Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Becky, Jesse, D.J., Nicky and Alex were still on line waiting to see Santa. The boys were getting tired, and every so often demanded that Santa Claus come back, to no avail. D.J. stifled a yawn and crossed her arms. "Uncle Jesse, how's Michelle doing over there? I haven't heard a peep out of her for at least fifteen minutes." This extensive silence was very unlike her littlest sister.

Jesse's face immediately became panic-stricken. "What do you mean??? I thought she was with you!"

Immediately more alert, D.J. looked around. "No, she's not here!"

"She's not with me!" Becky said nervously. "I thought you were watching her, Jess!"

"And I thought she was with one of you!" Realizing that his niece was not there, Jesse immediately took control. "Alright, forget this Santa guy. We've got to get Danny, Stephanie, and Joey and form a search party. Did any of them mention where they went?"

Becky shook her head. "No, but it might be easier to find them if we go to Mall Security and page them. Then we can get security guards to help us look for her."

"Aunt Becky's right. Let's get off this line." D.J. said. The group filed out of the line just as Santa was coming back from his coffee break.

In record speed the worried group reached the Mall Security kiosk, where they hastily told the guard on duty that Michelle was lost and that they needed to page her other family members. A few minutes after the announcement was made, Danny, Stephanie, and Joey came running towards the booth. "What's the emergency?" Stephanie asked, her face flushed and out of breath. The announcer had sounded important, so she had unwillingly ditched Gia and dashed to the kiosk.

Jesse quickly explained what happened, "We were waiting on line to see Santa, and Michelle must have wandered away from us."

"You mean she's LOST?" Danny shouted. He was in basically the same state as Stephanie, but even more so since he had run halfway across the mall. "Jess, how could you?"

"Look, it's not my fault! I thought she was with Becky, and she thought she was with me…" Getting a sense of deja vu, Jesse shook his head and said, "Never mind, we don't have time."

"Yeah, she could be anywhere by now." Joey put in, "Poor kid, all alone, probably crying her eyes out…"

"Joseph, you're not helping." Jesse said, "Alright, Joey, Danny, Stephanie, and D.J., go check any of the places Michelle would typically go. You know, toy store, candy shop, etc. Becky and I will take Nicky and Alex and go everywhere else."

"Excuse me." A guard said as he approached the family, "I just got notice that a little girl is missing?"

"Yes," Danny responded, "She's seven-years-old, about this high," he put his hand up to about Michelle's height, "she has blonde hair, blue eyes, and answers to the name Michelle Tanner." After the guard assured them that he would put out an APB, Danny turned to the others and said, "Alright, let's go."

Michelle blindly ran into the throngs of customers, but she barely noticed them. Eventually she got tired and sat on one of the mall benches. Still crying, she looked around. Where am I? And where is D.J., or Aunt Becky, or…anybody? She searched for her family, but she couldn't see anyone she knew. This made her feel very scared. She had never been alone in a public place before. Come on, Michelle, get yourself together. You have to find them. Wiping away her last tear, she stood up, and first looked one way, and then the other. Which way should I go?

Figuring that the best thing to do would be to try to find Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse, since she was with them last. She tried to remember the way she came form, but couldn't. So she just started walking forward. If I keep walking I'll find them eventually.

She looked into the store windows as she passed them. Some of them were really boring, like the ones that showed clothes. She saw one that had cleaning supplies in it, and laughed. Daddy would like that store. She wished she had money to buy him a present, but since she didn't, she kept going.

After walking for a while, she came across a candy store. Yum, she thought hungrily. It had been a while since breakfast, and those chocolate bars looked really tasty…Maybe it wouldn't hurt if I just went in to look around…

But once inside the store, it became clear that it did hurt. She found it very hard to resist taking a container of homemade ice cream out of the fridge, or eating one of the Hershey's Kisses that were displayed in a dish on one of the shelves. But taking without asking was wrong (as D.J. had told her countless times after she had raided her closet), so she didn't. Luckily, one of the store clerks offered her some free samples of chocolate fudge, so she gladly took five. She said "thank you," around a mouthful of one sample, then left the store. She couldn't bear to look at all the delicious sweets any more.

Long since the last chocolate sample was eaten, she walked by a toy store, at first without even bothering to stop. Then, she backtracked and halted in front of the window. Wow. Michelle's always wanted a teddy bear like that one. She was always envious of Stephanie's bear, which she had creatively named "Mr. Bear". Unfortunately, even now that Stephanie's older and claims she doesn't like to play with baby things, she still doesn't let Michelle touch the stuffed animal.

But this teddy bear was better than Mr. Bear, although Stephanie would strongly disagree. It wasn't too big, but wasn't too small. It had silky, yet soft fur, and even had a red bow around its neck. Michelle knew that it would be perfect for cuddling with and telling her secrets to. But she wouldn't be getting it this year. Santa wasn't there to bring it too her. With a deep sigh, Michelle continued walking down the hallway.

Danny and Stephanie hastily searched one part of the mall. They had just approached the candy store, "Dad, she's not here." Stephanie noted.

She was about to move on when Danny caught her elbow, "Hold it. We should go inside and ask if anyone's seen Michelle." They went in, and after a few minutes, a clerk revealed that yes, she was here, and had helped herself to multiple free samples.

"That's sounds like Michelle alright. Do you know which way she went?" Danny asked. When the employee pointed to her right, Danny nodded, "Ok, thank you!"

He and Stephanie rushed down the store and glanced in the direction that the clerk pointed. Sure enough, at least a hundred feet in front of them, a little blonde head was found amongst the crowd. "Dad, there she is!" Stephanie exclaimed as she began to run. She and her dad started screaming "Michelle" at the top of their lungs, but their voices were lost in the rumble of the crowd. Soon, Michelle got to be too far ahead of them, and they completely lost sight of her when they stopped to catch their breath.