My Husband Cheated With A Hog

My mother-in-law told me to go feed the hog.

As I stepped toward the pen, a voice hissed into my ear:

[Here she comes. Im going to tear her face off in a minute.]

[This cheap trash... she actually had the nerve to sleep next to my man last night.]

[Hee hee. Shell die before she figures out that her husband and I are a pair.]

I froze in my tracks.

I stared at the pig. It was glaring back at me, its small eyes full of malice.

But he was a boar. A male hog.

When I first heard the voice, I thought I was still dreaming.

It was barely five in the morning, and the sky was a bruised, heavy purple. An hour ago, my mother-in-law, Mabel, had been pounding on our bedroom door.

Id tried to nudge my husband, Jackson. He just rolled over, reeking of cheap bourbon and snoring like a freight train. He hadnt stumbled home until nearly three; Id spent my night wiping his face and peeling off his boots. He didn't budge.

Mabels screeching drifted from the yard into the hallway. "What good is a lazy wife? I shouldn't have to call you three times to feed a damn pig!"

I dragged myself out of bed, wrapped a heavy coat over my pajamas, and headed out. The pigpen was in the back lot, reached by a narrow, lightless path between the barn and the fence. I felt my way along the cold wood, my boots sinking into the freezing mud.

The slop bucket sat by the gate. The stench of fermented waste made my stomach lurch. I lifted the bucket, and as I approached, the voice returnedsharp, shrill, and feminine.

[Finally! The bitch is finally here!]

I stopped, spinning around. There was no one there. Only the wind.

I took two more steps. Inside the pen, the hog was watching me. He was massive, a mountain of black bristles and slick fat. His tiny eyes were buried in folds of flesh, glowing with a muddy, unnatural light in the dark.

He grunted impatiently, rooting his snout into the trough. He sounded like a normal animal.

But then the voice came again, closer this time, as if someone were whispering directly into my ear canal.

[What are you waiting for? Come inside! Come in so I can pin her down and chew her to pieces!]

My hand shook. Half a gallon of slop splashed over the side of the bucket.

[Does the slut know something?]

[The last one was cautious, too. She wouldn't come in. But I caught her by the arm and dragged her under the rail anyway!]

[Hee hee hee...]

[I dragged her into the trough and started with her feet. It took three days to finish her. It was pure bliss!]

The blood in my veins turned to ice.

Through the slats of the fence, I saw it clearly. A grina sickeningly human curvespread across the pig's snout.

He nudged the trough again.

[Come on! Come here!]

The voice crawled into my ear, oily and desperate.

[Put your hand in. Feed me.]

The bucket hit the ground with a heavy clang. Slop splattered my legs, the sour smell hitting the back of my throat. I didn't care. I just stared at him.

He was still smiling. He shifted his massive weight, and I saw the heavy evidence beneath him. He was a boar.

I pinched my thigh hard. It stung.

I wasn't dreaming.

I backed away, my heart hammering against my ribs. I found a long PVC pipe leaning against the barn.

I began ladling the slop into the pipe, letting it slide down into the trough from a safe distance. All the while, I kept my eyes locked on the hog.

His eyes, which had been narrowed in anticipation, flew wide. I saw a flash of genuine shock on that porcine face.

The voice erupted:

[Whats happening? Why isn't the bitch coming closer?]

[Don't panic... don't panic... find a way to lure her in...]

[Yes! I'll play sick. Ill collapse, and shell have to come check on me.]

[When she gets close enough, Ill pin her. Right into the filth!]

[Hee hee, yes. Perfect.]

I gripped the pipe tighter.

The hog started to eat, his snout shoveling through the rotting vegetable scraps and sour water. After a few bites, his body suddenly went rigid. He didn't even swallow the mouthful of slop before his eyes rolled back in his head.

White foam bubbled from the corners of his mouth. His four legs began to twitch violently. His massive body slammed into the muck, sending a spray of black filth into the air.

I stood outside the gate, motionless.

He continued to spasm, but his eyes were slanted toward me, watching.

[Come on... come on... come check on me...]

The thoughts were loud now, vibrating with an arrogant triumph.

[As soon as shes in, Ill lunge. Ill start with her face!]

I reached for a heavy wooden fence post lying nearby.

I swung it with everything I had, slamming it down directly onto the hogs head.

The pigs fat shuddered, but he didn't get up. He was committed to the act. But the voice in my head screamed:

[FUCK! The bitch hit me!!!]

[It hurts! It hurts so much! How is she so strong?!]

[Hold it... hold it... shes just testing me. If I get up, shell know Im faking...]

I raised the post again.

