Bree's mouth hung open in horror as Bruno's van sped off, leaving her in the middle of a farmyard and a pig pen about 30km away. She had believed the worst thing she would have to endure was Ed screaming in her face every morning but watching an entire herd of pigs run around and splash in dirt made her miss the yelling.

"Kill me now!" She muttered in frustration.

She approached the farm house. It was large and brown, built in the middle of nowhere. When Bruno had said downtown, he had truly meant “the end of town”.

A good distance away was a path that lead into the forest and as Bree guessed, the mountains. There was a huge building not to far from the pen. It looked to be under construction and resembled a modern sort of circus tent but four times larger and wider.

What was Herb doing with all this?

"We run a pets chain not a zoo" Lizzy has said.

But it seemed like they also aimed to start their own circus. Bree sighed and put her bag down on a stack of hay then headed into the farmhouse. Just then, she heard a loud bark and jumped back in surprise. A black bloodhound suddenly came rushing toward her and she bolted out the door.

"Shoo! Bad dog, bad. . ." She immediately stopped yelling when she recognized the dog. "Allen?"

A middle aged man stepped outside at once. He was dressed in black pants and a brown shirt underneath plaid sleeves. A red kerchief hung around his neck and he had on a brown hat.

"Sawyer? What are you doing here?" Bree asked in surprise.

Sawyer was her neighbor. He lived on the first floor of Oakwood and hardly spoke to anyone. His dog, Allen, had a nasty habit of running around and leaving dog business on people's doorstep. How did she know? She had stepped in it once or twice.

"A pleasant evening, neighbor." Sawyer greeted with a tip of his hat. "I work here."

"You tend to swine?"

"I used to but i got pig flu now, so i gotta go get myself treated." He replied. He gave her a calculative glance. "I see Herb has found my replacement in no time. How generous of him! Bastard."

Sawyer whistled to Allen who was busy licking Bree's shoes and the dog came bounding toward him.

"Why does he have a pig pen and a circus building?" Bree asked.

Something definitely felt off.

Sawyer hesitated for a few moments before speaking. "I shouldn't say but it ain't legal. Strange fellas from Oklahoma state come in here once in a while but do well to know nothing of it cause it'll help ya when the federal police come knocking."

With that, he tipped his hat again, turned and disappeared into the back of the farmhouse, his bloodhound tailing him. A few minutes passed before Bree heard the clear sound of a car engine roaring to life. A black minivan drove out the back and into the road, spilling dust behind it as it picked up speed.

"Well, I guess now I have to pig it." Bree scoffed.

Lizzy had been thoughtful enough to give her a change of clothing as she could get dirty.

Could? Yeah right!

She changed into a black shirt, denim pinafores and heavy boots that were twice her size. She sat down on the hay and took off her necklace, opening the locket to stare at a picture of her and her mother.

"I will work twelve jobs if i have to just so you can get better, mum." She whispered. A streak of tear dropped down her cheek. She wiped it off then closed the locket and put the necklace in her bag.

"Here goes nothing." She muttered as she approached the pen.

Her legs felt like jelly and she realized she had not sat down since Amy's. She had been too busy stacking books at the library with Pepper and Will and had almost ended up pulling all her hair out because of the latter pissing the hell out of her. Amy had told her that she could work the diner on Tuesdays and Fridays for which would get $28 dollars each day. This was completely fine with Bree.

Now, just like everyone else she worked three jobs. It was fifteen minutes past seven and her stomach already grumbled loudly. Pepper had generously offered her a burger and a large bottle of juice and that had thankfully strengthened her up until two minutes ago.

One of the pigs ran helter skelter and did a free dive into the mud, splattering Bree's clothes.

"Oh, you are gonna get yourself a serious timeout, mister." She groaned exasperatingly and put down the shovel.

Basically, her task was not too heavy. The instructions from Bruno had been quite simple and easy to follow; “shovel out the swill, shovel in more swill, shovel out the swill again, shovel in even more swill and make sure the pigs eat more food than a supermarket could sell.”

Apparently, Herb's one plan was to fatten up his piggies before the year ran out. Pig farming translated to insane amounts of cash especially when they looked like balloons with hooves.

