PostsChallengesPortalsAuthorsBooks
Sign Up
Log In
Posts
Challenges
Portals
Authors
Books
beta
Sign Up
Search
Challenge
Prose Challenge of the Week #46: It’s Halloween. Scare us shitless in 30 words or more. The winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria, this includes: fire, form, and creative edge. Number of reads, bookmarks, and shares will also be taken into consideration. The winner will receive $100. When sharing to Twitter, please use the hashtag #ProseChallenge.
Cover image for post Such a Pig, by AmandaCary
Profile avatar image for AmandaCary
AmandaCary

Such a Pig

I know full well this is not how to gather friends or win a competition, but here goes anyway...

I don't remember a time when these bars weren't my Monet

Splattered feces and urine soaked concrete to cushion my feet and lull me to sleep

I have an inkling memory of my mother

Though only through images of her mastitic breasts seeping the stench of pus and my rotting brothers

There are so many here

I can no longer see

My eyes have become maggot habitat

But I can hear all too well

The screeching of bowels being shredded

The frantic breath of my neighbor as he's led by rubber boots

Only hoping he may return

Or maybe begging not to

They will come for me too

They come for us all

And I pray I die with the first blow

To my head

The electric current

That should render me paralyzed and shock my brain into submission

I pray that I die then

Please

I pray I do not feel my legs shackled and my body hoisted

Dragged through scalding water

Like so many of us

Awake

I'm not bright

They say

I've only the mental capacity of a four-year-old child

They say

But I see no children here

And I know what's coming

One day

I am witness to it

Every day

How could I not know?

We all know

We ALL know

Everyday

The bellows of death

And discomposure

Of pleading

And insanity

This is our Symphony

How could we not know?

The melody of grinding metal

Smashing

Clashing

Screaming

How could we not know?

I have never known an outside

Though I smell it on their feet

The ones that bash my face when I am

Against the gates

The ones that send me away from this

This...home.

Into the box car

They'll pile us

As if we're already only bodies

Stacked one on top of the other

No room to breathe

Some will die, already rotting before they step foot inside

Fate already sealed

Not strong enough for a sadist ride

They are the lucky ones

This is their last stop

The hungry ones will eat them

Why waste good flesh when you're starving

Why leave a corpse to occupy so much valuable space

It only makes sense

The rubber boots don't mind

Less work for them

There will be light for a moment

My first and last taste of fresh air

I can smell

Though my senses have been

Dulled by the aromatic mingling of burnt flesh and fresh iron with abscess and shit

In here

In the final place

It's stronger

And it dances with the sweet odor of decay

It's an unmistakable smell

Decomposing organs

Terror

Agony

Death

I hope I go quickly

I wish I could say that

I wish I'd known the outside

Or that I could soak in the sun

And bathe in cool streams

Or feel the tickle of sweet morning dew on my nose

I wish I could wish those things

But I know not of them

I only know

Steel

Iron

Shit

Blood

Death

Fear

Pain

I only know the frantic jolting

Driven by electric shock

And fists

I only know screeching and heart pounding

Corners

Claustrophobia

I only know fluorescent lights and needles

Pitchforks

Rubber boots

And soon I'll know what it's like to be paralyzed

And incapacitated

But finally useful

The waiting

Is

Over

I will be stopped

No breathing

I hope

I will be bled

Dry

And

Delicious

I will be blanched

Bald

And

Beautiful

I will be dismembered

Cured

And

Categorized

And I can't help but wonder

If you knew me...

Would you save me?

If you knew me

would you save me?

If I were like you

would you save me?

I think you would

Good morning

I'm your bacon.

Factory farming sucks for so many more reasons than just this.

It truly is horror in every sense of the word.

If it moves you, research...learn...love...

If it doesn't, research...learn...love...

We are all living on the same planet.

Feel free to SHARE wherever you'd like!! :)