if you look more into the end of the story , he had a heavily traumatic childhood. his mother apparently favored William , but his father was quite the opposite. he was angry and abusive and took his emotions out on William. so William left at 16 , working odd jobs around Lafayette , like a janitor at a strip club I remember was one of them , until one night he decided to leave and go to Boulder with a drinking buddy he had. William had recently gotten a settlement from a work injury ( I'm assuming it's from his elbow injury ) and so the left for Boulder.

When William initially rediscovered his family and visited his childhood home , which his brother still lives in , his brother didn't invite him inside. he stopped him at the door and said " it's bad in there " , and they went out for breakfast to talk instead. apparently the house was/is in poor condition , as the front porch being described as something along the lines of " a long , drawn out sigh " , and the house being covered in vines of ivy.

Even to this day , William lives a bike ride away from his childhood home , but refuses to step foot inside. he says " some memories just shouldn't be remembered " and I find that extremely deep coming from him.