Coming back to his hometown only served to remind him of why he’d left in the first place. Walking through the streets,he could feel the anger in the air, taste it on his lips. It was bitter. Anger generally was.

He wasn’t sure exactly what point the town he’d grown up in had transformed from a bright, happy place with potential into a dark, unsettling Churn Town. People didn’t want to be here. They wanted to get out, escape, move on to better things. But this town had a way of sucking people back in. If he didn’t have family to visit, he thought to himself, he’d probably never come back.

And yet there was something pleasing in the familiarity of the town. He knew the streets. He knew the people. He knew what it was like. Yes, he knew that the town was about as friendly as a Sweeney Todd Home Cookery Class, but in many ways it was still home. He hated it, but it was still home in many ways.