A pig's suffering

Dozing, content, belly gently tickled by straw, smoke faintly wafting by, footsteps in the distance. 

Two figures, blurry, grow larger, footsteps, become louder. Thud.

Head spinning, straw gone, back scrapes concrete, legs up. Stars above, black, eardrums pounding. 

Rope makes two legs one, stick lifts body up, flying, dancing?

​Stars larger, figures closer, moving, where? Head pounding.

Hanging, belly up, only black, sky above, figures gone, silence.

Scared, skin tight, nose twitches, tail shivers, footsteps on the street, laughing, music, people eating.

Footsteps close, closer, can’t see, only stars, only black. Grip on neck, head twists.

Cut, life rushes out, screaming.

Heat, everywhere, smoke saturating nose, eyes water, so much water, dripping, falling, neck dripping, life draining, stinging, cutting, shrieking, screaming.

Thud, no noise. Mouth blocked, something sweet.

Breath, where? No room, lungs blocked, breath sinking, throat tight, chest heaves, scream. Thud, no noise, screaming inside, but no noise.

Footsteps on the street, laughing, music, people eating. Scratching, crackling, skin goes hard, heat piercing, burning, blackening.

Screaming inside, no one hears.

Struggle, mouth open, air rushes out, little left.

​Screaming, loud, so loud, so loud as to wake up the stars, so loud as to fill up the sky. Then, nothing left. Thud, thud, thud.

Cut, eyes, streaming, head and nose filled with smoke, back, blistered, numb. Why?

No movement, can’t, no screaming, can’t, no breathing, can’t.

Sky, gone. Stars, gone. Sound, dull. No legs, no tail, no straw, no eyes, no neck, no me.

Footsteps on the street, laughing, music, people eating.

Car pulls up. Drifting, distant. Two figures, blurry, another figure, is that me?

Three figures grow smaller, footsteps become softer.

All in a night, all in a thought, all on a street, for all to hear.

I am, no more.