I followed Tommy down the alley, but as the shadows grew darker I started to lose sight of him. I listened, but with all the noise from the city it was hard to tell where he was moving. I bumped into something metallic, a trash can maybe. It made a loud crash.

"Careful, Darling!" Tommy said.

I heard some shuffling in my direction, from the dark a hand grabbed my wrist. It tugged gently on my arm.

"This way," he said, "we'll be there in a bit."

We walked for a while in silence. Tommy held my hand the whole time, making sure I didn't get lost. He had been so kind to me. Offering me food, shelter, watching over me as we traveled. He said he felt especially bad for homeless youths, but it seemed like there was more to it than that. How had such a kind man ended up like this?

"Tommy?"

"Yeah, Darling?"

I hesitated a moment. "You absolutely don't have to tell me- I mean, I didn't really give you and explanation, and it would be so unfair if-"

"Darling, you're apologizing before you've even done something." He laughed. "What's your question?

"How did you end up here?"

The air was quiet. I worried if I'd offended him after all. I heard a sigh.

"I ask myself that sometimes. A lot of reasons, but I think the biggest was my wife dying."

"Oh, I'm-"

"Nah, nah. You never met her, I don't expect any sympathy, it was a long time ago. Guess I never really got over it. Life was good then, I wasn't a rich man, but we were happy. My Rachel was the sweetest thing to ever walk the Earth. Never met another like her.

We were young, in love. Only been married a few years when we decide we wanted a family. When she got pregnant we were over the moon. Painted up a nursery and everything. Well, things change.

I'm no doctor so I can't tell you what happened really, but something went wrong. She bled out giving birth, the doctors tried to save the baby, but that didn't work out either. Four hours. I lost everything I loved in about four hours. I screamed, I cried, I went home alone that night. Rachel was all I had.

When I got there, what was the first thing I saw? That little nursery. We were in such a rush we left the lights on. We painted it all sunny yellow, it was practically shining in the dark.

I didn't feel a thing, guess my mind shut off. I barely remember it, it was like watching a movie almost. Seeing it but not doing it. I see myself going to the garage and dumping out a can of gasoline all over the house, I see the matches, I remember the flames all around me, but I didn't really think about it. All I remember thinking is, 'Good, I can see them now.'"

I listened to Tommy's story, but I couldn't begin to comprehend it. He lost everything he loved, and in such a short time. I almost felt bad about my problems, demon and devils be damned, they seemed to pale in comparison to what he suffered. A soft chuckle broke me from these thoughts.

"Well, I'm still here," he said, "so you can see that didn't work out. Firemen pulled me out, hospital checked me out, cops took me away. I got off easy because of everything I'd been through, but it didn't matter. It was downhill from there. Alcohol, drugs, same old story. Got off that stuff a few years back. Now I'm just wasting my time, hoping I can be good enough to squeak my way into whatever place they went to and see them again."

I tried to find words, but what can you really say after something like that?

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I'm sorry." I said quietly.

He let out another wheezing laugh. "You kinda remind me of my Rachel. She would apologize for things she couldn't control too."

I didn't say anything else. He didn't either. He led me through streets and alleys to the outskirts of the city. Finally, I saw a fire glowing on the horizon. As we drew closer I saw people wandering behind a busted chain-link fence. They looked about as well off as Tommy and I did. He ducked through a hole in the fence and motioned for me to follow.

Like he said, it was an abandoned car lot. Old junkers stacked up to the sky, stripped of every sellable part. Some of the more fortunate residents seemed to have claimed some cars as their homes. My heart ached as I saw children huddled together drawing with sticks in the dirt or playing swords with some old car antennas.

Tommy led me to a car in the back of the lot. It was a really old van. I couldn't tell if the reddish-brown color was paint or rust. The windows were covered with garbage bags and duct tape. The doors at the back were held together with an old piece of the fence. Tommy untwisted it from the handles.

"This is my car, been here a while so I got good claims to it. We don't have much, but even we have rules. If you don't mind you can share it with me, at least until we get you set up." He said, opening the doors.

The back was filled with a dirty pile of old pillows and blankets. This sight would have normally horrified me, but after several days of sleeping on leaves and rocks, it looked like a gift from God. I crawled to the pile and threw myself down, ignoring the musty smell. Tommy laughed and crawled in, sitting on the edge of the van.

"Never seen a girl so anxious to get on a pile of rags before!"

"I've never been so tired in my life." I muttered wearily.

"If you like, I have better accommodations for you." A gentle voice said.

It was another old man, although this one seemed to be a lot better off than Tommy. His clothes and body were clean, he had a gentle appearance to him, his blue eyes almost glowed in the night. He smiled at me softly and extended his hand in my direction. Tommy quickly grabbed an old pillow and hit him with it.

"You stay away from her!" He shouted angrily. "She's not done yet! Find some other sap to leech off of!"