Just then, a sharp, jagged voice cut through the air from behind me.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

I spun around. Mabel was standing there, her face contorted, the loose skin on her neck trembling with rage.

"Have you lost your mind? Why are you hitting that pig!"

The corner of the pig's mouth twitched into a secret smirk. The voice returned, bubbling with sadistic glee:

[Shes here! My help is here!]

[The old hag isn't worth much, but she only let Jackson marry this trash because her family had money.]

[Once I tear the bitchs face off, the old woman won't care. Shell cover for me!]

[She used to send those other little girls out here to feed me just so I could do her dirty work, didn't she?]

[That college girl from last year? I took half her face. She went crazy. Hee hee hee...]

I gripped the wooden post until my knuckles turned white. I wasn't the first victim.

Mabel lunged at me, trying to snatch the wood from my hands.

"Why is he foaming? He was fine yesterday! You did something to him, didn't you? You poisoned him!"

I stepped back. "I don't know, Mabel. I poured the feed and he just collapsed. I was trying to... wake him up."

"Wake him up? You stupid cow!" Mabel grabbed my wrist, her yellowed fingernails digging into my skin. "Youre so damn spiteful! I ask you to do one chore and you try to kill the livestock?"

I winced as she squeezed.

"Now get in there and check on him!"

"I... I can't," I whispered, glancing at the pen. "Im scared."

"Scared of what?" Mabels voice rose to a glass-shattering pitch. "That isn't just a pig! Jackson raised him from a piglet. If anything happens to him, Jackson will strip the skin off your back!"

She began dragging me toward the gate. I dug my heels into the mud, resisting.

The pig's thoughts were a rhythmic chant in my skull.

[Come in, come in, hee hee hee!]

Just as Mabel was about to shove me through the gate, she stopped.

Her eyes fixed on something inside the pen. I followed her gaze.

The hog was still lying in the muck, playing dead. But right next to his head, something gold and bright caught the morning light.

My heavy gold bracelet. Id tossed it in during the confusion.

Mabels throat moved as she swallowed. Her eyes turned sharp with greed. That bracelet was 24-karat, a gift from my grandmother.

Without a word, Mabel unlatched the gate and stepped into the pen herself. She knelt in the filth, her face inches from the hog's snout, reaching for the gold.

In that heartbeat, the pig moved.

He lunged, his jaws unhinging like a trap, and clamped down directly onto Mabels face.

"AAAAAH!"

The scream was cut short. The bite was perfect, agonizingly deep. The boars mouth enveloped her entire facehis upper teeth sinking into her brow, his lower jaw hooking under her chin.

He began to crunch.

He dragged her by the face into the dark corner of the pen. Mabel thrashed, her hands clawing at the air. The gold bracelet flew from her grip, rolling through the mud until it stopped at my feet.

I picked it up and wiped it clean on my coat.

The pigs thoughts were ecstatic, a frenzied roar:

[Bite! Bite! Ill bite this bitch to death!!]

[Think you can seduce Jackson? Think you can sleep in my mans bed? Once I ruin this face, lets see how pretty you are! Lets see how much he wants you then!]

[Die! Die! Die!]

Mabels fingers found the pigs nostrils and ripped upward. The boar squealed in pain, which only made him grind his teeth harder, like he was chewing through a tough steak.

Mabels screams changed. They went from sharp to wet, then to a pathetic wheeze. Finally, she went silent.

The pig didn't let go. He shook his head from side to side, Mabels limp body flopping like a rag doll.

After a long minute, he finally opened his mouth. He panted, his breath coming in ragged, bloody huffs.

Mabel lay in the mud, face up. Or where her face used to be. It was just a mask of red and white pulp. Her nose was gone. Her lips were gone. Her teeth were exposed, bared to the sky in a permanent, horrific grin.

The pig lowered his head and nudged her with his snout.

Then, he froze. His small eyes bugged out.

The pig looked up, locking eyes with me.

He was stunned. His thoughts were a mess of static:

[Wait... what? How?]

He looked down at the pile of meat on the ground, then back at me. Down. Then up.

[Why is that woman still standing outside?]

[Then who did I bite? Who is...]

He used his snout to push aside the hair on the victim. The blood-matted strands moved, revealing white, brittle roots.

The pigs eyes bulged.

[Ma... Mabel?]

The voice was trembling now.

[How is it the old woman?!!]

[I heard her tell the bitch to come in! Why did she go first?]

[Im dead. Im dead...]

[If Jackson finds out I bit his mother, hell hate me. Hes so loyal to her. He listens to everything she says... if he knows...]

The pig looked at me again, his gaze turning venomous.

[It was her! This spiteful bitch!]

