Phoebe

Bill was on his way home from work, just like any other day when he heard tons of commotion ahead of himself.
A little girl seemed to be running away from something or possibly someone.
She looked terrified. Then suddenly she was holding onto Bill and hiding behind him.
Bill turned towards the girl and looked at her.
"What's wrong? What were you running from? Who are you hiding from?" People were making a crowd around them now.
"No. No. No." That's all the small girl would say.
Bill kneeled down so he was at her level.
"Talk to me so I can help you."
"No." She violently shook her head no.
"I called the cops, man. She looked scared as hell." A younger guy beside them said.
"What's your name, sweetie?" An older looking lady said to the child.
The girl was jumpy and she held onto Bill's arm.
"What were you running from?" Bill asked again in a gentler voice.
He could hear sirens coming close.
"Man." She said quietly. Her voice was hoarse like she'd been screaming for days.
"What man?" Bill asked.
"Man." She said quieter, still not letting go of Bill's arm.
The cops pulled up and people started to clear the way for them.
One of the cops that came up was a tough looking man and the other was a gentle looking blonde woman.
"Hi, sweetie. People were calling and said that you looked to be running from someone."
"Man." She said to the woman.
"You were running from a man?" She asked to be sure.
"Man." She just repeated again.
"Okay. Can you tell me what your name is?"
"Ph-Phoebe."
"Phoebe. Good." The woman smiled to the child.
"Do you know how old you are, Phoebe?"
"No."
"Okay. That's alright." The man said as he crouched beside the pair. "Can you tell me who you were running from?"
"Man." She looked scared again. She held even tighter onto Bill.
"Yeah. We know it's a man. Can you tell us about him?" The man officer was become irritated.
"Scary." She said.
"Okay. All we have to do is find a scary man." He said. "That could be you for all we know." He pointed to Bill.
"Not scary." Phoebe said to the people around her.
Bill smirked a little at the cop.
"Can we take you to the police station for some questioning?"
"You come?" She asked with wide eyes as she looked up at Bill.
"Uh." Bill wasn't really certain what to say.
"Yeah. He can come." The woman said. "You seem to be keeping her calm." She explained. "That might help with questioning."
"Um okay." Bill stood up and fixed his suit.
He felt a small hand grab his.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said to the kid.
They were both escorted to the back of the police car.

When they arrived at the station the girl became panicky.
"What if he finds me?"
Bill was slightly stunned. The girl hadn't talked that much.
"He won't. I promise." He said to the child.
They took them to a small area within the station where they took the girls fingerprints to run a match.
She flinched a few times when the man who did the prints grabbed her hands to help stamp the prints more clearly.
They took the prints away and she was left staring at the black ink on her fingers.
The woman who picked them up came into the room and said, "Let's get those washed."
She brought the girl to a small kitchen area, with Bill following of course, and helped her wash her hands.
When they were done the woman looked at Bill.
"We should go into one of the nicer rooms. I don't think an interrogation room would be suitable for her right now and the prints won't be done for a while."
The woman led them to an office and she sat down at the desk. There was a sofa and two small chairs.
There was also a kids area.
The little girl sat on one of the chairs in front of the desk.
"Comfy?" The police officer asked. Bill took note that her desk name said, Dir. Mary Frances.
"Yes." The girl leaned back slightly and looked over at Bill. He had chosen to sit on the sofa. "Comfy?" Phoebe asked him now.
He smiled and said, "Yeah."
"Alright let's start with some easy stuff."
"Easy?"
"Yeah. Like. How many states are there?"
Phoebe looked puzzled for a second than said, "50?"
"Yes. Good! How about; How many letters are there in the alphabet?"
"26."
"Nice job." Mary congratulated the child. "Can you tell me what color your hair is?"
"Yellow." She had blonde hair.
"Close. Your hair is kind of blonde."
"Blonde." She repeated.
"Where are you?"
"Police." She was sure.
"Yes. You're with some police officers at our police station."
"Police good."
"Yeah. We're gonna help you."
"Man bad."
"Yeah. Do you mind if I ask a little bit more about the man?"
Phoebe didn't say anything, but she didn't look like she wanted to answer any questions about the man.
"Can you tell be what color his hair was?"
"Black. No. Brown."
"Good. What about his eyes?"
"Big." She answered back.
"Okay. And what can you tell me about the man?"
"Scary." She shook her head no.

They didn't get very far with questioning. They brought a sketch artist in anyway and attempted to create the man several times.

Bill noticed that it was already 11:45 so he interrupted the sketch artist. "Yes sir?"
"Um can I speak to Director Frances?"
"Uh yeah. Let me go grab her." The sketch artist went to the main room and disappeared.
"I'm tired." The girl said to Bill.
"You can go to sleep, kid."
"You won't let him hurt me?"
"No. No one is gonna hurt you."
"Ok." She said quietly and laid down on the sofa.
He watched her for a moment then checked his phone.
No missed calls or texts.
Director Frances walked back into the room and saw the pair.
"How can I help you?"
"Uh." He looked over at Phoebe to make sure she was still asleep. He really didn't want to just leave the child. "I have to work tomorrow."
"Okay. You're free to go."
"Um I'm just worried about her.
"You could leave your number if you'd like."
"Yeah. Okay. That would be good."
He was given a piece of paper and wrote his number down.
"I'll have her call you if she gets scared."
"Okay." And with that. Bill left.