Sam’s POV

I woke up coughing water out of my lungs as I rolled to my side. My vision blurred and my throat burned like it was on fire.

"You're alive!" A woman’s voice said in surprise.

I looked over, still gasping for air as the water dripped from my hair. What happened? Where am I? Who is she?

The woman had graying silver hair and wrinkles around her baggy eyes with ragged clothes on and a shopping cart behind her, filled with cans and plastic bottles.

"What were you doing in that river, young man?" She asked with concern and confusion in her voice.

"I- I don't-," I tried so hard to remember as I closed my eyes and faced the ground, coughing again. Nothing came to me. "I don't remember," I told her.

"What's your name?"

“My name?” I opened my eyes wide. What's my name? I tried so hard to remember when finally it came to me. "Sam," I told her as a smile came over my lips. "It's Sam."

Yeah, Sam sounded right. I knew that was my name. I felt so proud of myself for at least remembering that much.

"Well Sam, you can just call me Old Grace. Are you from the city? Do you remember where you’re from?"

I searched hard for a long time trying to remember but nothing came. I shook my head. "I- I can't remember," I said in failure. My eyes filled with tears as I tried to remember anything. A mom or dad? Did I have siblings? Did I live in the city or farther up the river? "I can't- I can't remember anything," I said as the tears started to fall from my eyes. How could I remember my name and how to talk without remembering anything else? It's like my life before waking up was a black hole and that's all I could see. Nothing.

"It's okay, child. Come with me for the night. Let's get you in for dry clothes and food in your belly. Oh, can't promise the food will be good but it will be warm my dear," she said softly and helped me up to my feet and rubbed my back as I started to freak out on the inside.

My legs were a little wobbly still but she helped me as best as she could. I took a look back at the river, hoping maybe something would come to me. 

The rain was a steady and calm downpour but the river looked as if it was fighting to reach over the floor wall. It moved so fast and wild in rage. I could see an older man looking down the river but when he turned around he had a look of horror on his face. I looked down wondering how I even survived a minute in there without getting ripped apart or having a single broken bone in my body.

———

5 years later

I walked into Oakland park in the downtown area and sat down on the bench to scope out the area. It wasn't crowded yet but I knew it would be filled with people soon enough. I got word there was supposed to be some big-time singer here starting at nightfall.

My memory never did come back from that night 5 years ago but Old Grace was kind enough to take me in. She taught me how to defend myself, get food plus how and when to save it for the winter months, how to sleep light, and most importantly how to steal and pick a pocket to survive.

Sadly she passed away 3 winters ago. We had a bad snowstorm that lasted days and it was the coldest I've ever seen out here on the streets. Unfortunately, she fell ill and couldn't make it to see spring.

But that's what I'm doing here, using what she showed me. Big crowds and something distracting everybody's eyes. It was a perfect opportunity to make the extra money I'd need for food and a new blanket. The one I had at my tent was torn up pretty bad and smelled even worse. Getting kinda hard to sleep with. 

As I waited for more people to show, I decided maybe it was a good time to go clean myself up a little more to help blend in with the crowd and not some street rat, as they liked calling us.

It's been a few weeks since my last real shower but a good bathroom shower goes a long way if you cleaned the right places regularly.

I started with my hair, using some samples I got from a small grocery store a while back. I only used them for big jobs like this. It was just barely enough to wash everything since my dark brown hair was getting long. I hadn't cut it in a long time so it was to my shoulders and frames around my face. Looking in the mirror, my brown eyes don't stand out either but that was fine with me. The more plain and normal I looked, the less likely someone would be able to remember me. I liked being in the shadows.

After washing my hair, I used my small hand towel from my bag to wash my face, armpits, and down south before washing the rag again quickly and putting it over the air dryer. Then, I ran my fingers through my wet hair and used the other hand dryer to dry it.

It was getting colder outside so I wasn’t taking a chance of getting sick. I had plenty of time to kill anyways as I ignore the weird looks I got from the people who walked in.

Once that was done, I walked out and put my lucky light gray beanie on, and hid my bag under a small wooden bridge close by before walking to where everyone was starting to gather.

As I walked across the sitting area, I put on a nice new coat I found just lying on the back of a chair with no one around. Not my fault they just left it there for the taking like that. First come first out here on the streets.

Pulling my hands in the warm pockets I pulled out a wallet with 7 dollars inside and some random change. After emptying the money, I tossed the rest of the wallet in the garbage can because I didn’t need credit cards or whatever else they had in there, just the cash and the change were all I looked for.

I looked around and asked a couple for the time as they walked passed. Two more hours left until the show started, so I walked over to another bench they had scattered around the park and sat down by myself. I knew this park pretty well so I didn't want to waste time by walking around, I walked around enough as it was.

The crowd was growing by the minute as night started to fall. I smiled as I looked around, knowing it was going to be a good night tonight.

"Oh damn. You're here too, Sammy," I heard a familiar voice behind me and turned around with a smile. "You've got to be kidding me."

It was my good friend Steven, another kid from the streets like me. He took a seat next to me and looked around. He was a good pickpocket too but not as fast or as sneaky as me. He was younger by a few years at 18 with curly light brown hair and a few freckles under his ocean blue eyes. His short and thin body let him get in and out of small spaces nicely too.

"Hey man," I said. "Didn't think I would see you here tonight but I guess I'll be nice. Left or right?" I asked him as we looked over the growing cowed.

"Left feels good," he answered confidently. "New coat?"

I looked down. The coat was a plain navy blue color, nothing that would stand out to normal people. On the streets, however, it screamed new with the bold color that wasn't faded or ripped and didn't smell yet.

"Yeah. Picked it up on my way over. So how is Lexi doing?" I asked.

"She's doing much better. Thanks for the meds too by the way. It took the fever down quickly that night."

Lexi was his little sister. They ran away from their foster home two years back. He didn't tell me why but I knew something bad happened there. It just wasn't my place to ask further questions.

Unfortunately, she fell ill not long ago and when I found out I took some meds from the pharmacy store close by to help. I almost got caught too but I'm a really fast runner so I was able to outrun the employees before the cops showed up.

"Not a problem. You know I would do anything for her. She’s like a sister to me as well.”

We talked a little while longer before the show started. Once the music began to play we got up and started to walk that way.

"Hey Sammy, met me in the alley off Grant street after this?" He asked before we parted ways.

"Sure thing. Meet you then," I told him and we split ways after wishing each other good luck.