Inside the storage of the farmhouse were bags and crates of vegetables, soya bean meal, rice bran, papaya, apples, pears, melons, cassia and chayote, pumpkin and banana stem, a large tank that held clean water and a bucket for bailing it, a rocking chair - where did Herb get one from? - and standing right next to a door at one end of the farmhouse was a brown coated horse with an attitude.

"So what is your deal anyway, huh?" Bree asked it when she decided to take a break hours later "You don't talk to girls, do ya?"

She had dry mud smeared across her clothes, on her face and hair. Bree stared with big black eyes, waiting for a reaction from the animal. What with her drooping eyelids that made one think she was going to fall asleep any minute, the horse probably thought she was bored of talking to him - which she was.

The horse neighed and turned away.

"With that attitude, you will be stuck in this farmhouse for the rest of your life cause no she-horse wants to date a jerk-horse." Bree expressed then stomped outside.

She stared at the pigs. They had possibly decided to take a break from jumping up and down in the dirt. Instead, they relaxed and had their faces stuck in a pile of leftover vegetables, barley and alfalfa. Some of them though were actively engaged in a wrestling contest with the feeding trough.

Bree sighed and did a pig count for the hundredth time.

"Always count the pigs." Bruno had stressed. It was the only number one most important rule in regards to her job.

". . . Six, seven, eight, nine, ten—" She started in fright when a loud crash came from the incomplete circus structure followed by what sounded unmistakably like a very low growl.

A cold shiver trickled up and down her spine. The whole place was dark save for the one surviving light bulb inside the farmhouse but even that too seemed to be fading out. She silently promised that she would mention the electricity issue to Bruno the next day.

"Did you guys hear that?" She whispered even though she knew pigs could not understand her or English at least.

She hurried into the farmhouse and looked around for a flashlight. Luckily, she found one sprawled underneath a small pile of hay. Its batteries had been scattered about. She picked them up and coupled them before heading back outside.

"Definitely won't be a very bright idea to go in there." She muttered and turned on the flashlight then turned it off just as fast when the growl came a second time but lower and less scarier than the first time.

Bree hoped it was no more than a bear that had come all the way from the mountains and that it would possibly go away when it found nothing interesting.

"Right?" She muttered and turned off the torch then hid next to an inclined boulder nearest the outdoor tap.

If she was lucky, the animal would go back the way it came and she prayed with all her heart that it would fail to notice her or the pigs. After a long while of silence, Bree realized the intruding animal was gone. She heaved a huge sigh of relief and ventured back into the farmhouse.

Jerk-horse gave her a long look then turned away.

"I'll stop looking at you if you stop looking at me." She said then caught herself. "I finally cracked - speaking to a damn horse."

Jerk-horse did not like being referred that way so it whinnied in protest.

"Oh what's it to you?! You're not the one scooping up pig poop."

At last, the clock struck eleven and Bree felt greatly overjoyed. She changed out of her work clothes and was already packing up her bag when a white van came pulling up by the side of the farmhouse just. Lizzy was behind the wheel.

"Hey!" She greeted, placing an elbow on the window. "How was your first day?"

"I wouldn't write a book about it." Bree shrugged and got into the passenger seat.

"So i take it, it was great then." Lizzy smirked.

"The perfect synonym." Bree replied in distaste.

"You look terrible by the way." Lizzy complimented and began to drive away.

"Gee, thanks. The horse thinks so too."

When Bree got home, she slumped on her bed and dozed off, forgetting to take a shower to wash off all the pig pool on her face. She was too exhausted to even think. Her arms felt like they would break in two any second and her back felt as if it was eighty years older than the rest of her body. Her bones ached and her whole being seemed to have bursted into flames.

The alarm clock blared after what seemed like a second later and she grudgingly arose from the soft mattress, dragging herself into the bathroom. She lazily turned on the shower and slept off under it.

"Gaius! You foolish glug. You spilled my coffee." A woman shrieked from the next apartment.

Bree woke up with a start and winced as pain racked through her forehead like a thunderclap.

"It wasn't me." Gaius answered loudly.

"We are the only people in this house, you gabby." The woman shouted.

Bree let out a deep0 groan of frustration - Mr and Mrs Muhammad Ali were at it again. Their real names were actually Gaius and Kate. An elderly couple that seemed to have since grown out of love for each other and yet seemed to stay together for some reason.

Thump! Clunk! Boink!

