It all went wrong when the pandemic hit.  Before that Darrell had everything anyone could ever desire.  A good job, an amazing girlfriend, solid middle class house, nice cars... but the pandemic did it.  First the job went away.  After a few months of despair the girlfriend moved out for another man who hadn't been laid off.  Then he loses the cars and finally the house.

So he hits the road deciding that maybe it wasn't all those material things that brings happiness, maybe it's adventure.  And he found it. First starting small, took a job as a carpenter then handyman.  Hung out in bars and clubs getting to know people before moving on to the next town.  One town he was more successful with flirting than earlier, and learned the pure joy of unattached intimacy... here's where Darrell learned about himself but it was too late.  He has a compulsive, addictive, collecting personality.  The more successful he was with women, the more women he wanted.  And of course one of these women introduced him to the joys of weed.  Another woman convinced him to try shrooms then acid.  Then coke.  He hasn't (yet) tried meth but did get hooked on heroin in one town till he snapped out of that and moved on to the next town.

During this time his jobs were higher paying but also came at a cost.  First a bank guard where he was going to revamp the security system but the owner told him not to.  Digging more he figured out the bank was a front for a laundering operation.  They didn't want tight security.  Instead of quitting or getting in trouble the club owner who was laundering the money offered him a bouncer job at a strip club.  Talk about heaven, naked women all day, all the booze you could drink, drugs flowing like Niagara Falls... then the catch.  Part of the bouncer's job, once vetted, was to lure dancers of the owner's choosing, drug them and bring them to a basement operation where they sold women on the open black market as sex slaves.

Hooked on coke, too much alcohol and loving the women all made it possible for him to justify his actions.  Till one day one of the dancers he really took a liking to and had been intimate with multiple times was picked by the club owner.  Darrell just couldn't do it and turned her loose.  Only to have her turn on him and handcuff him in the basement and flee.  Luckily his friend came by and freed him before the club owner found him.  Because not only would he lose his job, he owned thousands to the owner for all the drugs and advances, and there was a good chance he'd be shot in the back of the head.

So he moved on... and here he is... starting fresh.  Again.  For the twelfth time.

Update November 2023: After roaming the town and trying various jobs, finally decided... well, convinced by a few kind people who offered mentorship, to enroll and get a degree.  A foundation for settling down and building a new life.  Focus on art photography with a side in chemistry.