Unusable Lockers

It has been an average day, really. History class dragged on for way too long. Math was not any better. The last thing I wanted was to do a science test, which unfortunately I did not study for. Which I am pretty sure I failed. At least it was near the end of the year. I could enjoy a much-needed holiday. I grab my books out of my locker, checking my surroundings as I knew that at any moment, I could get bumped into by one of the massive dudes. When I say massive, I really mean massive. They went to the gym daily. Huge muscular arms that appear from each side of their black singlets.

They were the type of people who smashed things for fun by punching it as hard as they could. I knew it was best to just avoid them. Even the teachers were frightened of them.

As they walked pass today, they went down the hall of unused lockers. Why were they unused? Because them gorillas dented each one of them. Now about thirty students each year do not have a locker. The thugs used the hall as their hang out spot, which was fine by everyone else at the school because that way everyone could usually avoid them too.

I thought today was going to be just like every other day, but one moment changed everything for me. As the group of muscles passed me through the hallway again, going to their classes, I notice a black book in the back pocket of one of the dude’s oversize pants. One of the dude’s friends gives him a punch in his large shoulder, causing the book to fall out of his pocket. He did not notice. None of them did. They were then gone, leaving me and a couple of others alone at their lockers. I look around, no one else saw the book drop out of the thug’s pocket. I walk over to the book on the floor. It is a black notebook. I flip through it, to my disappointment, it is empty. I do not know why I am surprised, the group could barely read, let alone write a complete sentence. I kept flipping through the pages. Still nothing. Just a complete empty lined note pad. That is, until I reach the final page. Written was A26 and under that the numbers 16 71 27 and 11.

It takes me a minute to figure out what it was. But after realising it looked like what I had written down in my home class book, I figured it was the padlock code for locker A26. I knew I was breaking a school rule, but my interest has been peaked. I knew that locker A26 was in the unused locker hall, where the group hung out. All the lockers were very damaged, so breaking into one without knowing the padlock code would be too easy. Why write the code down to a locker that is probably beaten up and unusable? I also knew that walking down the hall is very dangerous and stupid, anyone caught in their “hang out” spot would get beat up. They had all left now though, so maybe they would not find out. As I had remembered, all the lockers are so dented and beaten that they would be useless to use. Large holes. Pieces of metal bent so badly that it could easily cut you if you rubbed against it. I scan for locker A26. To my surprise, it was not dented at all. It was in fine condition, basically new. Every other locker was beaten, so it was very confusing. I knew there was no turning back now, I opened the padlock with the digits from the book.

The locker creaks open. There, sitting at the bottom of the locker is a plastic shopping bag. I turn my head to see if anyone is watching me. Nope. I am all alone now; everyone has left for the day. I hesitate for a moment until I finally peak inside the plastic bag. My eyes widen, my heart beats and my mouth waters. Did I just hit the jackpot? I quickly organise my school bag a bit better so I can fit the plastic bag inside my school bag.

I shut the locker, lock the padlock, and quickly dart away to walk home. My school bag is now a whole lot heavier, which is not a surprise since I now have large stacks of hundreds sitting at the bottom of my school bag. As soon as I get home, I rush up to my room. My heart is still beating way too fast, my mind is all over the place. What can I do with all this money? What would a sixteen-year-old boy do with so much money? I start to count all the money, using my school calculator.

My jaw dropped once I counted it all. Twenty thousand dollars. Holy cow! How did them thugs get all this money? Suddenly the sound of my mother walking up the stairs causes me to panic. How could I explain all this money on my bed? Quickly, I grab each ends of my blanket to create a temporary bag to carry all the money. I pour the mountain of money inside of my walk-in closet and quickly flick the blanket back onto my bed. Mom enters the room with a bowl of noodles.

“Hungry,”? She asks.

I nod and she passes me the bowl of noodles. My eyes dart over to my walk-in closet door. A single hundred-dollar note is lying on the floor against the closet. It must have slid pass me when I had dumped all the money inside. Luckily for me, my mother leaves the room. I sigh of relief. As I eat my noodles, I think hard about what I could do with the money. I knew for sure that it does not belong to the group of thugs. They must have stolen it. If that is the case, should I hand it to the police? What if I do not tell anyone about it and just use it to buy things? Would that be wrong? Yes, it would, cannot do that. I lay on my bed. I decide I will not touch the money; I will wait until holidays to figure out what to do with it. At school, the group of thugs seem to be angry. Of course, I knew why. They kept going around threatening people for information. Hoping to find out if anyone knew who went into the hall of unused lockers. I must admit, I am scared. They might find out it is me. Thankfully, today I was never confronted. I hope I can make it to school holidays. At home I decided to clean my room a bit, hoping to find a better place to stash all the money. While picking up some paper from the floor, I come across a handwritten note:

Meet behind the Swan Cinema Wednesday night (the 25th of November) at 8PM for the exchange. Bring the cash.

The note must have been inside the plastic bag with all the money. My guess is that when I dumped all the money on the bed, I threw the paper onto the floor thinking it was just one of my random school notes.

The note is written in very neat handwriting, so I knew it was not written by any of the school thugs. The 25th of November is tomorrow. My eyes widen. I reread the note heaps of times, forming a plan. A very good plan. A plan to get revenge. A plan to get revenge on the group who have been terrorising the school for three years now.

There is no doubt in my mind that the group were up to something illegal. I have heard many stories from friends about the kind of stuff them thugs get up to. Terrible stuff that upset the town. Tomorrow it all ends.

After the day of 25th, I get to school. The last day of school for the year. As I had suspected, the group were not there. Of course, they were not. They were arrested last night. How do I know this? Well, I secretly recorded the whole thing. An hour before 8PM last night, I brought my camera and hid it inside the bushes and faced it so it would show the whole back of Swan Cinema. I had sent an anonymous tip to the town police. In the video it showed the group of thugs and another new person. Another mean looking dude carrying a large case. Four police show up and they were all caught. I could not really see what exactly they were busted for, but they all were arrested. I do not think I would be seeing the thugs any time soon. For the rest of the final day before holidays, I keep a huge grin on my face. One of my friends ask me why I have it. I just tell them that I was excited for the holidays. Rumours floated around during the day too. Rumours that the group of thugs were arrested because of a huge drug raid. They were planning to buy a whole lot of drugs to abuse during the holidays. What did I do with the money you probably are asking? That I will not tell you. What I will tell you, though, is that after holidays ended, something about the school was different. All the broken lockers had been replaced with brand new ones. Now everyone has a locker this year. The school principal said someone had anonymously donated twenty thousand to the school asking to use the money to get new lockers. I wonder “who” that was.