Max Schneider was up high, in the tops of a tree that was reaching towards the ground. He was among the red and orange leaves that had been green prior to this week. He climbed branch to branch, in hopes of hiding from his sister. For he always had liked to play with her and the woods was their favorite spot. Max is wearing a black hat with a red puff ball on top that was covering his dark brown, shaggy hair. The fleece half-zip that his mom bought for him covered his arms and long cargo pants covered his legs along with a pair of black Pumas. Max knew his sister was getting close because he could hear her rain boots squishing into the mud from last night’s storm.
“Where are you?” Julie shouted, “I can’t find you!”
Max remained silent. He could see her under him. Her long strawberry blonde hair showing underneath her favorite pink ear muffs and her hands inside her matching pair of gloves. He moved slightly because there was a stump in the branch that was hurting his back, but this caused a branch to fall onto the ground below him. Max hoped that his sister would not suspect anything; however, a few moments later he could see her in the tree only a few branches underneath him. She was always good at solving mysteries.
“Found you,” she exclaimed, “my turn to hide.” Julie ran through the woods trying to find a spot before her brother’s countdown ended. She found a tree that had an opening in it. It seemed big enough for her slim and short body to fit in it. In the midst of trying to fit into the tree, she found a small briefcase inside. The briefcase was no longer than a binder and no wider than four inches. It was a dark brown colored leather and had a gold brass handle along with latches. What could be inside this briefcase? Why is it here? Should I open it?…. Lots of questions rolled through Julie’s mind.
“Julie what are you doing,” asked her brother, he saw her standing in the middle of the woods staring at the briefcase. “Let’s see what's in it!” he said, grabbing for the briefcase.
“No, what if it is something secret. I wouldn’t want someone knowing something of mine that was secret.” Julie cried.
“What if it is important, something that could help someone,” said Max, “don’t you want to help someone?”
“I guess,” Julie handed the briefcase over to her brother.  She knew her brother was probably right. Max was 11 and was a whole three years older than her. She thought he was so much older and wiser. Therefore, she always took his opinion into consideration and usually agreed with him.
Max grabbed the briefcase and brought it to the ground. He slowly unfastened it, opening the left and then the right latch. They were shiny and looked as they were almost new. Everything inside was wrapped in grey tissue paper. The first thing that Max found was a pile of money. There were around 50 one thousand dollar bills banded together.
“Woah!” Max yelled. He had never seen so much money before. At the bottom of the briefcase he found a letter. It read, “Meet me at 9, at 130 Shade Blvd. tomorrow.”
“What should we do with this stuff,” his sister asked, “I think that we should keep it.” She always loved mysteries and wanted to be a part of one. She loved having to figure something out, that’s why she was so good at math.
Max thought about how strange the things in the briefcase looked. Why would there be loads of money with a note asking someone to meet late at night on it? He wondered.
“Ok let’s take the things.” Max replied.
“Alright, but can we leave now, I am getting hungry.” Julie replied.
Max and Julie left the woods. They took turns breaking the thin twigs with their feet as they walked back home. With each break it made a snapping sound. They both loved being able to feel strong, as their weight allowed the twigs to break.
All night the things in the briefcase pondered in Max’s mind. He told his sister not to tell their parents about the letter. He thought that he could definitely tell his teacher at school because he could trust her. Max was very shy and had no close friends. The only thing that made him want to go to school was his teacher. Max loved her, she was so kind and she listened to him. She was also very easy to talk to, which was great for him because he had a hard time connecting to people and a reason why he had no friends. Max wanted to know what his teacher would do about the letter. He knew that she would make a good decision and that is why he trusted her so much. His family was in a rough spot financially, he could tell because they stopped buying him nice Christmas presents and surprising him will small toys when he got good grades. Max was scared that if told his parents about the money that they would make him give it to them to keep. Max loved his parents, but he knew sometimes they make wrong decisions. After relaxing, knowing that he would tell his teacher, Max felt his eyes getting heavy. He was tucked under his quilted comforter and sheets and his head lay on his firm pillow as he drifted asleep.
“Wake up, wake up!” Julie jumped up on down on Max as he woke up.
“Good morning,” said Max as he slowly began to open his eyes.
“Max,” Julie said quietly, “what are you going to do about the briefcase?”
Even though she was young, she was old enough to understand how important what they found was.
“I’ll take care of it.” said Max, he would tell his teacher at school and this made Julie feel a little less nervous.
“Are you sure?” Julie asked.
“Yes,” responded Max, “now go get ready for school.”
Julie left, skipping out of the room.
Max started to get ready for the day, slipping his tattered blue jeans onto his legs and his red and white striped t-shirt over his head. It fit him loosely, just how he liked it. He went into his bathroom. In his bathroom, he quickly brushed his teeth with his toothbrush that had Lightning McQueen on it and combed out his long hair that tangled easily if it wasn’t brushed. He left his room and went down the hallway to the kitchen. It had only the necessities in it. A stove, microwave, sink, oven and a fridge. It also contained one cabinet that was just big enough to fit all of their food in it. He prepared his sister and himself breakfast. Both of his parents worked night jobs, so he was responsible for getting Julie ready for bed and school. Today they were having Lucky Charms. They only had special cereal on Mondays because it made the day better.
Before long Julie came out into the kitchen wearing her favorite dress she found at Goodwill. It was baby pink and had sequins all over the bodice. The skirt has lace ruffles on it and poofed out from her legs. She was so happy when she wore that dress. It made her feel like a princess.
“All ready?” asked Max as he poured the cereal into plastic bowls.
“Yup,” she responded “I can’t wait for school today, Mrs. Buildings said that we would watch a movie today.”
I wish I got to watch a movie, thought Max, he has a science test today.
