(**Author’s Note:** _Alright! I found a prompt that goes with it! So for ya’ll who wanted to see my cringe first attempt at a novel, here it is! Btw, this is straight from the unedited draft, so it’s the same as when I wrote it a year ago _💀_)_

**Is it a Dream?**

_Squeal! Squeal!_

Ballari breathed in ragged breaths as she hid behind the crowds of farrows, each tinier than the rest. She hugged herself tightly, trying to bury herself beneath the piglets who squealed loudly as though they knew who was coming. _She_ knew who was coming.

This nightmare had happened many times before, each time in the same location, a slaughterhouse, a place of despair. The crimson red blood of pigs stained its old, rusty walls as if it was dried paint. Each wall had thousands of pig heads on a mount, a reminder that there is no escape and that your time will come. The ceiling was made of bars, allowing light to come through as streams of darkness. Ballari felt chills along her body as the door beyond rows of pigs opened, a stick thin man entered with an ax covered with dry blood.

Pig blood

_He's here._

Ballari tried to think of nothing, and nothing she thought of, it was as easy as pulling a weed; the only thing in her head was the smell of urine and other cursed substances of the terrible slaughter house. _Squeal! SQUEAL!_ The piglets were as frightened as she, their squeals were high pitched and their beady eyes wide. They bundled up, trying to calm down, but failed to do so. She heard the first terrifying shriek as sprays of blood flew into the air. And then another. And then another.

Ballari scooted away from the sound of dying pigs, moving her crouched figure as fast as she could with the rows of pigs trampling her arms and legs as they ran from the danger. The shrieks became louder and louder, urging Ballari to go faster.

_Hurry, Ballari!_

Blood covered her bare feet and soaked dry in the lower half of her dress, spreading across the delicate white cloth like an artist menacingly stroking red paint on a canvas slowly.

_ _

_Hurry!_

A shadow covered her body with its presence. The poor girl shrieked louder than any pig had as the man stomped on her back over and over again, pushing her in the mushy dirt floor as hard as he could.

_HURRY!_

But she couldn't, it was too late. Ballari felt the sharp edge of the ax against the back of her neck, her eyes widening as the cold metal sent waves of pain through her veins. Ballari screamed one last time as she heard the ax swoosh high in the air then come down with a force of a thousand strong men as it cleanly sliced off her head, disconnecting it from the rest of her body.

_BALLARI!_

**CHAPTER 1**

Ballari woke up to a shrill, piercing shriek. One that should have alarmed her greatly, but she already knew why and what had happened; it happened every morning.

The poor girl pulled herself off the bed, still shaky from the nightmare of the night before, and ran a dark, oak brown hand through her tangled, curly hair. She would have to brush it out later, when her chores were complete.

The shriek sounded again, this time less human than before, though the creatures it came from went at all human.

Ballari finally got out of the room, dressed in a pale colored, knee-high dress, and went outside barefoot, grabbing a bucket of slum from the porch as she continued on.

Several more shrieks called on and on, growing more impatient.

Ballari opened the gate to the pig pen and was surrounded by hungry, and very angry, pigs. All of these pigs were large, fat and fierce looking, though Ballari knew differently. They had manners, they just forgot them from time to time.

“Alright everyone," Ballari raised both of her hands, signalling them to calm down. It took them a minute, but soon all of the pigs were silent.

Ballari put one hand in the slum, and took a handful of the disgusting mess out. "I have enough food for everyone, okay. I just need you all to cooperate for me."

She heard a few replying snorts answering back, then they started backing away from her, giving her space to walk around. Ballari gave them a small thank you and gave the food in her hand to the nearest pig. Then, after the pig finished, she patted the pig on the head and dipped her hand in the bucket again, redoing the cycle all over again. Ballari liked to personally give out the food rather than putting it in the trough; she liked connecting with the pigs.

After a few minutes, all the pigs, hog and swine alike, were full and joyous; they wagged their tails in delight and sniffed Ballari's feet in appreciation.

Ballari would have loved to stay and play with them, but she had other work to do before MISS came home. The girl shivered from her head to her toes as she remembered the last time MISS was angry.

The woman had came home, already angered by the events that had happened at work, welcomed with dirt on the floor, the wall, the table, the kitchen, everywhere, even her beloved Vivorian couch! MISS had found Ballari hiding in the closet immediately, as that was where the girl always hid whenever she knew she had done something wrong, grabbed her by the arm and then asked why, what, and when this had all occurred. The highlights of questioning.

The girl had answered meekly, "The little piggies were bored, so, around lunch time, I brought them in to play with me..."

Ballari still had a scar from that evil wooden spoon.

Though Ballari was near 17 years of age now and had never gotten another beating since that time, she was more than sure that MISS would still punish her with that wretched spoon if she did something wrong, so away from the happy little pigs and full steam ahead to endless scrubbing and dusting, like normal. Ballari was just about to open the door when she saw something in the corner of her eye.

Ballari turned around out of curiosity and saw a boy standing right outside the gate to her house.

He was around her age maybe, though honestly Ballari hadn't seen many other people while growing up, so she really didn't know. The boy had snow white hair covering a pair of forest green eyes, narrowed down as though in concentration, and pale lips in a thin line. Ballari felt her heart race for no reason at all.

They stayed that way for a few seconds, the strange boy staring at the now shocked and confused girl that still had one hand on the door knob. Ballari was confused, why wasn't he speaking?

Unless.…

"Um... can you speak?" Ballari said, her voice just above a whisper.

She was afraid that the boy didn't hear her, because he didn't answer immediately, but, after a few moments, he nodded.

That made no sense, if he could speak, why didn't he say anything. Why did he just nod his head? Then, Ballari thought that he was just nervous, that would explain why he was staring at her like that. So she gathered all her wits and strength, which wasn't much for a young woman her age, and made her way to the gate.

Then she was right near the boy, the gate separating them both by only a few inches. This close, Ballari realized that the boy was much caller than herself and that he smelled like…pine needles.

Ballari suddenly felt quite nice and every fear that she had about this boy was washed away, it was the first time in her life that she felt free.

“So,” Ballari looked straight into his eyes and he looked into hers, “What is your name?”

The boy cocked his head to the side, as if trying to remember, and then looked back into her eyes, face still ever so neutral.

“Alistarie, my name’s Alistarie. Would you like to be friends?”

***

_(If there’s anything you want me to explain, just ask. I made so many google docs for research last year 🙂‍↕️ Also, if you didn’t know, chapter 2 already is on if you want to read more cringe; Anyways, Thanks for reading, and if you continue, I will pray for your mental health. This stuff gets so cringy it hurts.)_