A homeless guy with nothing left to lose. A stranger capable of taking everything. Not every meeting is by accident.
Outside the street smells like rain and rust. Somewhere behind him, a car horn cuts interrupts the noise, and for a second, no one looks his way — nobody ever does. His hand is exposed, fingers stiff from the cold, but the coins don't come. They never really do.
He doesn't remember the last time someone said his name.
Liam has learned to disappear in plain sight. It's easier that way.
Until he feels a hand brush past him — too close, too sudden.
"Wha— what?"
His cup vanishes. Just like that. A man is already running, coins rattling in his fist, and something in Liam snaps.
He's up before he even decides to move.
"Come back here!"
He catches up faster than he expected, grabs the man by his collar, and slams his fist into his jaw. The man drops on the floor.
"How could you?" Liam's voice cracks, somewhere between rage and disbelief. "Robbing a poor homeless man?"
What am I even doing?
There was what, about thirty cents in that cup.
He shakes his head, breathing heavily.
As he picks his cup back up, he hears the sound of a siren in the distance and already knows this is about to go bad.
"Sigh..." Liam runs a hand down his face and bites his lip.
"I'm so unlucky. This is bad.
"He barely had enough time to turn around before he heard it.
"Sir, can you explain to us what happened? Did you do this?"
The police officer looked at the man on the ground, groaning in pain, then at the man standing beside him, watching with contempt. He immediately understood.
"I was trying to defend myself. He tried robbing me. I am homeless — understand my reaction."
"He didn’t hit you, though. You did. You hit him."
"Are you kidding me? How exactly did you expect me to get my money back? Give him a kiss on the cheek?"
"Sir, if everyone acted like you, the world would end up only getting worse."
"And maybe if people like him didn't exist, the world would be a lot better, don't you think so?"
The cop's brow furrowed, his tone now turning sharp.
"Sir, either you calm down and come quietly with us, or this gets a lot worse for you."
"Sigh. Fine. It's not like I had anything important to do anyways."
Liam was put in the back of the police vehicle. Given everything he had already gone through, he wasn't even stressed — he only hoped he wouldn't end up in prison, in the midst of people just like the man who had attacked him.
Along the way, a massive sound echoed somewhere in the distance — like something heavy parting through the sky before slamming into the ground. One of the officers glanced toward the window for a moment, frowning.
"The heck was that?"
No one replied. The car kept on moving.
After his interrogation, Liam stepped out of the room and saw a strange-looking man struggling against the officers, yelling.
"If only you knew what I am capable of. Half this city you are seeing would already be gone. I won't forget this — believe me, I shall have my revenge!"
What is this dude even talking about? Does he really think he can threaten them that way?
Wait a minute... something's off about him.
His skin — pale green, looking a bit sickly. I've never seen anything like that before.
An officer grabs his by the arm, pulling him toward the holding cell. Liam doesn't resist — he barely notices, his eyes still fixed on the strange man being dragged away in the opposite direction, still shouting, still fighting against the other officers restraining him.
He doesn't even see me. He doesn't see anyone.
Then a door closes between them, and in a second, the man is gone.
Liam blinks, and just like that, he's alone again — waiting for whatever comes next.