Thanks to all readviewers! I'm glad y'all liked Chapter 46, because it felt like a giant mess while I was writing it lol.
Prompt: A strike of lightning
The boys fled the schoolhouse, screaming in fear at the strange scary people and the giant lion, and as they fled into the forest they found their stomachs swelling and their limbs narrowing, until they tipped forward to run on all fours, and were pigs. But the screaming continued, for though their bodies had been changed, their minds had not, and they were by mercy left with speech and reason.
It was by this screaming and shouting they found each other among the trees, and came together at last in a miserable group. They concluded going home was impossible, as a few had tried and been beaten away with brooms. The woods must be their home now. They were angry, and terrified, and very young, and though they were not particularly bright they had the sense to see that staying as a group was wiser than running off alone.
Their shelter was only the trees above, and many times they woke drenched in rain or dew. Wild mushrooms and vegetables were there to be found in moderate quantities, but more and more often they crept into the town by night and stole cheese or sausage or bread from larders. When this became too dangerous, they stole scraps from garbage heaps. One or two of the thinnest and hungriest even dared attempt to conceal themselves among other pigs kept on farms, that they might at least feed from the slop in the trough.
A few weeks after their new life had begun, they had gathered in a glade. It was a clear night, and one of the few pleasures left to them was to sleep under the stars when they could. As they lay there looking up at the jewel-bright sky, one said very quietly,
"I wish I had stayed."
"Stayed where?"
"At school. If I hadn't run away, maybe I wouldn't be a pig."
"But the lion! The creatures!"
"Even still."
"Me too. Maybe I'd have been eaten. But maybe I'd be sleeping in my own bed."
"Instead we're here."
"Out in the cold and the rain."
"Eating garbage."
"Eating anything."
"Mother used to kiss me goodnight."
"Father used to tuck me in."
"I hated it."
"Me too."
"But now I miss it."
A few sniffles had begun amongst the group.
"I wish I was back at home."
"I miss my brothers."
"I miss my sisters."
"I wish I had stayed," said the first one again, and there were noises of tearful agreement all around. "After all this, I wish I'd taken my chances with the creatures and the lion."
"I am here," said a deeper voice.
There was a mad scramble and squealing as pigs surged to their feet. They cowered in a huddle behind the first one who had spoken, whose own ankles trembled as they all faced the huge lion that now stood in the glade.
But this time, they did not run.
"You have learned that which I meant you to," the lion said. "Remember it well."
He threw back his head and roared.
A crack of thunder split that clear night sky, and the flash of lightning blinded the pigs. When their vision returned, they found the lion had vanished. But more than that, oh, joy! they were pigs no longer, but each was back in his own proper shape, in the same clothes he had been wearing the day everything changed—only the clothes were as clean and neat as if they had just been washed and ironed. They looked round at each other, tongue-tied with shock. Then they split all different ways, each pelting madly for home.
Great was the rejoicing of many families that night as they welcomed back their lost sons. They soon found that wherever the boys had been, their temperaments had been greatly altered for the better. Boys who had been lazy now woke at crack of dawn; boys who had pulled their sisters' hair now hugged them and refused to take offense at being called sissies for it; boys who had been picky eaters now supped heartily.
But none of them could ever again abide the taste of pork.