Down These Mean Streets, A Man Must Go

Prologue

P.O.V. Amory

Acres of wheat fields pass me. Here for one second, gone the next. Just like so many things, people in my life. With every passing field, I come closer to my destination: Calhoun. I have been avoiding that town for years, decades, actually.

Calhoun is my hometown, but it is not my home. I have not been back since I graduated high school. I've tried so many times to come back, but I can never bring myself to it. If it were up to me, I would be on my couch right now watching some Saturday morning cartoons, but my wife insists upon going to our 25-year class reunion. She says it will be "good for me." I can't imagine how.

Calhoun may seem bright and peaceful on the outside, but it has dark secrets. Those people, though, they can't take it. They just pretend like bad things never happen. They bury them and never speak about them. That's how they "cope." And I can't stand it.

The only upside to this trip is seeing the friends I had in high school. I miss them, I really do. This town, though, just brings me too much pain.

Why? Well, that is an interesting story...