This Little Piggy

"This little piggy went wee wee wee, all the way home."

My son laughed as I wiggled his littlest toe back and forth.

"Alright little dude, bed time for real this time."

"okay dad." he said and rolled over onto his side.

Kinda funny that I still make humor out of that little piggy nursery rhyme. Working at a slaughter house makes it hard to see anything but bleeding writhing corpses hanging from hooks whenever a pig is mentioned. Not the kind of job everyone can stomach, but for my son I do it.

I took a glance at his night stand as I headed out of the room. Scooby Doo's face stared at me with a greenish glow as the watch gently illuminated the room. Son's afraid of the dark and this little watch comforts him, so be it. Hardly a sound escaped the door as I gently pulled it closed behind me stopping a few inches before it was fully closed. Rubbing my eyes, I headed down the hallway to my own bed. It had been a long day.

My next morning went as normal. Packed a lunch for my son, walked him to the bus stop, and spent the rest of the morning watching tv and eating my "healthy" breakfast of hot pockets and coca cola.

Somedays weren't as bad as others. Some of the pigs didn't squeal if they were killed quickly enough, others screamed forever. For the first few years working there it haunted my dreams, but I guess you have to get used to it. Today was an exceptionally slow day. I mostly opperated the giant meat grinder as the pigs bodies were thrown in, couldn't complain.

Ten hours later my replacement arrived and I was free to go. Moonlight partially illuminated the parking lot as I walked to my car. I stopped walking as I could vaguely make out a silhoutte a few yards beyond the parking lot. From where I was standing, it appeared to be the size of a small child, but the proportions were wrong. The head was exceptionally large and the legs were impossibly thin. What was this thing?

"Hey!" I yelled.

I began to walk toward the silhouette, it didn't move. My steps were slow and labored and I could hear my heart thumping in my chest. A thin layer of sweat began to form around my palms and I found myself filled with... dread.

"Hey! this is private property" the thing still didn't move.

My heard skipped a beat as I felt a hand on my shoulder. Faster than I could think I turned around ready to swing on whatever was behind me. Luckily I had enough time to see the face before fully swinging.

"What you yelling at man?" The man behind me said.

It was just James, he must have been out having a smoke break. "There's a kid or something standing out past the parking lot."

I pointed towards where I had seen the silhouette as I was talking to James. However, upon turning around, there was nothing there. How?

"I think they need to check the A/C in that building again, the heats getting to ya man." James stared off to where I was pointing.

My eyes squinted as I scanned eveyrwhere I could see beyond the parking lot. There's no way I had imagined that... is there? Maybe James was right, the booth had been quite hot today.

"You're right, someone should call our union." I laughed and punched James shoulder lightly.

He laughed and began to walk the shop. Before he got too far I stopped him once again.

"hey, wait." I ran up beside him.

"what's up?" he said.

"Can I get a smoke for the drive home?"

He pulled a slightly crushed pack of camels from his back pocket and handed me one. Nodding, I stuck it in my mouth as I walked to my car. Time to get back to my house and send the babysitter on her way.

Classic rock blasted from my radio as I sped down the fairly empty streets. Cool wind blew in from my car window as I freed a puff of smoke from my lungs. Three loud beeps caught my attention and I looked down to see my battery light was on. All power to my car was gone.

"God dammit." I yelled.

I flicked the cigarette onto the sidewalk as I stepped out and popped the hood to my car. One of the terminals had popped loose from my battery again, I really needed a new car. I slammed the hood back down and walked back to the driver side door. I stopped before entering though, a weird clacking sound could be heard, like hooves on pavement or something. I looked over my shoulder and saw the child like figure slowly walking down the street again. So I wasn't crazy!

"Are you following me?" I shut my car door and walked towards them.

No reply, instead the thing picked up it's speed slightly. I hesitated a little before walking a bit closer as well. The halo of a street light illuminated the person as they passed beneath it. What I saw quite literally caused my heart to skip a beat. It was a pig, a fucking pig. Walking on it's hind legs like a human. It's back was facing me and it's head was bent so far back that it's eyes were upside down and the mouth was where the top of the head should be.

