The fall air nipped at his cheeks as he rounded the corner.

Roxbury was strangely serene at this time in the morning.

The occasional Red Sox logo was all that distinguished this street from any other graffiti laden, run down concrete shit tip in the world. High-rises, half cracked sidewalks, battered shutters down over stores, it was a perfect study in urban decay.

You don’t treat people nice, they don’t treat things nice thought Trent as he barrelled towards his destination, hands in pockets, headphones in ears, hood up and hunched up from the cold. Anyway, fuck this place. Once my band takes off I’m outta here.

Sure Trent, whatever you say.

He came to a stop at a large gated building with an imposing metal security gate. 

The sign to the right of it: Higginson/Lewis K-8.

He buzzed his way in and with more effort than he would like to expend at 7 in the morning, pushed his way into work.

As he entered the building he did the usual, signing in at the door, a nod here to someone, a “hi” to another. Fucking drones.

He hung up his coat and headed to his first task of the day, pulling open a creaking old fridge in the corner of the Staff Room.

He yawned and stretched a kink out of his neck from sleeping on his friend’s sofa. Last night was fucking wild, he thought to himself

In front of him, in the opened fridge stood hundreds of tiny plastic packets of blood, each bar coded individually and stacked to bursting.

In the middle of them sat one small, child sized carton of milk.

He tried to stretch out the kink in his neck again. Fucking sofa.

He removed the packets one at a time, careful to count twenty nine of them, just like he had to do every fucking day.

The circle of kids tucked them, their tiny incisors piercing the packet, the deep red contents dripping clumsily down some of their chins.

The one non-v kid sat happily drinking his milk, the white straw pinned tight between his lips.

Trent watched unimpressed as the kids slurped away. Man this job sucks, he thought, maybe I should write a song about it...