[She did it!! She must have pushed the old woman in!]

[Ill kill her!]

The hog charged, slamming into the wooden fence. The rails groaned but held firm. He bared his gore-stained teeth at me, but he was trapped.

I turned and ran toward the road, screaming at the top of my lungs.

"Help! Someone help! The hog's gone mad! Its eating Mabel! The pig is killing her!"

Behind me, the pen erupted in a chorus of frenzied, guttural roars.

I knew right then: that animal could not be allowed to live.

I found Jacksons Uncle Silas down the road.

"Uncle Silas, help! Something terrible happened!"

"Grace? What's wrong, girl? You look like youve seen a ghost."

I sobbed out a version of the storycarefully omitting the part where I could hear the pigs thoughts. I told him Mabel had gone in to check on a sick hog, and it had snapped, attacking her before I could do anything.

Silas went pale. He didn't waste a second.

"Move! Take me there!"

I ran behind him as we reached the back lot.

Mabel was still lying in the muck, a sight that would haunt a normal person for a lifetime. The hog was pacing around her, nudging her body with his snout.

[Wake up! Don't be dead, you old bat!]

[If youre dead, how do I explain this to Jackson? Im panicking...]

[Where is Jackson? Why isn't he here yet? Did that bitch do something to him!]

Silas couldn't hear the thoughts. He saw a beast hovering over a fallen woman.

"That hog's gotta go!" Silas yelled.

I put on my best panicked face. "But Mabel always said... she said we couldn't ever kill him!"

"Pigs are for slaughter, Grace!" Silas snapped. "I told my sister-in-law a dozen times that hog was past his prime. Hes five hundred pounds of useless fat. She wouldn't listen. Now look! Look what shes gone and done!"

He turned to me. "Grace, go inside and start a pot of boiling water. Im calling the boys from the village. Were ending this today."

I nodded, my voice small and obedient. "Yes, Uncle Silas."

Silas ran toward his truck, shouting into his cell phone.

"Harlan! Get the trailer and the knives! Weve got a man-eater!"

The pig began to pace in frantic circles.

[What? Slaughter me? That bitch called them to kill me?!]

[How dare she!!]

[Jackson! Jackson, come save me!!]

[No... no... stay calm... think...]

[Even if I die, Im taking her with me.]

[Ill play dead again. Ill lure them in. Ill take down as many as I can!]

The pigs eyes darted around, faster and faster. He suddenly went stiff and tipped over. His legs kicked twice, then went still. His tongue lolled out, dripping slime, and his eyes rolled back until only the whites showed.

Playing dead again.

This pig had watched too many soap operas.

Inside, I put the largest stockpot on the stove. The water began to hiss and bubble.

Silas returned with a group of grim-faced men. When they reached the pen, they stopped short.

"Wait. Is he already dead?" Silas squinted through the rails. "Damn. If hes dead, the meat might be sour. Won't fetch a dime."

Silas moved to open the gate.

I grabbed his sleeve. "Uncle Silas, don't go in."

"Why not?"

"What if... what if hes faking?"

Silas blinked at me, then patted my hand. "Grace, honey, youve been watching too much TV. Hes a hog. Animals don't 'fake' being dead. If they had brains like that, theyd be running the world. I need to get Mabel out of there."

The pig lay perfectly still.

[Come on... come on, you idiots...]

[Wait until you feel my teeth...]

[Ill take the old man first, then the others. Then the bitch...]

[Then Ill find Jackson. Well run away together. Hee hee!]

Silass foot was hovering over the threshold.

I lifted the bucket of rolling, scalding water Id brought out.

I threw the entire thing directly onto the hogs head.

"GAAAAH-OINK!"

The pig exploded off the ground, screaming in a way that didn't sound like an animal at all.

Silas jumped back so hard he tripped. "Holy shit! He was faking!"

The men behind him looked stunned. Theyd been farming for decades and had never seen a hog play possum.

The pig rolled in the mud, trying to cool his scalded skin. He turned his bright red face toward me, baring his teeth.

[BITCH!! Bitch, bitch, bitch!]

[Ill eat you alive! Ill swallow you whole!]

[Jackson! Save me! Im going to die!]

The roar turned into a pathetic whimper.

Silas wiped the sweat from his brow. His face hardened.

"Boys, get the ropes. No more games."

Even a five-hundred-pound hog is no match for five grown men with a grudge.

They had him pinned and bound in minutes.

[Fight me one on one! You cowards!]

[Ill kill you all! Let me go!]

He was hog-tied, belly up. All he could do was scream.

Silas didn't even look at him. He rushed to Mabel, lifting her bloody, limp form.