She overheard objects crashing against a person's head or maybe it was a table - she was not sure yet she hoped so. Whatever kind of boxing event went on in the next room was completely normal to Bree but she definitely would hate to be a spectator.

She showered and changed, had breakfast and waited until 9:30 before leaving the house. Unfortunately, she bumped right into Norman on her way down the stairs.

Why do the stairs hate me? She thought.

"Hello, my princess." Norman grinned.

His hair was wine brown and so were his eyes. He had a chiseled face that reminded Bree too much of her least favourite character from a book she once read in middle school.

"Please move out of the way, Norman." She pleaded in an attempt to be nice at first.

"But i have not seen you in so long." He whined, blocking the stairway with his face to her and an arm outstretched toward the wall so as to stop her from proceeding.

"You saw me yesterday." She growled between clenched teeth.

"But that was so long ago." He wistfully reached out to touch her arm but she spanked his fingers with her key chain.

"Ow!" He exclaimed indifferently.

"I have exactly less than a few minutes to get to the library or else Ed is going to chew my head off. Unless you like headless human girls, get out of the way." She said.

"Edward is a nobody. He would never dare touch you because if he dares, i will rip him limb from limb."

"Sadly, even i can't argue with that." Bree muttered.

In comparison with Edward's miniscule stature, Norman was a living Eiffel Tower. She only wished he would go back to Paris and remain still forever. Ooh, dark!

"Now tell me, what have you been reading of late?" Norman asked.

"Fantastic Idiots and How To Get Away From Them by J.K Rowling." She replied sarcastically.

Norman's gaze moved away for a brief second and Bree took that as an opening, quickly ducking under his arm. She ran down the stairs but he just jumped over the railing and landed right in front of her again.

"Sounds very interesting. Wanna tell me about it?" He asked looking thoughtful.

"Listen you dweeb, if you wanna hear  synopsis about books all day, why don't you come work for Ed? That way you and your precious books can live happily ever after. Out of my way." She fumed and pushed him to the side then went down the stairs.

"What has gotten my princess all cranked up?" Norman asked looking genuinely worried.

Despite being shoved, ignored, insulted and well, rejected multiple times, Norman had never given up on trying to win Bree over.

"I am not your princess." Bree's voice called from down below.

"Not yet but one day you will be." Norman called back and headed up the stairs.

Bree hailed a cab and headed for the library. Unsurprisingly, she came upon a scene where the young graffiti artists were engaged in a heated argument with Ed. The same policemen she had seen the last time were present. Pauline stood a few kilometers away with her arms folded and watched the scene. Bree frowned in wonder because the latter's shift was by seven but it was also not all that strange to catch Pauline hanging around and in the library. She worked at a hair salon down the street by morning.

"Pauline, what is it this time?" Bree asked as she reached where her coworker stood trying to hide a snicker. Her head still racked up a storm and it was difficult to see clearly with all that headache.

"Ed secretly hired a group of boys to go ransack their hangout and steal all of their spray cans. They retaliated by spray painting his house last night."

Bree laughed a little too loudly and Ed overheard it. He turned and glared at the pair.

"Uh-oh. He's gonna blow now." Pauline whispered as Ed marched toward them.

"Deckard!" He yelled.

"Dude, we're like ten feet apart. I can hear you pretty clearly." Bree complained, putting a finger in her ear. Her head throbbed with an intensity that made her feel dizzy.

"You wanna know what i don't hear? You - coming it at ten o'clock sharp." He yelled again.

"It is ten o. . ." Bree glanced at her watch and discovered it was 10:15am. "It's only fifteen minutes. It's not a big deal."

"It will be a big deal when i take fifteen dollars out of your salary this month." He snapped.

"What?" Bree and Pauline asked simultaneously.

"But that's unfair, Ed. Bree's been trying, honestly." Pauline tried to intercede.

"You're one to talk, eh, Stuart?" He snapped at her.

She shook her head and looked down but Bree was tired of being intimidated.

"Look here, Edward. . ." She began and a quiet gasp came from the doorway.

She turned briefly to find Pepper and Will standing there, staring in shock. No one was allowed to address Ed by his full name. The policemen watched as well and so did the graffiti kids. If any time was a good time to spill her guts it was now.

