Sakura in Paris 2
Part Eleven: Accusations
Well, we're out of gas, and for some strange reason, I can't find Jason anywhere. We're at a gas station for the moment, and Li and Sakura are calling someone on the pay phone and everyone else is inside buying munchies! {Yay! Munchies rock!}
Sakura: Officers, we don't know where he went, but Jason, the infamous killer, is stalking us! That's right! Where are we? Umm....Li, go find out where we are!
Li: Sakura! Men can't go and ask for directions! It's a Golden Rule!
(Sakura gives him The Look)
Li: Yes, dear!
(Scuttles inside and re-emerges seconds later)
Li: We're in Texas, a half of a mile away from the the Mexican border!
Sakura: Did you get that, officer? Yes! We'll stay right here! Just look for the giant Mac and Cheese truck-
(A sudden KA-BOOOOOM!!!! blasts the gas station as the truck explodes. Sakura calmly looks down at the phone as everyone comes running out of the store)
Sakura: Officer? Forget about the cheese truck. We'll be walking along I-95.
Raye: What in the Hell just happened?!? (Begins picking burning macaroni from her hair.)
Psycho: Oh, look! Jason's dancing around the burning truck with a gas can!!!
{Disclaimer}
CCS is the best! CCS is the best!
Clamp owns it! Clamp owns it!
I do not! I do not!
(Just a mocking disclaimer against cheerleaders.) *(^-^)*
The next morning, Madison, Shawn, and Li all looked as though they hadn't any sleep. Which they really hadn't.
"My, my! Such sleepy faces!" Grannie Marie exclaimed the next morning after the three in question nearly fell face-first into their cereal.
Ranea suddenly came rushing down the stairs, upset and angry for some unknown reason.
"Ranea? What is the matter?" Jacque asked as Ranea slumped into her chair hopelessly.
"My watch! I can't find my watch!"
"The silver one?" Sakura asked. "Isn't that the one your father gave to you before he died?"
Ranea nodded miserably, on the verge of tears. "The very one. The only thing I've got that reminds me of Papa`."
"Don't worry, Ranea! I'm sure it's around here somewhere. We'll help you look for it!" Madison offered kindly.
Ranea sniffed loudly and smiled. "Thank you, Chere`. That is very kind of you."
Nearly three hours later, and the watch was nowhere to be found. Everyone had searched the mansion from cellar to attic, but there wasn't a sign of the missing item. No one had seen it and they were starting to run out of ideas of where to look.
"It is 'opeless! It is gone for good!" Ranea cried, dropping down on the swing in the Garden with a bone-jarring thump.
While Sakura comforted the distraught girl, Li and Madison wondered where the watch could be.
"Do you think someone stole it?" Li asked quietly. Madison shrugged.
"Maybe. But Ranea's always got that watch on, and she would have told us if she lost it last night."
"Ranea? Did you have your watch before you went to bed?" Li asked.
Ranea sniffled loudly. "Yes! I always wear it! I never take it off!"
"Hmmm. Where could it have gone then?"
The back glass door suddenly slid open, and a disheveled Shawn appeared, dusty and sooty.
"Well, as a last resort, I looked in the chimney and oven. It wasn't there."
Ranea broke into even more sobs, tears pouring from her eyes, leaving Shawn feeling guilty.
"I'm sorry, Ranea." Shawn murmured, coughing and brushing soot from himself in large clouds.
"Where could it be!?!?" Ranea wailed.
"Ranea! We've found it!!" Jean called down from a fourth floor balcony. "Come on up!"
Ranea rushed up the stairs so quickly, the others were left behind in a cloud of black dust. "Where is it, Jean!?! Let me 'ave my watch!!"
"My watch!!!" Ranea cried in relief, grabbing the object of concern from Jean's hands and strapping it back on over her wrist. "Where was it?"
"It was on Shawn's dresser." Jean said in a suspicious tone. "The real question is, why was it there?"
"Shawn?" Madison asked, turning to stare in disbelief at the stunned boy in the doorway.
