Day 1,631

The one thing that bothers me most about working the early shift is how much you begin to notice the little details and realise how fucked up your, otherwise cheery, little neighbourhood is. It's all the little things I keep seeing that I can't bring myself to tell my coworkers about - last time they just shrugged and said "welcome to the area I guess".

That was back when I kept noticing the newspaper boy hiding packets of white pills in his rounds and getting a fair amount of cash in return. Apparently he only keeps a small cut of it at the end of the day, most of it goes straight to the corner shop and the dealers living in the flat above.

The police caught on eventually but by then the poor kid was hooked and I hear he's yet to be sober.

Since his additional deliveries stopped I've been noticing other things like just how many recycling bins are full of broken wine bottles and how many of those are stained red - even the off-brand chardonnay. I never see them being put out either, they're simply there already and always running red.

I've also been noticing how the wind moves the rubbish bags. I mean, I used to tell myself it was just the wind, used to hope it was just the wind but no. Something was alive in those rubbish bags and it desperately wanted out. Even after the trucks came and they were slung in along the actual unmoving rubbish, they still writhed furiously as if they thought they could roll themselves away.

Now I've grown used to that to, and utterly numb to the possibilities of what might be in there and exactly how many of them have been ,crushed to death already, I've begun noticing our customers. I've started seeing eyelids move in ways they shouldn't and jaws open that little too far to be normal.

And now I'm noticing how many of my coworkers aren't quite as human as they think I think they are...