PIG

Chapter One: A bit of Bait

I slowly kept pushing the Y key on my laptop keyboard in a roatating thought, but soon after ''Y Y Y Y Y'' I hit the Backspace and began again. I just stared on an empty white page in Wordpad as the black blinking cursor just stuck in place. A knock on my bedroom door caused me to jolt. "Yeah?" I say, near frustratingly from the aftermath of a JumpScare. My bedroom door opened slowly and I drug my eyes to the entrance. My Mother stood there with a kind smile on her face as she says with a tilt of her head and a gleam in her eye as she refrained from laughing, "I'm sorry, hunny." I smile back at her as I looked her over, she was so adorable in her teal green Spring leaf dress. I kinda chuckled. "You look great." She beams excitedly and she did a cutesy curtsy. "You like? I got it from Beals." I kinda half grin and look back to my screen, not seeing a thing but that of what my attention left only seconds ago. "Well, I'm off to the party. I won't be home for another 4 hours." I look back at her and force a smile of acceptance. She looks back at me and as usual just shrugs a little to my reaction, knowing I was in the midst of typing my collection of short stories. "There's a chicken casserole in the refrigerator in case you get hungry."

"Thanks, Mom." I reply and nervously keep typing a random letter to draw away from the tension I was beginning to feel. "Well, see you in a while. Love you." Saying this she turns away as she closes my door and I'm then left off where I started. However, when I turned my attention back to my computer I squinted my eyes in bewilderment. I saw something highly unusual. "Love you, too!" I shout, by this time it was a little too late, she had already shut the front door. There was some sort of cryptic red headline text in my lower right corner: Read This.

Unusual because: My Gmail doesn't get Spam under my Inbox. Shouldbe in the Spam folder, honestly, at the time I thought very little of it and clicked Dismiss like it was nothing. I went back into Wordpad and tucked a strand of brown hair behind my left ear as I pressed my lips together in thought. Nothing was giving me that burst of imagination! It was beginning to piss me off. So, in result I picked up my cell phone from beside me on the bed and unlocked it with a swift move of my thumb. The wallpaper of my bestie Amy popped up giving treasured memory of the day her and I were at an Amusement Park on Halloween of 2015. God, I miss her. I didn't wish to think about it but I did...

I shook the memory from my head and clicked on Contacts to send a quick IM to Ryan. Another bestie of mine since grade school.

Me: 10:27 PM:

Hey Ryan.

-sent

As I waited for a response I took a sip from a Red Bull I had on my bedside table. Turning blindly back towards the blank screen as if I keep waiting for something to hand me an welcome invitationto write something off the hook.

Nothing.

BING!

My Cell went off for a New Text.

RYAN: 10:29 PM:

Wassup, Emily.

Me: 10:30 PM:

Tell me something exciting!

-sent

I then just stared at my phone waiting for his answer, Ryan usually comes up with the most bizarre and hilarious stories everytime I sk him for advice. Great friend. A minute has passed and still no text from Ryan, I decided to give it some more time. He is a guy, after all and he's just a buddy. I inhaled sharply and glanced around my room, letting my mind wander. I kept, strangely, thinking what the hell that inbox message was with the red message: Read This.

RYAN: 10:33 PM

ok so a man came into my shop one day and asked me if I knew anything about barbed wire. I thought this was hella weird considering this guy, living in Texas of all country states, knew absolutely nothing about fucking barbed wire. weird right? So I told him, it helps keep the animals out and your animals in. He kind of smiled and answered me like right of the bat saying: "Then where do you think I could find the cheapest price for Barbed Wire with like a lot of it?" So, I said he could buy some here and it's priced for 8.50 for a 20 ft. And 10.89 for 40 ft. So he told me 40 ft. I get it ok, and I let the man have it. Days later, well, the man comes back and he asks: "Do you know anything about electrical tape?" I kind of laugh and ask him what he is building and he says: "A chicken coop". I shrug and just hand him some electrical tape from isle 4 priced for 2.46 and he buys it. Well, get this, Em. That NEXT day he comes back AGAIN... he asks a worker I know on register 6 something like: "Do you know anything about Ryan?" haha well she says Yeah I know Ryan. He says, Well can you tell him I said thank you for me he saved a life. Starngely enough, the weird guy never came back. Seems to me he was just building a chicken coop, no big deal, but when Sally, at register 6 told me what this dude said I nearly choked. It was so bizarre. Seriously, a reaccuring shopper in a minumum of 6 days keep coming back up at Lowes in overalls and asking about shit that everybody knows about and not to mention! About me? What the fuck does he mean 'saved a life'. I'm starting to get the chills thinking about those poor chickens he's building a coop for. lmfao