Rise with the Sun; Cradled by the Moon

Clean Up and Explanations

She immediately starts crying and backing away. He lands on his feet and stares at her.

"What are you doing up here? All good children should have gone home. Come on out of there and I'll take you to your pare-"

He reached out to her but she screamed and kicked his hand away, crawling in the opposite direction.

It was only partially him that made her run. But when he mentioned taking her back to her dad, it kicked in her fight AND flight.

She tore down through the play structure, injuring her knee on the way.

She fell flat on the plush flooring and tried to make a break for the door. Suddenly her feet were off the ground and she was face to face with him once again.

She was trembling, fearing this was where her life was going to end. And after she fought so hard to escape a worse fate.. She squeezed her eyes shut, more tears streaming down her cheeks.

She felt the floor under her feet and she slowly opened her eyes. Was she dead?

The new figure knelt down to her height and was finally able to see his face clearly.

On one side was a crescent moon and the other was just black. He had a starry night cap on his head and he showed similarities to the sun figure she saw earlier. Except he was a moon and star themed jester.

"Little one. Are you listening? I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm just trying to return you to your parents. Do you know where they are?"

She snapped back into reality when he began talking and she remembered the potential danger she was in. She backed away from him, shaking her head and starting to hyperventilate.

"Whoa whoa it's okay. It's alright. I promise I'm not going to do anything. Is there someone I can call? Maybe I should call security."

She rapidly starts shaking her head and making every flailing movement to non-verbally say she did not want him to do that.

"U-uh okay okay I won't do that. Um well you can't exactly stay here. Do you have somewhere to stay?"

She shakes her head again and looks down at the floor, fiddling with the hem of her slightly oversized hoodie.

He takes a moment to think. To his knowledge, nobody knew she was here. So she could stay here for the night. Besides, it seemed like she really didn't want anyone knowing about her whereabouts anyway.

"Alright, well I don't see a problem with you staying here for the night. But tomorrow we need to figure out what to do, okay?"

She sighs and nods, disappointed. She was hoping she could stay here longer. But that plan had many potholes, now that she thought about it.

"Okay. Well let's get you to sleep. I'll take you to the nap time area and get you settled in there."

He started walking away but noticed she wasn't following him. He could see her trembling. He came back over and knelt down once more.

"What's the matter, starlight?"

He asked in such a soft, warm tone. She was struggling to look at him but she got there eventually. She struggled to talk. She had been nonverbal for so long.

He studied her expression and body language to determine what she was trying to tell him.

"Scared?"

He asked. That made her nod slowly, fiddling with her hands.

"Scared of me?"

She shook her head.