This is My Swamp

The Beginning

So let me tell you a story. I once went to Olive Garden with my mom. She went to the bathroom as the waiter advanced towards the table. I have been begging my mom to take me here because I knew Shrek would be attracted to the green environment.

Shrek looked at me. Fully clad in an apron with scratch pad at the ready. I gazed at him. I could smell the onion sweat beading on his forehead. He hesitantly asked, "What would you like to order sir?"

I looked up at him in full awe, "Whatever you recommend is great Shrek." My eyes sparkled as I watched him write down something. Shrek looked at me with a weary smile.

"What's your name child?"

I responded, "I-I'm Piggy." His eyes opened wide at that moment.

It was a terribly lonely island. All those boys were so mean to me. They even took my specs. I thought I could trust them. But they laughed at me. My own body betrayed me. Stupid ass-mar. Even Ralph. He was the only one who actually acknowledged me, but he betrayed me on that mountain. I remember colliding with the side of that cliff. Before I was crushed entirely, Shrek was there. He flew in and saved me. He peeled me from the rock and brought me back to life. I owe him my life.

I had thought it was just a bad nightmare or even a panic-generated hallucination, but it was all real. Shrek saved me.

Shrek told me to follow him. I hopped out of my booth and followed him down the long corridor. It began to get incredibly humid and the onion smell was so strong. I started to turn around and tell him I wanted to go back, but he picked me up bridal style and flew through the path.

We got to the end and he told me it was his bedroom. I looked around and everything was a thick mucus paste on the walls. 'What could create that?' I thought. I saw onion peels in the corner, spores climbing the walls, and the only illumination was a single lamp made of earwax. I stared to get scared. I turned around and the next thing I know I was something smashed into the side of my face. I started to get really sleepy...

I woke up and when I finally decided that I wasn't hallucinating I looked up. Shrek. I tried to struggle out of the bonds he held me in, but it was no use. He took off my clothes and held me down.

"But why me, Shrek? You saved me. Don't you remember?" Tears started to pool.

"It's all ogre now Piggy." He shackled me up in an adjacent room. There was someone bound just like me. Then there were others in here too. They were different though. They weren't human. They were diseased with green pigmented eyes; slime just oozed out of their mouths. They were rabid. 'How could Shrek do this to me? I had called for him on that beach. I called on the plane. I even waited for him on the beach under the dim light of the moon.'  I couldn't stop the salt that poured from my eyes.

The other children were released on me. They tore at me. I tried to fight back, but they just kept regenerating the onion layers. They became stronger and stronger each time I tore at them. The mangled onion children started to slow down. My vision was blurring. I could hear Shrek let out a throaty roar. He came over to me and whispered, "That'll do donkey. That will do."

Back in my subconscious I knew what was happening. The apocalypse was beginning. I am changing. Now I know what the others are. We can't stop it. They are Shrek. I am Shrek. That boy still bound in the other corner, he's next. Then you.

°°°
A short story by-
J-