because in the year 1943 only 11 pennies were              made. Four years ago the National Mint located in Washington D.C.                           agreed to give anyone one million dollars to anyone who gave them one of                        those 1943 pennies.

                                   So it’s your chance to get yourself some cash. Remember if you get                         caught, the school could give you 45 days of OSS. Good Luck.

                                                                                                            From,

                                                                                                               Unknown Person

            I decided that I was going to participate in the treasure hunt. First I needed to get that key. That’s when I realized that there was Quicky Mikey. Quicky had a discrete business in the boys’ bathroom on the third floor. His business functions from 2:30 to 3:30. His nickname is Quicky because he can get you items really fast. He has a large book bag full of keys for lockers and classrooms, hall passes, the Morristown High School Wi-Fi password, tickets for school events, usable identification cards, parking passes, answers to tests and much more. He also has his laptop with him to hack into the school’s network. With that access he can change report card grades, clear detentions off the permanent record, change the school’s lunch menus and also change teachers’ lesson plans by hacking into their account. Quicky also has connections if a student is in the search of something else.

            The time was 2:57. I waited enough time to get the coast clear. Without creating any suspicion I went into the boys’ bathroom and I began knocking on the stall door.

            “Who is it?” Quicky asked mysteriously.  

            “It’s me John T.” I said.

            “What up dude. I guess it’s my first time making business with you. How can I hook you up?” asked Quicky in a surprised voice.

            “I need a master key to enter any room in this building and an identification card as if I were the superintendent.” I answered.

            “Well dude you gave me a hard task.” said Mikey with a grin.

I was hoping to get the key and identification card. Quicky was searching through his book bag when finally he took out a key that had to be the universal one. After five minutes of waiting he also found the special identification card. I was worried  about getting caught.

“How much?” I asked.

“Well 10 for the key and 15 for the card. Do you have the cash?” Quicky questioned.

“I do and here.” I said as I gave him the 25 bucks.

“Why do you need it?” asked Quicky.

“I saw a nice football in the gym and I wanted it. Anyways thanks for the help.” I lied as I replied.

“Nice making business with you.” Quicky said.

I left the bathroom and I had one more place to go to, which was Dover.

So I took the train from Morristown to Dover. Dover is like New Jersey’s motor city. I came to this town to check a specialty parts store for cars. I walked a mile until I reached this shop on route 46. At the shop I asked for a license plate glower. A license plate glower is a sneaky way to get by tolls for free. When a car passes a toll without paying, a camera takes a picture of the license plate. This glower shines when a camera takes a picture of it so the police can’t figure out which person passed the toll for free. I decided I was going to spray myself with this glower so the security guard wouldn’t actually see my face on the school’s camera. At the shop I invested 100 bucks for this glower. This might have been excessive, but I was going to become rich. I took the next train to Morristown. The time was 7:30 pm and it was night time. I decided that this was going to be the day.

This was an unusual day because normally the school isn’t totally abandoned at 8:00 pm. I knew that at all times there’s security in the front and back atriums. The dead stairway was my only option to enter into the school. With the help of the key, I got the door to open, but I still needed to know where the penny actually was. On the map I had three ways to get onto the underground level. There was an entrance through the girls’ locker room bathroom. Another option was to go through the custodians’ room by the elevator on the first floor and take a flight of stairs down below. My last option was to go through a secret elevator in the principal’s office. I saw that my best option was to go through the custodians’ room. That’s what I did. As I was walking by the back atrium, I heard footsteps and a man singing. So I dashed into the girls’ bathroom. It was awkward but worth it. After five minutes I peeked out the door and I saw the coast was clear. Quickly I dashed into the custodians’ room.

The room was dark. So I used the light from my keychain and cell phone to shine my path. For some reason the custodians’ room was not locked. In the room I saw lumber and desks that students normally used. Next to a desk was a janitor’s broom. This could come in handy for me. I unhooked the bristle part and I only kept the stick. At the far corner of the room was a door. That was it. I opened the door with the handy key. As I opened the door, there were stairs going downward. I bet a security guard has already detected me, but luckily he can’t see my face. Finally, I reached the end of the stairs. I took a right exit because the left one is an expressway into the girls’ locker room. I kept on walking rapidly. After a minute of walking quickly I came across the exit that leads into the principal’s office. As always I was determined to keep moving forward. At last I reached the secret room. As I expected, I needed an authorized identification card.  I put the card against the scanner and it said access permitted. Again I was encountered by another door. This time it asked for a regular key. I managed to open it and there it was lying in the middle of the floor next to a 1944 penny. I knew that there were invisible lasers. So I used the broomstick by laying it on the ground. Slowly I pushed the penny towards me. I was excited, but it turned out to be a 1944 penny. I repeated the same process and finally that 1943 penny was in my hands. I was taking a risk so I ran as fast as I could to take the girls’ locker room exit. After two minutes of running, I was in the girls’ locker room to take the nearest exit to get out of school.

As I reached home I thought the risk that I took wasn’t that brave. I came home and told my mom a story about having been at a game I was invited to and I went to sleep. In the morning I decided that I was going to ditch school and go to the nation’s capital. The 1943 penny was safe in my wallet. I took out my birthday money to buy the train ticket. My parents didn’t know what had just happened to me. As I was walking to the train station I passed by the school and I saw the school surrounded by cops. I could assume why they were there. I kept my cool and just kept walking. I reached the train station and I went from Morristown to New York. At Penn Station I took an Amtrak train to Washington D.C. The trip cost me 75 dollars. I took a taxi from the terminal to the US Mint. I went to the information center.

A man took me into a sound proof office. He checked out the penny. The examination was crucial because he was checking to make sure it wasn’t false. He told me that I was the seventh person coming in with that 1943 penny. The man was kind because I told him that I didn’t want any publicity. He accepted that request. The check was made out to me. As soon as he gave me the check, I went to Valley National bank to deposit it. With my remaining birthday money, I took a train back to New York City and another one to Morristown. That was how my birthday money was invested. When I came home at six I told my mom that jazz band practice was three hours long due to a concert that we were going to have in the city. She randomly asked me if I actually met Justin Bieber in person. I said no. My mom said that with all the cops in school why would I want to meet him. That was when I realized that the cops were surrounding the school during the morning because the singer was going to be there and they weren’t searching for the penny after all. This has been my story on how I became the secret millionaire.

                                                                                                   By: Jonathan Torres