"You really think you are the boss of everyone, don't you? Well, news flash - you are not. Okay? Get over being a total douche and treating people like dirt because just like you, everyone else has got a temper buddy. I can also get smoke to come out of my ears. Nobody's happy, you hear? Everyone's on edge and just struggling to get themselves together so sometimes it would be best for the rest of us if you'd either be nice once in a while or just shut the hell up for a whole day. I need the silence, Edward. My mother is on the brink of dying and you don't see me trying to choke the life out of everyone because of that. If you can't handle the stress that comes with living in this shithole then maybe you should get lost because nobody, i repeat, nobody wants to wake up in the morning and come deal with your five year old tantrums. Do you understand me? As a matter of fact, I am done. You tell Mr Gordon that I'm thankful for the past few months but I am done. I can't take it anymore. To hell with you and YOUR STUPID LIBRARY!"

At that, Bree marched off with everyone staring at her like she had just spit in the face of a Russian mafia leader. She turned by the fence and continued walking then hailed a cab and headed for Amy's. There, she buried her face in the table at the extreme end of the room and silently began to cry.

"Darling, are you okay?" Amy's hand rested on the base of her neck.

"I cannot do this anymore, Amy. I am tired but I do not wanna lose my mother. I just can't. I really can't. It'll kill me." She sobbed uncontrollably and Amy pulled her into a comfortable hug.

"I know, i know. Shh, it'll be okay in the end. Don't you worry." Amy comforted.

"How can you know that?" Bree asked, wiping under her eyes. Her nose and cheeks blared red and her face was glossy with tears. She looked like a compressed strawberry.

"Listen to me, I am aware of how much you love your mother and that is why you are working extra hard to take care of her. I've been watching you Bree and I've seen devotion in you that I have never ever seen before and do you know what happens to people with your kind of devotion?"

Bree shook her head.

"They are blessed in the end. Forget about all of the stress that comes with the work. I had to work nineteen years before i saved up enough money to run my own diner but I didn't let that stop me at all and here i am. You truly have struggled too hard and for too long to stop now, Bree. You will be alright. I promise. And your mother will be too, you just have to believe it."

It took a while for Amy's words to sink in but Bree felt better afterwards. She informed Amy that she had quit working at the library which meant she now had more time to work at the diner and the pen.

"What pen?" Amy asked as she handed one of her pink aprons to Bree.

"Uhh. . . It's just what i like to call where they keep the raccoons cause it's all dirty and like a pen." She stuttered.

"Oh, okay. Good luck then. Well i guess, increased time here means increased pay. Here is your first." Amy said and handed over a small wad of dollar bills.

"You're paying me now?" Bree asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah. I just thought you should have something to start off with." Amy said with a wink, her glossy lips parting into a smile.

"Thank you."

"Don't even think about it." Amy said and walked away.

Bree worked for the next few hours without anyone yelling at her or threatening to blow her eardrums to shards. After her shift, she took a cab down to the pen.

"Oh, hello you guys." She cheerfully said to the pigs as she carried over a bucket of water and emptied it into the trough.

"You dudes better lay off the muddy free fall today or I'm gonna get a water hose and turn your muddy pit into a family pool." She threatened and began to walk away then slowly came to a halt.

Something was not right.

She stood still and looked around the pen and the farmhouse. Everything looked to be exactly the way she had left it the previous day - pigs in a pen, jerk-horse next to the storage door and still as grumpy as yesterday.

"Weird!" Bree muttered then her eyes fell on the boars. There had been five boars, two sows and three piglets.

"Oh no. . . one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. . ." Bree dropped the bucket in alarm and ran closer to the pen.

There were only seven pigs.

There had been a total of ten yesterday.

"Oh, no no no no. . ." She lamented as she counted the pigs over and over. She was doubly sure there had been ten of them the previous day.

Unless. . .

Herb had taken them. She immediately pulled out her phone and dialed Lizzy.

"Hey, quick question. Was anyone supposed to, i dunno come pick up any of the pigs today?" She asked with a nervous laugh.

"No, that'll be on the weekend. But that's not something you should be worried about. Just take care of the pigs till then."

"Oh boy!" Bree whimpered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing. Bye!" She said and hung up.

She put the phone back into her bag and picked up the flashlight. All she had to do was look for the pigs before they wandered too far. She went into the farmhouse and stared up at jerk-horse.

He neighed at her.

"I am gonna need you to do me a big favor and yes - you and i are not gonna like it."