It was the smell that caught my attention...

 Musty, foul and strong, the type of smell that makes you want to hold your breath but you don't as not to be rude. 

You take it in and feel the humid air fill your lungs. I grew up on a farm for many years, I knew what rotten food smelled like, it smelled just like pig feed. My friend always seemed to be dirty with tattered clothes, so I guess a part of me wasn't surprised that her home wasn't exactly top notch. Hell, my home wasn't either. We were all poor, ours was just cleaner. One thing my mother always made sure of was that we didn't live in filth. My anxiety kicked in as we got closer to the steps at the back door I started to feel my stomach turn. Something just didn't feel right. That spot in my chest that I liked to think of as Gods way of talking to me was tight, and every cell in my body was buzzing. 

I had these feelings a lot and hadn't learned yet what those feelings meant, I wouldn't for a very long time. I stepped in silently and looked around in the darkness and dust. We got to her room and I saw a dog on her bed, under the blankets and all rolled in a ball for warmth. As much as I loved animals I didn't try to touch this one. I didn't want to touch anything and I had a tendency to close up when I was uncomfortable. It didn't move and I assumed it was like the old dogs at my uncle's house on the farm, whos age had caused them to take much deeper naps. The rooms were all very dark as well, and the house was stale and held a chill. I couldn't get used to the smell.

 My friend very quietly tiptoed around the house to find what she needed. I didn't see any adults around so I wondered why she was so quiet. I assumed they must be napping in the back and she didn't want to wake them. I knew the feeling, I had been fussed at quite a bit for being "too loud" myself. Once she had retrieved the toy or whatever it was and had it locked in her hand we headed back through the door and to the yard. There was a babies stroller with flat tires a few feet away. Some other trash bags had collected near it. We passed it on the way in and I assumed, of course, that the awful smell had to be coming from there.

My curiosity got the best of me that day.

 I had to peek around, I just wanted to see a little bit into this family and I had learned that you can find out a lot about a person from their trash.  I really didn't know what I expected to find out or even what I wanted to know about them, but I most certainly didn't expect to find what I did. I just stared at it for a moment, and I don't remember anything about her or her home after that moment. I think I just froze. I don't know if I ran home, if I asked my friend about it or if I just took it in and moved on. Laying there, as if normal in a civilized society, was the body of a dead pig. 

 I remember the knot in my stomach. Not knowing how to react.  It was just, sitting there. In the stroller, half covered by the top sun roof of the stroller and half by trash. The skin was pale and grey, thin. Its eaten eyes open. I'm guessing my the lack of memories after that moment that I didn't take it well. Even writing this, going through 3 edits. Getting here, to the point of pushing publish once again. It still makes my skin crawl to think of it..over, and over... No one should see that.

 There is a reason for this story however... 

To be continued...