A loud squeal pierced the night and the pig fell down onto all fours still bent completely backwards. That's when I noticed human legs coming out of this things stomach as well as a human head protruding from it's neck.

There was no time to think, I hopped in my car so quick I dropped my keys onto the floor. Heart pounding I fumbled around in the darkness for them as the squealing grew closer. A soft metallic jingle filled the air as I threw my keys into the ignition. But the car wouldn't start.

"Come on! not now!" I looked out the rear window.

The pigman was less than a block away now. Once more I tried the keys and still nothing. Just as I thought I was done for, the car fired up. I looked out my rear window as I slammed on the gas, the pigman couldn't be seen.

My heart was still thumping as I pulled into my driveway five minutes later. I had to regain my composure before heading inside or I'd freak out the babysitter. Three deep breaths later I was walking in my front door.

A blonde teenager was sitting on my couch watching some reality show and texting at the same time. Her attention didn't turn from her phone at all even as I shut the front door.

"Thanks for the help again Cameron."

She smiled and got up off the couch.

"No problem, I love watching the little dude anyway."

I handed her forty bucks and she was on her way. Slowly I headed up the stairs and peaked in my son's room. He was out like a light. Lying in my bed was a huge relief after what went on tonight. Maybe I had imagined it, I could be sick or something. Tomorrow I would call the doctor and get checked for the flu or something. Yeah, that has to be what it is.

Abruptly I sat up in my bed breathing heavily and heart pounding. A nightmare of that pigman had jarred me awake. I looked over to my alarm, 3:23. My throat was dry so I decided to go to the kitchen for a drink. My movements were clumsy as I headed downstairs. I flipped on the kitchen light and grabbed a bottled water from the fridge. If I didn't get some sleep tomorrow was going to be hell.

A few minutes later I shut off the light and tossed the empty bottle in the bin. My foot stopped in the air as I prepared to head upstairs. Something was making a noise in the backyard. The familiar dread filled me as I walked to my sliding glass door. A wet gurgling sound could be heard from beyond the doors. My hand froze on the string to the blinds. I didn't want to see what was out there.

"1, 2, 3" I yanked the string at 3.

Nothing, the backyard was completely emtpy. One of my sprinklers had broken though and water was gurgling out on to the lawn. The guy I paid to mow my lawn must not have been paying attention, oh well. I walked outside and shut off the water. Simple fix. I stepped back into my house yawning. A loud squeal caused me to jump and turn around. Running towards the glass door was the pigman. I slammed it shut and ran upstairs straight to my room. WIthin my closet I grabbed a wooden baseball bat and my blanket off my bed. I pressed my back against the wall near my bedroom door and yelled downstairs.

"Come get me you disgusting pig fuck."

I heard the glass door slide open and heavy footsteps began coming up the stairs. When they reached the top however, they began heading towards my sons room.

"No! I'm this way!" I yelled out the door.

The footsteps stopped momentarily before heading towards my room. My heart thumped in rhythym with the steps as I prepared myself. A soft creaking rang out as my door slowly opened. I yanked it the rest of the way open and threw the blanket over the pigman. It squirmed around a little bit before I began hitting it with my bat. Bones broke and the thing began to twitch as it was hit over and over. Adrenaline flooded my body, and I continued to beat it with the bat until there was no more movement. The bat fell softly to the carpet as I stood there breathing heavily over the blood soaked blanket.

"Son!." I yelled.

I carefully stepped over the blanket and headed down the hallway.

"Son!" I yelled again.

I opened the door slowly and walked to the bed.

"Son." I said softly.

As my eyes adjusted I saw the bed was empty. My heart dropped. I turned to the night stand and the scooby doo watch was missing. I could feel bile building up in my stomach. I stepped back out into the hallway and slowly walked back towards my bedroom. Blood was pooling on the carpet now and tears began to fill my eyes. It wasn't until I was directly over the blanket that I could see the little arm hanging out wearing a scooby doo watch.