When the clock turned 8:00, they left their house to go to school. Their school started at 8:30 and it only took them ten minutes to walk. Max planned out in his head how he would talk to his teacher. Max wanted to speak with her before school to make sure that the conflict got resolved.  As soon Max got to school, he went to Mrs. Kersher’s room.
“Hello Max, how was your weekend?” she asked.
“Fine, there is something I need to tell you.” Max responded.
“Ok what is it?” Mrs. Kerscher questioned. 
Max took out the letter from the briefcase and handed it to his teacher.
“What is this?” she asked, as she read the letter. All of a sudden her eyes light up. “Where did you get this?”
“Julie and I found it in the woods in a briefcase along with a lot of money.” said Max.
“I need to get this to the police immediately,” she exclaimed, “why didn’t you tell your parents?”
“I thought that they would try and keep the money.” Max added.
“Oh Max, I’m so sorry.” Mrs. Kerscher said quietly, from what Max told her about his family she assumed he was right.
Mrs. Kerscher went to her desk and pulled out ther cellphone. She dialed the local police station and notified them what was going on. She then phoned the office and explained the issue. The office decided to dismiss the students home except for Julie and Max.
When the police officers arrived Max and Julie told them exactly what they found. They told them about everything, the money, briefcase and letter.
“I appreciate your honesty,” said the kind police officer, “I will let you know what comes out of this case.”
“Can I ask sir, when you will go to the address?” asked Max
“We will go an hour before the time written on the letter, this will give us enough time to watch for anyone that comes to the site.”
Max and Julie left the school to go home, they noticed the ten police cars that were parked outside of the school. They did not believe that what they found would cause so much attention. I’m going to find out what is happening at this address, thought Max.
As soon as Max got home he got changed, packed a backpack full of supplies and left for the door.
“I’m leaving,” he yelled.
“Where are you going?” asked Julie.
“I will be back soon,” he answered, “do not tell mom or dad that I left, I promise you I will be fine and be home soon. Make sure you get your homework done and there is pizza in the fridge you can heat up for dinner.”
“Ok,” she replied.
Max headed out. He plugged the address into his phone and hopped on his bike. Max soon realized that his destination was only a few blocks from his house, somehow he knew it wasn’t a coincidence. After ten minutes of biking, he pulled up the a large, abandoned building. It was tall with around four stories and was built with grey bricks. It looked like it used be an old factory with barbed wire around it and a stone driveway. Max looked on his watch, it read four o'clock, that meant that he had approximately three hours until the police would show up.
He started by walking around the building just to examine it. This building was surrounded by trees, so he made sure he was unseen by hiding in bushes as we ran around. He noticed how eerie and creepy this location was. This would be a great place to meet in secret, he thought to himself. He was doing a great job of staying quiet until he stepped on a twig and it snapped. Just like the twigs snapped the other day in the woods when he and his sister were playing. Although this time it was not the object to make the most noise.
“In here!” yelled a young girl’s voice.
Max looked around but could see no one.
“Look through the window!” screamed the girl.
Sure enough as Max looked through the window that was in front of him, he saw a girl maybe 12 or so sticking her head as far as she could out of it, trying to be seen. Max ran as fast as he could to her, but soon backed away wondering if he would get caught.
“It’s ok,” she stated, “he’s gone.”
Soon Max recognized the girl, it was the one that had been missing for a few months now and the police just recently presumed her dead. Max took a knife that he packed in his backpack and threw it into the slightly open window, shattering it. Once the window was open, he cut the rope that tied her hands together.
“Ok now get me out of here!” she exclaimed.
Max helped her jump out of the window and they sprinted as far as they could into the woods where they would not be seen. As soon as they were safe, Max took out the phone, called 911 and told them everything. He could not believe what just happened.
“Thank you so much.” the girl exclaimed, “I’ve been stuck in there forever.
“You’re welcome.” Max added uneasily, everything to him felt like a dream.
“I can’t believe you found the briefcase!” said the girl.
“Wait, how do you know about that?” question Max.
“Because I planted it,” the girl replied.
“How, did you plant it?” asked Max, he had know idea how she was able to do such a thing.
“Yesterday the person who took me left, I knew that if I just kept running he would find me. He had put a tracker on me and if i was gone when he returned he would have checked it. I didn’t know where I was and all I saw was woods. I had no idea where I could find someone so I didn’t take the chance of just running away. I had to be smart. So I took a briefcase from his big collection and took some money I found in an unlocked drawer. I wrote a note along with the money that looked suspicious knowing that someone would turn it it. If I had just wrote my condition, someone might have thought it was a joke and left it and I couldn’t take that chance.” She explained.
“How did you know that people came to that part of the woods?” Max asked.
“I could see that someone was coming out there regularly, there were pieces of wood and a bunch of nails almost like something was being built and a hammer by the tree that the suitcase was hidden it. I knew that they must have been coming back. That’s why I put the briefcase in plain sight, because I wanted someone to see it.” she added.
All of a sudden I heard sirens coming closer. We ran out from the woods to the street, where I had instructed the emergency responders to go. We started to flag down the police cars as they came closer.
The girl’s name was Anna Johnson, she had been missing for six months now and was taken when she was on her way home from school. She was being questioned by the police and I sat there on the outside of the ambulance waiting for my family to show up.
The policeman that was at max’s school earlier walked up to him.
“Great job Max.” he said.
“Thanks,” Max responded humbly.
“I would like to let you know that since you found Anna, you will be receiving 10,000 dollars of reward money.” added the policeman.
Max started to tear up, he knew how much this money would help his family.
“Thank you so much!” exclaimed Max.
At that moment his family showed up to take him home. Although Max had so many unanswered questions, he left them unanswered, and knew what he had known and done was enough to save a life.