CATASTROPHE CAREN (Completed) ✔

11: Jail Time

10 minutes had passed and Caren realized she'd gotten lost in the conversation.

"Can you believe I forgot about my drink." Caren giggled as she turned to reach for it.

"Don't drink that now. It's been behind you the whole time. Someone must have slipped something into it." Mrs Patterson frowned.

"Mom come on! Who'd do such a thing here now?" Halle flashed a skeptical look towards her mom.

"You never can tell. Is your life worth a few dollars? Think!" She tapped her head with her index finger.

"Your Mom is right, Halle. Totally not worth it. I'll just toss it into one of those flower pots."

"Good idea! Don't want someone else drinking that." Mrs Patterson replied before walking away.

Caren turned around once more to reach for the drink when she noticed something odd. "Wait a minute, that ain't right!" She looked at the drink and then scanned the room with her eyes in search of Preston. She spotted the drink he was holding on to and observed that he had left behind, the one with the umbrella in it for her, and had taken the one with alcohol for himself. "Oh no! You've got to be kidding me!"

"I know right! Why on earth will the cops be crashing our party!" Halle rolled her eyes.

"Cops? What Cops?" Caren felt her heart skip a beat.

"Over there!" Halle pointed towards the right. "They just came in."

"Oh no! Oh dear God!" She panicked.

"What's wrong, Girl? You look pale."

"Halle... I... I..."

"What's the matter?...Ugh, hold that thought for a second. They're walking towards us."

"Excuse me, Ma'am! We'd like to have a word with you." One of the police officers said as they approached Caren.

"Uhm..." She murmured, visibly shaking.

"What's going on here? Why do you want to talk to her?" Halle snapped.

"Kindly step back Ma'am. It'd be in your best not to interfere with police investigation." He moved his gaze back to Caren. "What's your name Ma'am?"

"Caren!" She replied immediately.

"Well Caren, we're here because we received a complaint that you provided a minor with alcoholic drink for a minor."

"What? She did no such thing! Caren, what is he talking about? And who is this minor?"

"Oh my God, Halle, I swear I didn't do it intentionally."

"Didn't do what?" Halle frantically asked.

"The drinks... Preston took the wrong one. Oh God, I'm going to jail!" She started crying.

"Ma'am, we're placing you under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have a right to an attorney and if you cannot afford one, the state will provide one for you." They placed her in handcuffs and began leading her out of the building.

"Hey, what's going on?" Mrs Patterson rushed to the scene.

"Hey let her go! She didn't do anything. Let her go!" Preston yelled as he caught up with them and held on to her arm.

"Kid you better hands-off or face some serious consequences." One of the cops yelled at him.

"Preston no! Calm down! We'll follow them and get to the bottom of this." Mrs Patterson said as she held on to her son whose eyes were on Caren.

*********

I can't believe Caren gave you the drink with the alcohol in it. I told her to order it for herself and get you the one without alcohol. What's wrong with her?" Halle shook her head as she got into the car alongside her Parents and her nephews, Preston and Liam.

"Did you not hear anything I said? I just told you she didn't give it to me. I took it!" Preston yelled at her.

"Why on earth would you do something like that Preston? Have you seen the trouble you have caused us all?" Mrs Patterson yelled.

"I didn't do it on purpose. I totally forgot that one of it contained alcohol. She told me to take the one with the umbrella in it but I definitely wasn't gonna hold a drink with a pink umbrella and have Liam make fun of me for the rest of the week so I took the other one. I never even as much as took a sip out of it."

"So why didn't you just take out the umbrella?" Halle shrugged.

"Because I wasn't even thinking. The colours were pretty much identical to each other so I thought they were the same thing. I just grabbed one and left."

"Well you are in a whole lot of trouble young man. You better pray we get Caren out of there as soon as possible. There's always some type of drama everyday." Mrs Patterson rolled her eyes and shook her head.

***********

On getting to the police station, Mrs Patterson, her husband and the rest of the family, met with some of the officers in charge of the case. Preston explained everything that happened without leaving any details out.

"Please Sir, just let her go because she is innocent of whatever she was accused of." He said.

"I'm afraid Son but that's not going to be possible today. As a matter of fact, after everything you've just told me, I have to place you under arrest too." The officer replied with a stern expression on his face.

"What? No! What's the meaning of this?" Celia yelled as the officer held Preston's arm with one hand while the other reached for his handcuffs.

"Calm down, Ma'am! Like I said before, we have a procedure to follow here. From your nephew's statement, it was clear that he chose to take the drink that contained alcohol and you know the law doesn't take it likely with minors in possession of alcohol. So whether Miss Caren acted negligently in this case or whether your nephew had the intention of getting intoxicated, that's totally up to the Judge to decide."

"Judge? Why do we have to see a judge? He didn't even taste the alcohol." Celia said with a puzzled look on her face.

"We're dealing with a misdemeanor here. We could be looking at 6 months to 1 year. Fine included!"

"Oh no!" Mrs Patterson exclaimed.

"As for now, he will be kept in a juvenile detention centre where he'll be till he sees a judge on Monday. If you have a lawyer, now is the best time to call them." The officer replied.

"Monday? Oh my God! This isn't happening." Preston said as he covered his face with his palms.

"Oh my darling. I don't even know what to say right now." Celia wept.

"Oh Celia, please don't cry. Everything will be alright soon." Mrs Patterson comforted her.

"I hope so!" She threw her hands around her son and hugged him.

After they handed Preston over to the police officers, they left the station for home. Everyone was deeply saddened by the situation and sat throughout the whole ride in silence. Each in their own thoughts.

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