He'd always hated carnivals. The fun house, the house of horrors, the sickly-sweet or salty-fried foods, the shrieks that never seemed to come from enjoyment, exactly, but from fear and exhilaration entwined. The clowns. Their smiles looked like screams.
His life had been a carnival, filled with horrors and freaks, filled with things that other people paid to stare at but could leave at the end of the day, go home to their nice little houses and just … forget.
He never could. It was there when he woke in the morning and when he closed his eyes at night.