"Mabel! Mabel, talk to me!"

She was a dead weight in his arms. Silas didn't wait. He carried her toward his truck.

"Im taking her to the ER! You boys finish this beast!"

The men moved with practiced efficiency. Knives were sharpened. The pigs screams began to fade as they prepared the final blow.

Just as I thought it was over...

"What the hell are you doing?!"

A familiar voice shattered the air.

The pigs head, which had been drooping, snapped up. His eyes sparked with a terrifying hope.

He began to thrash with renewed frenzy, his throat straining against the ropes, blood spraying everywhere as his neck wound reopened.

"Damn it!" Harlan wiped a spray of blood from his cheek. "Hold him down! Don't let the blood go to waste!"

But the pig was possessed. He fought with the strength of ten hogs, his eyes fixed on the man approaching.

Jackson charged into the yard.

He shoved the men aside, his eyes landing on the bloody heap that was his pig.

"Stop! Stop it right now!"

He threw himself onto the ground, cradling the pigs gory head in his lap.

"Beau! Beau, talk to me!"

His voice was trembling. He tried to plug the wound in the pigs neck with his bare hands, blood pulsing through his fingers.

"Its okay... Im here..."

The men stood back, exchanging looks of pure confusion.

I stepped forward. "Jackson, he went rabid. Be careful. He just attacked your mother"

"Shut up!" Jackson looked at me with a hatred so pure it made my skin crawl.

The pig, nestled in Jacksons arms, tilted his head to look at me.

[See that, bitch?]

[You can't break us. As long as Im alive, Im the only thing he loves.]

He rubbed his snout against Jacksons thigh.

Jackson stroked the pigs ears. "Good boy, Beau. Don't be scared. Ive got you."

He tried to lift the pig. But five hundred pounds of solid muscle and fat don't move easily. Jacksons face turned purple with the effort.

"What are you standing there for?" he screamed at the men. "Help me!"

No one moved.

Harlan scratched his head and leaned toward Silass brother. "Is Jackson... is he right in the head?"

I cried out, "Jackson, hes dangerous! He mauled Mabel! Let the men finish him. Hes lost too much blood anyway, hes not going to make it..."

Jackson looked down at the pig. "You hurt my mom?"

The pig let out two soft, pitiful grunts. They sounded almost... apologetic.

Jackson seemed to understand perfectly. He pointed a bloody finger at my face.

"You did this! Beau is the gentlest soul on this earth. He only snapped because of you! Mabel made you feed himdid you drug him? You spiteful bitch! You couldn't stand my mother, so you used Beau to get rid of her!"

In two sentences, hed flipped the narrative.

The neighbors began to mutter.

"Why did Mabel go into the pen if Grace was supposed to be feeding?"

"And Grace doesn't have a scratch on her..."

"I heard that hog saved Jacksons life when he was a kid."

"Yeah, look how calm he is now. Hes like a puppy."

The pig let out a timely, mournful whimper. He leaned his head against Jacksons chest.

Jackson started to sob. "Please, help me save him! Its not too late!"

The men sighed, looking at each other. They couldn't just stand there while a man had a breakdown.

"Fine, fine. Lets get him to the barn. Grab a tarp..."

They dragged the pig away, leaving a long, smeary trail of blood across the dirt. Jackson walked beside him, whispering sweet nothings into the pig's ear.

I stood alone in the yard.

Id had my doubts.

I thought maybe the pigs thoughts were just my own subconscious projecting onto an animal.

But watching Jackson?

Everything the pig said was true.

I went back inside and started packing. But I couldn't find my ID or my passport.

Thats when the voice drifted back to me from the barn, faint but clear:

[Jackson told me the bitch is pregnant. He said hes never going to touch her again.]

[He said as soon as she has the baby, hes taking her on a 'hiking trip.' Hell inherit everything her family left her.]

[Poor Jackson... if he weren't the last male in the family, Mabel wouldn't have forced him to breed with that trash. He has to scrub his skin raw every time he touches her. He thinks shes disgusting.]

[I hope the old lady dies. Then theres nothing between us.]

[I wish I could give him a child. Even a little piglet... anything to show him Im his...]

I touched my stomach.

So the pregnancy was part of the trap too.

I was being scammed by a man and his hog.

I sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the mess of my life.

Divorce? No. That was too clean. Too easy for him.

If he wanted to be with a pig, I was more than happy to play matchmaker.

I drove to the vet supply store in the next town. I bought a large bag of high-potency livestock breeding stimulantthe stuff they use for reluctant breeders.

Then I went to the barn and swapped Jacksons "premium" hog feed for the stimulant.

My Husband Cheated With A Hog

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