Shawn was at a loss of words. "I....I....I don't know how it got there!"
"Really? Is that so?" Jean said in a sarcastic tone. "You're a thief! A thief plain and simple!"
"No! I didn't take it! I've no clue as to how it got there!" Shawn argued vehemently, stepping back a pace from the advancing Jean.
"Admit that you stole it! There's no use in lying about it!" Jean demanded.
Madison stepped in between the two boys and crossed her arms. "Hold it right there, Jean. You've no proof that Shawn stole the watch."
"It was in 'is room! On 'is dresser! What more proof do you need?!" Jean exclaimed angrily.
"Plenty more than that. For all we know, someone else could have put it there. Or maybe it fell off Ranea's wrist when she was cleaning in here yesterday and one of the part-time maids found it and put it there. Ranea wouldn't have realized it was missing until today, when she had to come down and help make breakfast at six." Madison reasoned calmly.
Jean calmed down visibly. "Fine. Those things could 'ave 'appened." As he walked out of the room and past Shawn, he glared angrily at the stunned boy.
"But I still think you're guilty."
"Shawn? Do you swear you didn't steal the watch?" Grannie Marie said calmly. "Please tell me the truth."
"I swear I didn't take it, Mrs. Marie." Shawn said honestly, his green eyes candid.
Grannie Marie smiled and nodded. "I believe you, Shawn. Madison is right. It was probably just an accident that it got into your room."
The others left, leaving Shawn and Madison alone.
"You stood up for me, Madison. And you don't even know me that well either." Shawn said with a grin. "Thank you. That was a very nice thing for you to do."
"I knew you hadn't stolen it, Shawn. And I didn't want you to get fired just because Jean has a bad temper. You're too nice to get fired."
Shawn grinned and blushed. "Thanks, Madison."
As Madison turned to leave, she stopped in the doorway and looked back at Shawn.
"Shawn?"
"Yes?"
"About last night? Are you okay now?"
"Yeah. I'm fine now. Thanks."
"That's good. Well, see you later."
As the door closed behind Madison, Shawn shivered at the memory of last night.
It couldn't have just been a nightmare. That shadow was too real-looking to just be part of a nightmare. And why did I think Madison was someone named Kanthel after I woke up?
Tick-tock-Tick-tock. Your time left to decide what'n the Hell's going on with Shawn is dwindling away...
Max: Why oh why did my friends have to be so wak? I mean, I could have had normal friends. Then I wouldn't be trudging out through Texan deserts without any money or transportation.
Raye: Aww, quit yer whining! It's not as bad as it could be!
Max (sarcastically): Oh? And just how much worst could it get?
Ms. Sinic: Well, look on the bright side of things! At least you're not dead!
Max (snidely and under her breath): That would be an improvement.
Raye: I NEVER WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, MAX!!
Christopher: Guys, I'm starting to see things. That isn't very good.
Psycho: What are you seeing?
Christopher: Well, for example, those rocks over there? They look like my couch with my baby brother Gabe standing on it.
Psycho: That isn't as bad as it could be.
Christopher: Really?
Psycho: Sure! It could look like a rabid mongoose.
(Everyone looks strangely at Psycho, whose sweat is dropping ever so slowly.)
Psyho: Isn't everyone afraid of rabid mongooses?
Max: I.....Think......Not.
Raye: I KNOW not.
Li: Isn't that a barbed-wire fence I see up ahead? Or is that just a mirage?
Sakura: It IS a barbed-wire fence! And there's a sign too!
(Everyone runs up. Max reads it aloud in Spanish. Everyone looks at her.)
Everyone: HUH?!?!
Max: My language classes at the HS are coming in handy!
Raye: Read it in English, Ms. Einstein.
Max: Welcome to Mexico if you have permits. If not, GET THE HELL AWAY FROM OUR COUNTRY YOU B*ST*RDS!!
Christopher: Well, they are direct in this country.
Raye: I'll say.
