The cup of noodles sat on the table with all its juicy spicy glory. The white plastic fork leaned on its side like a ballerina at rest. The noodles floated in the red warm soup like the tentacles of some undersea monster, some delicious undersea monster.

But the girl wasn't even touching it.

As Ed came into the dimly lit interrogation room that looked like a bathroom with furniture, she looked up. The same socketed blue eyes, dirty pale skin and dirty honey blonde as he remembered from last time. Right now, she was wearing a blue hospital gown. She couldn't have been more than ten or eleven to Ed.

"Hey," Ed said as he sat down on the chair opposite her.

The girl just watched him sit down through narrow eyes.

"So you wanted to talk to me," Ed shifted and put his knees under the table. Body language. Point your knees towards the person you're talking to.

The girl leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table, "How do you know Martha?" She whispered as if that'd prevent them from listening.

Ed did the same, "I don't know Martha."

If the little girl was shocked, the only indication was her head bobbing down a little. She slumped back on her chair, mouthing a few soundless words.

"Do you know Rob?" She finally spoke.

"I know a lot of Robs."

"The one missing a pinky on his left hand."

"That doesn't ring any bells, no."

"Sasha?"

"No..."

"Mercy?"

"I'm sorry, but no."

"Wow," she whistled, "you're useless."

It was Ed's turn to ignore the younger one, "Look..."

"Emma."

"Look, Emma, I'm just a random homeless guy in the..."

"No," Emma stated, matter of factly, playing with the noodles, "you're not some random person. Martha made Mathew drive around the city for two hours looking for you."

Took a breath, "She drove around the city for two hours, instead of going to a hospital, looking for you," she let go of her fork, "Ed."

Ed wanted to scream what an utter waste of time!

He also wanted to know who told the girl his name.

"That's good and all and I'd really wanna know more about Martha and Rob and Sushi..."

"Sasha."

"And Sasha and everyone, but right now you need to get in a child support center..."

"Adoption center."

"Whatever shit, you're confused and you need to not get on the street. You need a caring family and time to cool your..."

Ed was too busy talking to react when the girl suddenly reached over and grabbed his collar. Ed's elbows, like the twigs they look like, gave away. His mindset in panic mode and his hands flailed until they found a wide base on the table that felt all too slippery now.  He looked up to see Emma's face inches from his, the suffocating lingering warmth of her breath, as well as the smell of something rotting, breached him.

And her eyes were glowing. Not feral, like a wolf's, but pulsating with power, like a cigarette head, a deep purple cigarette head. To Ed, it felt as deep and deadly as the ocean.

Big mistake.

It felt like rust, spreading across his vision, turning things a shimmering grey. Things that were there overgrown by a layer of things that were not. His periphery was blocked by shadows, dark as obsidian and shimmering like water. Shapes danced on it. Shapes of beasts. Of men and of things mere words cannot describe nor can sanity humanly fathom.

And then, gone. Gone to the blaring light of the overhead bulb as Ed screamed, fell and scrambled.

"What the fuck?" He choked out.

Emma just smiled vacantly at him in return, her eyes still burning a deep purple.

"Wha- what the hell was that?" He asked again

"That," Emma's tone was cold and playful as snow, "was hell."

(Yes, I just realized that, no matter how much I try, I can never write a real nonfiction detective story. T_T)