May the 12th was a cold and windy day for Verner's Public School. Particularly for a 12-year-old boy named Timothy, who had decided to walk around all day with a pair of shorts and a shirt bearing the brand Quiksilver. Timothy was not at all bothered by the name, focusing more on how cold he felt.
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Timothy Bryant was born and raised in Soho by a rich couple. He experienced more money than the average child, and for his third birthday received a Lamborghini Gallardo for when he was able to drive.
But why is he receiving education in a public school, you ask?
Well, the tale of Timothy Bryant is a sad one.
On the 24th of September 2013, Timothy was walking home from the bus, when he saw something that would scar his life forever: the mansion in which he lived appeared to be ablaze.
He sprinted the last 50 metres to his house, but it was too late to save his Gallardo. Only when he saw the burnt wreck of his super-car did he think of his parents, and how they would die in the fire. Half of him wanted to be a hero and run into the burning house, and the other half wanted to go into a corner and cry for a little while. Timothy decided that crying was the better option.
After the incident, he was informed that his beloved Lamborghini (and his parents) had died in the blaze. He was put in the care of his grandparents, who hoped to inherit some of the wealth his parents had, but it seemed that it had all been donated to a charity. Thus, his grandparents could not afford to keep him in a private school.
Today, there were no remnants of his car or his mother or father, and Timothy was very happy to stay in public education.
As he slowly strolled down the corridors of Verner's Public School, Timothy wondered if he could somehow go underground and find some sort of treasure that could restore his family's money. Gold, was all he wanted. Lots and lots of gold.
'Hey Tim!' came the loud, rasping voice of his good friend Jason Finn. 'Come look at this!'
Timothy jogged over to Jason to see what lay in his outstretched hands. Inside it was a sliver of gold.
'Found this when we was gold panning!' Jason said proudly, who never was that good at grammar.
Timothy wanted to snatch the gold, but thought better. Today was the day, the day that he and Jason would become adventurers, and the best in the world.
'Never mind that,' Timothy said. 'You ready?'
'For what?' Jason replied, also known for his terrible memory.
'To go underground and become rich!' Timothy exclaimed.
'Oh, yeah. Let's do it!' said Jason with a lot less bravado than it had sounded in his head.
And the two ran down the hallways toward the spot where Timothy had found a loose floorboard, revealing a manhole. He and Jason put their hands on either end of the manhole and pulled with all their might. It eventually yielded, and from it came a horrible smell.
'That's pungent!' Timothy cried, covering his nose.
But there was no turning back, only forward.
Jason grabbed his bag, which was filled with useful tools, and clambered down the manhole and into the sewers. Timothy went down after him with his trusty torch, which was actually proving to be untrustworthy, because it kept cutting out.
As he shone his torch around, he could study the eighteenth-century stone tunnel. It was washed with excrement, but even with that it looked like a marvel.
Timothy signalled Jason to follow, and the friends disappeared into the maze of tunnels.
After half an hour or so of walking along, they came to some sort of intersection. Timothy's sense told him to go straight ahead, so he did, but Jason had other ideas.
'I think we should go right,' he said, looking proud for some reason. 'It's the best way to me.'
'No, we should stick to the main tunnel,' Timothy replied. 'It's safer.'
'No way. Right is the best way to go.'
'Then we split up. But if either of us find something, it's still half each, okay?'
'Okay, man.'
So, the two boys went off in completely different directions, with no idea where Timothy's theorized gold would be. But Jason's adventure was immediately cut short by a grate, which, even for his slim frame, was too small to squeeze through.
He ran back down to the intersection to find another tunnel. Even in the other tunnel, there was another grate. Jason wanted to grab the glory for himself and become the hero, but his luck had run out.
Back in the main sewer, Timothy made steady progress, and thought that within the next few minutes surely there would be some sort of crack. But, as he neared the hundred metre mark, his dreams were crushed by a big steel grate.
In frustration, Timothy punched the wall once, then twice, and on the third time, he struck gold. Literally.
As Timothy rubbed his bleeding knuckles, he was extremely surprised to find that the wall he had punched was actually gold, and it proved to be a pressure plate. The wall fell away revealing a dimly-lit room, which had lots of sacks inside it. He couldn't believe it was true.
'Jason!' he screamed, happiness making his voice an octave higher. 'I found it man, I found it!'
The tunnel echoed with footsteps as Jason sprinted down it towards a smiling Timothy. They scrambled inside, and each ripped open the sacks.
Inside, was the thing he had waited so long for. The thing that would make him known as "Timothy the Plunderer" was waiting right inside his hand. He had found it. He had found gold.
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