The man glared at Tommy, his gentle face had twisted into one of rage. He quickly corrected this before turning back to me.

"If you would like more comfortable conditions, seek me out. You can call me 'Gary.'" He said softly.

He shot another glance at Tommy, who raised the pillow again in preparation. The old man hobbled off. Tommy spat in the man's direction before turning to me.

"Darling, avoid those things at all cost."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Tommy opened his mouth as if to speak but quickly shut it, looking around cautiously. He picked at a frayed patch in one of his jackets.

"Not now," he said quietly, "it's not safe. Just stay away from anyone with blue eyes for now. I promise I'll explain later. Okay?"

I was going to push the issue, but Tommy looked really nervous, almost scared. I nodded. I was too tired to argue anyway. Tommy crawled in next to me, closing the doors behind him.

"Goodnight, Darling."

"Night." I muttered sleepily.

My dream wasn't really a dream. I saw flashes of images, but I didn't understand them. A crocodile, a hawk, trees, broken glass. I heard a man crying somewhere in the background. Glowing blue eyes burned intensely from the darkness of my dreams.

The sound of banging metal startled me awake. I jumped up and looked around in a panic. My heart was racing, I sucked in air desperately. My eyes finally rested on Tommy. He was sitting at the edge of the van again, he looked concerned.

"Jeez, sorry, Darling." He said softly. "Wasn't trying to scare you, but we need to get going."

"Going?" I asked.

"Yup, gotta hurry if we want to get breakfast."

My stomach growled at the mention of food. I crawled out of the van and jumped to the ground unsteadily. Tommy quickly helped me catch my balance. He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Stick with ol' Tommy, Darling. Most of our kind either die off or move on to other places, but I've been here for decades. I know every trick to living half-decent here." He paused and looked briefly at his filthy clothes. "Alright, maybe less than half, but at least we're living."

He let out his usual wheezing laugh and led me through the car lot. Half the residents were still sleeping soundly, scattered in various spots. The other half were up and doing their daily activities, careful to avoid those who were sleeping.

We made it to the opposite end of the lot, crawling through another hole in the fence. We walked down the road in silence. It was empty. I wondered why this part of the city was so quiet.

"This whole area is abandoned." Tommy said as if reading my mind. "Some rich guy bought out the folks who lived here. Guess he thought he'd buy it cheap, fix it up, and make some money.

What he didn't think about is why the property was so cheap. Asbestos, infestations, building code violations. The people who lived there didn't have a choice, they were just happy to have a roof and four walls, but this guy?" Tommy let out a long whistle. "Boy was he mad. I guess when he realized how much it would cost him to fix the place up he decided to bite the bullet and take the loss on the property, rather than sink more money into it. So, now it's just sitting here. We kinda claimed it as the 'homeless division' of the city."

I thought back to my cottage at Sacred Heart. It wasn't a luxurious home, but asbestos? Infestations? I'd never had to worry about any of those things. I felt a twinge of guilt. Did I really have the right to be here complaining about anything?

Tommy reached out and squeezed my hand gently. "You okay, Darling? You look upset?"

"Just..." I paused. Did I really want to tell him? I sighed. "I was just thinking maybe things weren't so bad where I ran away from. I was actually pretty privileged if I think about it."

"Let me guess," he said with a chuckle, "former rich girl turned to drugs?"

"No." I said gently.

"Ah, Daddy didn't like your boyfriend so you two ran off together, but then he ditched you?"

I thought about it. "That's... closer, but still not exactly."

"Then what is 'exactly,' if you don't mind me asking?"

I shrugged. "I was an orphan, raised by a priest in a Catholic church, a month or two ago I started wanting some more independence. He rationalized it as me being possessed, so he locked me in my house and starved me. When that didn't work he and the nuns tried to perform an exorcism on me. I... ran off before they did."

I figured the story was already crazy enough without mentioning demons. Tommy stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at me.

"Are you joking?"

I shook my head no. He turned away and walked in circles for a bit, mumbling to himself as he did. Finally, he turned back to me.

"And you think you were privileged living like that?" He asked.

"Well, it wasn't always like that. I-"

"That don't mean shit, Darling!" He said. "Jesus Christ! Now you got me thinking I might be the privileged one. I've heard a million stories on these streets and never heard anything like that before."

He shook his head. I was shocked. Was what I went through really that bad?

"Darling, a lot of people have this idea in their head of 'I can't complain because someone somewhere's got it worse.' Well, someone always has it worse. Doesn't mean you don't have it bad too." He reached out and stroked my hair gently. "Possessed. Bah!" He turned and spat on the ground. "I know demons, and you aren't one of them."

He paused. He looked as if he suddenly remembered something. He peeked around cautiously before leaning in.

"I know demons." He said again. "I think it's time I warned you properly about those blue-eyed monsters."