The sponge slipped from my fingers, splashing into the water.

The air evaporated from my lungs.

“Turn around,” I whispered, my voice trembling.

“Is something wrong, ma’am?”

I grabbed a wet cloth and began wiping the grime from his face with desperate, frantic strokes.

Beneath twenty years of dirt and street neglect emerged a worn, aged, and exhausted face—a face completely unrecognizable to the rest of the world.