Poor Little Child

Deana had just finished a long day at work. The evening was drawing to a close, the golden sun shining its last light before the next day onto the large park and rare piece of greenery inside the city. All around it, vehicles and people alike flowed through the streets, most with the purpose of returning to their warms beds for a good night's sleep. Each day after she packed up her belongings at work, Deana trekked through the park towards the residential area where she lived.

She he usually noticed a few people still at the park, mostly relaxing. She never really took the time to care, not doing much more than waving at the odd passerby. But this night was different. Somebody at the park caught her eye.

Her first sighting of them was subtle, just a tiny silhouette that appeared to blend in with a tree. Having been trained to spot details like this, Deana glanced at it for a moment. It was definitely something, if only an animal. She didn't expect it to be at all dangerous, but she reached down to locate the baton and gun in her belt, before leaving them where they were.

She he didn't know what it was. There wasn't quite enough light to see it clearly, and hoped the streetlights would automatically switch on soon.

"Hello?" she called in the direction of the movement. It would probably sound dumb if there was nobody there and it was indeed an animal. She rolled up her navy sleeves, thankful there were so few people in the park. It'd be a bit strange if the new cop in town was caught talking to herself. "Is somebody there?" Her tone wasn't afraid, after all she had a gun. Instead, it was both concerned and curious.

@Boop

Deana, hearing a voice, looked at the tree. Yes, there was definitely a shadow there. But the voice itself confused her. It was boyish for sure, but too high-pitched for an adult or really anyone older than a child. That pretty much eliminated the danger from the situation, knowing that a child wouldn't have a gun and it was certainly not a dangerous animal. Of course, a kid alone at night was not to be underestimated, but Deana knew that if worst came to worst, she was probably stronger than them.

The part that was actually the least concerning was the fact that whoever it was in the tree used 'not' in the sentence. It meant they were alright, if they were able to be silly like that. She wondered if they realised that by saying 'not up here' they revealed their location. Plenty of young children didn't.

"Well wherever you are, are you okay?" she said, looking at the tree trying to keep track of the shadow. She couldn't make out a specific body shape, needing to squint to see it. She decided to wander closer to the tree. If they were indeed hurt, lost or abandoned, it was her obligation to help. She was just about to go home, but in her work clothes and correct identification she was still responsible for the protection of citizens.

When the boy revealed himself, Deana couldn't help but say, "Aww!" He was a cute little boy who couldn't be older than five, standing in front of her. He didn't look entirely clean, wearing an old shirt three sizes too large for him, but what little kid did after climbing a tree? Her child certainly didn't. Aside from the shirt, she noticed he was quite peculiar looking, and actually had a fuzzy kind of hair, or fur, on parts of his body. Keeping in mind that her eyes were different to those of normal humans, she didn't think much of it.

She noted that he kept his distance from her, but didn't mind. She understood why he wouldn't, but bent down with her hands resting on her knees so she could speak to him at eye level. She hoped that would make him feel less intimidated. Waving back to him and smiling, she said, "Hello!" in a soft voice.

"Yes, I am a new policeman," she said, wondering how on Earth he knew that. "My name is Deana. It is nice to meet you, Not Eek." she of course knew his name was Eek, but didn't know why he said the opposite of what would usually be said.

"Where are your parents?" she asked softly. To most children, this would be answered by a quick point of a finger, but she knew it was not always that simple and could often bring up emotions. She hoped Eek would just point to where they were, even though there were so few people in the park.

Deana panicked for a moment when Eek said he wasn't okay, before seeing him perfectly fine in front of him. She was a responsible policewoman and saw it as her duty to protect the citizens of Manta Carlos, but once the boy stood there with no sign of injury she assumed he was just being attention-seeking. She let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, she thought, she didn't want to deal with someone in danger when she was so close to getting home. Sure, the boy looked less than spoilt in his clothing, but at least he wasn't about to be hurt on her watch.

When he pointed at her and said she was not a policeman, Deana frowned, confused. What was he trying to say? But quite quickly she figured out that he was definitely speaking in opposites. Maybe it was a phase, she thought. Her child had gone through a few strange ones. She also knew from her parenting experience that trying to suppress said phases only made them worse. So instead, she just tried to have a rational conversation and translate all of his answers. The only question was, why speak in opposites and then become distressed when misunderstood?

"Well, hello then Eek. I have never heard of that name before." She made sure that she properly pronounced all of her words so Eek could understand them, shaking her head as she said it. She had no idea how clever the boy was, but since he couldn't be too old she decided to treat him like any other small child until shown otherwise.

Suddenly, Deana stopped. Her face froze and became concerned. Grateful for the darkness so that nobody could see her expression, she opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. If he was still speaking in opposites, what he said was not very good. A child, small as he was, all alone? She couldn't be sure of the details, but it sounded very, very bad. A child left in a park like that, if found by the rest of the police, would be taken to the adoption centre in a heartbeat. She didn't know what to do. "Well do you know where your mommy is? Does she live in town?" If she did, Deana instantly knew she would dislike this person.

Deana struggled to work out what exactly the child said half the time. His speech was riddled with 'not's and 'not not's, which made it really quite hard to understand. Even so, she eventually understood what Eek meant, even if it took a moment longer to decode it all. She was afraid of slipping up and assuming something different to what the kid wanted to say. After all, she was still on duty and as far as she knew, it was part of her work to help him out. Not that she wouldn't have anyway, but there was something about being fully in uniform that made the conversation seem that much more important.

She he paused for a second as Eek spoke, removing a 'not' from each phrase and hoping that he wouldn't switch to honesty mid-conversation out of convenience or forgetfulness. A look of pure sympathy came across her face. What sort of mother would say 'Eek' when they saw their child? Deana loved her child to the moon and back, and couldn't imagine herself saying that to her unless she was joking. Did Eek even understand what it meant? She wasn't going to be the one to tell him, regardless. "I think Eek is a very cool name," She said. It was kind of true, the name in itself sounded good, but the origins of it were questionable. Even so, it was just a name. It didn't define anything.

Deana had only arrived at Manta Carlos a few weeks before and while she was enthusiastic about working for a new, different police department, she wasn't familiar with absolutely all of their policies as much as some others. Most of what she had been doing was just common sense. Bring underage drinkers to the station. Give speeding drivers a ticket. Report strange activity to the boss. Write reports when the boss tells her to. Simple, basic stuff. Really, her job was very simple, but at that time in the park, she was a bit unsure of what to do. Obviously if he knew where his mother was, she would return him to her, but otherwise she didn't know how to handle the situation.

Oh dear. Eek didn't know where his parents were. Not only was she caught off guard and worrying about what she should do, she felt incredibly bad for him. No parents at age... She didn't know his age! Quickly she asked, "How old are you?" She then sighed and asked one last question. "So... Where do you live? In the park?" Were people even allowed to sleep in the park? The amount of laws she didn't know were piling up and she became visibly flustered. She had to help the child. And not just so she would look good to her boss.

She he also noticed how well Eek spoke for a little boy. He spoke effortlessly, always remembering the 'not's in a conversation. Did he have somebody to teach him that too?