It was Sunday afternoon and I had been working at the Library all morning, re-shelving books, working the desk and reading to the kids. I had found some new books to read and was excited to get home and sit down with them and a cup of hot cocoa. It was late November and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Soon we would see the first signs of winter and the annual Christmas mayhem would begin. Some shops were already putting up decorations and advertising the Christmas sales. 

I was walking down Lincoln Street away from the main road. Granny was drifting along beside me and telling me of her latest trip to see our relatives in England when I heard something that made me stop.

"Let go! I don't wanna go that way! Let me go!"

I turned around to see a little girl being pulled along the street by an average looking man in a business suit. The girl looked to be about Annabelle's age, maybe a year older and had shockingly bright red-orange hair. She was wearing a green dress with tights and a navy blue blazer jacket. It all looked very pristine and expensive. 

"Oh my! Timmy look at them closely!" Exclaims Granny when she sees what caused me to stop.

I concentrated on the two of them and opened my mind and my eyes to seeing what lies beneath the surface. My vision went fuzzy and the world seemed to shimmer before returning different than it was before. 

"Do you see it?" Asks Granny.

The man who a moment ago had looked completely normal and average now had my heart racing and my breath freezing in my throat. I was so shocked and horrified it took everything I had not to rare back in fear. Thoughts raced through my head, things like rapist, pervert, serial killer. I knew then that I had to help the girl.

The man was covered in blood and surrounded by the ghosts of the girls he'd killed. Dozens of them, all under the age of 12 and all raped, beaten and tortured.

"Yeah, I see. That man. I need to do something." I whisper so only me and Granny can hear.

"Not just the man. Look at the girl too."

I was so concentrated on the man that I almost didn't notice the changes to the girl. Her face had lengthened and turned into a snout, her hands had become delicate little paws, she was covered in orange and white fur, had pointed cat-like ears on top of her head and two fluffy tails. 

Not human. A two-tailed fox spirit. That's a new one.

I shook myself and firmed my resolve.

"It doesn't matter," I say crossing the street. "I still have to help her."

Granny doesn't follow me, instead staying where she is.

"Good luck. I hope you know what you're doing." She says before disappearing through a wall.

"Is everything okay over here?" I ask firmly as I walk up to the two of them.

I'm not very big or intimidating and I've never been in a real fight so I have to go about this logically.

The two of them freeze and the man almost lets go of the girl in shock. However, he quickly pulls himself together and plasters on a fake smile.

"Of course everything's fine!" he says cheerily if a little strained.

The girl starts shaking her head vigorously and trying to pull her arm away.

"You sure about that. Seems she doesn't want to go with you."

"Oh, it's nothing she's just throwing a little tantrum." He replies tightening his grip on her wrist and pulling her closer to his body.

I frown and look down at the girl. She looks back at me through scared and pleading forest green eyes.

"Sweety do you know this man?"

She starts shaking her head and opens her mouth to say no but the man gives a violent squeeze of her arm stopping the words in her throat and making her grimace in pain.

"Of course she knows me! I'm her father! I don't know what you're implying young man, but . . . "

"Really then what's her name?" I interrupt.

"Her name? Why it's . . . it's, umm . . ."

"Sir I think you better let go of the girl before I call the police," I say putting down the bag of books so I can get out my phone with one hand while putting the other on the girl's shoulder so he can't snatch her and run.

He pauses and stares me down. I can practically see his thoughts racing to find a solution. I press the emergency calls button and start dialling 911. He lets go of the girl and shoves me, hard. I go down taking the girl with me. I pull her against my chest to protect her from the fall and from the man. She lets out a small cry and clings to my jacket, burying her head in my chest.

Once we hit the ground I can hear the man running down the street and I breathe a sigh of relief, laying my head back against the concrete. We went down hard and my ass hurts like hell but otherwise, I'm not worse for wear. I look down at the girl cradled against my chest.

"He's gone now. Are you okay?" I ask smiling at her and moving some of the hair that had fallen in her face away so I could look into her eyes and really make sure she was alright.

"I'm okay. Thank you." She says quietly.

I help her stand back up before getting up myself and dusting off my pants. When I look back up at the girl she has picked up the discarded bag of books and holds them up to me.

"Thank you. Now, are you really alright? Where are your parents?" I ask taking the books.

She looks down and shakes her head. "I don't know. Daddy was in a meeting, so Yama was looking after me. He stopped to take a call and I ran off to look at something and got lost."

"Okay then . . ." I pause prompting her to give her name.

"Alice."

"Okay, then Alice where's the last place you saw Yama?" 

She points towards the main street and doesn't say anything.

"Hmmm. Might be difficult to find him. How about I call the police first so that they can go after the bad man and then we go look for him. Is that okay?" I ask her picking my phone up off the ground where it fell. I check it's still working and everything seems to be fine.

She nods then looks back in the direction the man went when he ran away. I give her a pat on the head like I do to Sophie and Annabelle before dialling 911 and asking for police. A few minutes later I hear sirens approaching in the distance and soon enough a cruiser pulls up in front of us. A man who looks to be in about his late thirties gets out and comes over to greet us. Alice mumbles something while looking at the ground and shuffling so that she's half hiding behind my leg.

"What is it? Are you shy?" I ask putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She nods and mumbles a yes while she grips the leg of my pants and shuffles further behind me.

"I'll do the talking then but make sure you tell me if I get something wrong."

Another mumble which I take as an assent.

The Policeman questions us on what happened in excruciating detail before getting me to give the man's description. All up it takes almost twenty minutes.

"Is there anything else you can think of?" He asks for about the hundredth time.

"I think that's it." I've told him everything I can. If I went into any more detail I would be revealing things that I shouldn't know.

"Okay then thank you for your time. You may go but make sure to stay in the area in case we need to call you in for further testimony. I will make sure the girl finds her parents." He says putting away his notebook and holding his hand out towards Alice. During the conversation, she had gradually made her way out from behind me and had interjected several times to correct me or add more detail but as soon as he held out his hand she retreated back to her position behind my leg.

"That's okay. I don't mind helping her find her parents. Now that I've helped her this much I feel partially responsible for her and I want to see it through until the end." When I say this I can feel her relax against me and I know it's the right thing to do.

"Sure. Okay is there any way for us to contact your parents?" He asks Alice.

She shakes her head. "Daddy gave me a phone for emergencies but the battery died." She says holding up a smartphone that's newer and better quality than mine.

"Do you know his number?" The policeman asks reaching in his back pocket to retrieve his own phone. She shakes her head again. "He's always changing it. That's why he gave me the phone."

Who always changes their number? Why would you do that?

I can see that the officer is thinking the same thing. He shrugs and continues on. "How about an address?"

"Which one?" she asks. 

Okay looks like we're getting somewhere.

"Your home address sweety."

"Which one?"

That stops us both. we look at each other, the officer giving me a questioning look. I shrug and shake my head in response. I don't know what she means by that either.

"He means the place you live," I tell her thinking she must have misunderstood somehow.

"Which one?" she repeats for the third time.

Well, then how about we try this . . .

"Where is the most likely place to find your dad?" I ask.

At that, the confused look leaves her face and she rattles off an address. The police officer and I exchange one more look before getting into the cruiser and following Alice's directions out of town and towards the Cliffs.