History

Aaron Baylis was born in 1847 in the small southern Missouri town of New Madrid along the Mississippi, the son of a stonemason and a schoolteacher. From a young age, he was taught to value hard work and moral clarity. His early years were spent helping his father mix mortar or sorting books in his mother's classroom, where he developed a quiet resilience and an easy charm.

In his twenties, Aaron moved to St. Louis to work as a city constable. The job suited him well, and he quickly became a steady figure on the force: Fair, calm under pressure, and more inclined to talk a man down than draw a gun. But city life wore on him — The clamor, the closeness, and above all, the constant fear of his private romantic inclinations becoming public knowledge. A difficult break-up — If something emotionally paltry could be given such a lofty label — provided the impetus he finally needed to turn his gaze west to the vast anonymity of the frontier. A small homestead was his first thought — So many people were seizing the opportunity — but a newspaper advertisement for a sheriff with law enforcement experience caught his eye.

When he arrived in Never, he thought he'd found what he was looking for: A town small enough to know your neighbors but remote enough to keep your past your own. At first, things seemed straightforward in the sheriff's post — Cattle and horse rustlers, petit larceny, a lot of drunken fights caused by mine workers. But the more time Aaron spends in Never, the more he notices its peculiarities.

He hasn't yet put a name to what's off about the town, but he trusts his instincts and has started keeping a notebook hidden in his desk with a list of odd happenings and people. He tells himself it's just good lawman work, but part of him wonders if Never is exactly where he was meant to be, an odd man out in a place as odd as they come.