Little kids stood on the street, the curb a boundary between them and the down trodden bum on a stoop. They were walking down to the corner when their attention was drawn to clothed grotesque. They wanted to cross the street before coming across him but they weren't allowed to, so they froze just before getting too close to actually be seen.

        He sat all the way back against the wall of the entrance. His stood next to him, and his hand were held behind his hooded head. All that was clearly visible of his face was an unruly beard that resembled something like a walrus, or at least a misplaced  Viking. To say the least, the man hadn't taken much care for himself.

    "Go buy you milk…" He spoke, softly enough  that the forest of facial hair didn't quiver. It was still creepy enough  that the kids just ran back to where they came.
   
        The day continued to ebb away until the passerby took in the site of the bum as just part of the scenery. Occasionally one would drop some change as they entered their building, like they had to pay the troll to safely cross the bridge. If it wasn't for their complete lack of compassion for their fellow man, they might have realized he was the one who lived right there on the first floor, their super; he who unclogs, exterminates, installs, replaces, paints, and fixes the crap they break (but hold him responsible for). Although they'd probably never recognize William since they barely see him when he's clean cut., let alone grizzly.

~~~~~~~
   
    "A wise man would have had a backup stashed in a secret place." Whispered an annoyed voice, deep in the back of William's mind.

    "A wiser man would know when his time was over…" William whispered in his sleep.

    "Something a smart ass would say"  Chided a feminine, nearly sisterly, voice.

        A third voice was having a conversation with itself. A picture of a figure pacing started to appear in the darkness of Will's sleep. It had an exaggerated gait and look unmistakably ticked. Then out of no where it charged towards the image Will identified with in his dreams, the old him.

    "You go off in the middle of no where for weeks. Starving yourself of fresh sources to sustain you, you force our leave." The figure had young Will pinned against a rough stone wall, nearly choking him with a thin shadow.
    "Time is very limited for me, us, especially if you keep going on these all of these hunches of yours. Leaving the city for the forsaken sands, with not a soul around. You risk all the souls that sustain you, to look for other reminders of what had happened." The dominant of these souls released Will's body and stepped back to dissolve into the darkness of all the others.
    "You fail to realize you weren't alone, even then."

~~~~~~~

        William was shaken  awake by a pair of small hands that had removed his hood.
    "You really look like sh…" The owner of the soft hands, a short irish girl, caught herself before swearing then corrected herself. "It's been a while."

    "You must really miss me, Rosa, to curse like that." Will teased while bringing himself up to kneel, gathering his cane for support.

    Smacking him upside his head, "You jerk, just why can't you come by on a good day…" She helped Will to his feet, then roughly grabbed on to him. "I've been trying to be good, but you have to know how to keep it real from time to time."
   
    Not entirely surprised by the mood swing, William just hugged her with one arm around her shoulder. With the handle of his cane he picked up the large backpack Rosa had put on the ground. "How often to you keep hiding out at my place?"

    "I don't hide here, I just need to get away from time to time," She let go of him and opened the front door, taking her own bag inside for fear it might be too heavy for him, since she never saw him with the cane before. She still didn't want to appear weak in front of others, even those who don't try to hide the crutches they sometimes depend on. "You need me right, to come by out of the blue, and just move things around a bit so they don't collect dust."