the 13th story

the farmhouse <by joeylikesgames>

     Aran carried a pair of empty pales down to the well next to his family's farm. He set one pale down on the ground and then placed the second on the side of the well. He then took a rope that hung from the top of the wells roof and tied it to the pales handle. Before pushing it down and watching it fall. He listened, and once her heard a splashing sound. He walked over to a small wooden crank and started turning it, round and round and round, until he finally saw the pale rise up, now full of water. He slowly and carefully untied it from the rope and set it on the ground. Before picking up the second pale and repeating the process.
     However, as he turned the crack to pull up the second pale, the rope suddenly snapped, and Alan watched as the metal pale plummeted down, hitting and scraping against the sides of the wells walls, before hitting the water with a massive splash.
     "Crap!" Alan said, that was his father's favorite pale, and he wouldn't be happy to find that it was now likely lost forever. He looked at the rope, and just his luck, his leg kicked just enough of his pale, to cause it to tip over and spill out onto the ground.
     "Dammit!" He shouted as he quickly tried to tip the pale back up, unsuccessfully trying to save any water he could. Alan let out a grubt of frustration before picking up the pale and angrily walking back up to his house. He angrily burst into the living room and walked up to his father, who was watching the local news. Alam didn't really care enough to listen to it. All he heard was something about some psycho on the loose.
     "The damn rope broke again!" He said to his father angrily.
     "You watch your mouth! And I told you to turn the crack slowly!" His father shouted back. Seemingly more angry at his show being interrupted than the actual broken well and lost pale. "I'll tell your mother, she'll have to go to the store and get some water."
     Alan looked at his father, puzzled, "I thought we didn't have enough money for that right now?"
     His father let out an extremely annoyed grunt. "It's only one day, and we don't exactly have another option. Now go feed the damn pigs."
     Alan let out a sight and began walking back outside. "Yes, father."
     He slowly made his way down to the barn and opened the large doors. In previous years, the family farm had lost most of its animals. The trio of stables that once occupied majestic horses were all completely empty. The chickens had gone from ten to just three, and the amount of eggs they would lay had greatly reduced. But one thing stayed the same. The family's single fat show pig, who was named Mitch. That had won so many medals that most of the towns competitions banned him from competing. His main identifying feature was a star shaped mark over his eye, which alan always thought made him look like a member of a rock band. they had been forced to sell the horses and most of the chickens, but Alan's mother and father valued the pig far too much to give him away.
     They love that damn pig more than me. That's what Alan would often think to himself ever since the farm had lost most of its livestock and money. He walked over and picked up a massive sack labeled pig feed and poured it into Mitch's small wooden trough. He looked over at Mitch in the corner, who refused to get up and even acknowledge the food.
     "Come on, ya stupid hog." Alan said as he gently nudged the pig with his boot. Mitch continued to ignore both the food and alan. "Come on, get up!" Alan gave a swift kick to Mitch's side, causing the pig to let out a massive squeal of pain.
     "Alan!" Shouted a female voice from behind him. Alan turned around to see his mother standing in the open doorway of the barn. "Please tell I didn't just see what I think I saw!"
     "I-" Alan started nervously. "I'm sorry, I'm just havin a bad day, that's all."
     "We'll you do not have to take it our on the animals! Especially not mitch!" His mother walked over and checked mitch for bruises. "You're lucky he's not hurt."
     Alan rolled his eyes. "I didn't kick that hard ma"
     His mother turned to him. "One of these days, you're gonna piss off the wrong animal."
     "We live in the middle of no where, nothing around here's gonna hurt me." Said Alan.
     "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, don't you remember that story of the piggy man?" His mother said as Mitch finally stood up and went to eat.
     Alan rolled his eyes. "I'm not five anymore, ma. I don't belivin that kids' story anymore." The story of the piggyman was one he had heard many times as a child. It was a story of this horrid man Bork with a pigs head, who would turn into a pig and hid out in farms before tormenting whatever family was foolish enough to take him in.
    His mother began walking out. "You watch that mouth and mind your manners, or that kids' story will come back to make you."
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