Chapter 9 - Trying To Be A Brother

When Murdoc got up the next day, he had a bad headache and he could hardly see in front of himself. Murdoc sat up on the side of the bed, beside him was an empty bottle of wine. Murdoc groaned in pain, he knew he was in a hang-over.

"Must have been quite then party last night..." Murdoc said as he put his head in his hands.

A dark cold feeling came to Murdoc head.

"No, there was no party." A voice said from darkness.

"What? Who's there?"

"No one will ever know."

Murdoc got up quickly and looked around the room.

"You know what you have to do."

"I know, I know... but Shrek is my brother."

"He abandoned you. He didn't come back."

Murdoc was sweating, he knew who was talking, but was afraid of what he was going to say.

"Stop talking to me!"

"You must make him pay."

"I don't have to do anything!"

Murdoc covered his ears and closed his eyes. The voice kept on saying over and over,

"You must make him pay..."

The mysterious voice stopped.

Murdoc woke up later on in the day, sometime in the afternoon. He still had a bad headache, but not as bad as before the blackout. The wine bottle that was beside him earlier had broken into shatters on the floor. Murdoc sat up on the side of the bed and put his head in his hands and said to himself,

"Must have been quite the party last night-"

Murdoc got up and looked around the room in confusion; he stood silent for a while.

Meanwhile, Shrek was in the guest house with Fiona talking about the string of events that took place the previous day. The recent dealings with Murdoc seemed to put a damper on Shrek's stay with his family.

"What a bad day it was yesterday, everything was fine until I had to deal with Murdoc."

"He seemed a little dark-"

"I mean, I tried to be nice to him, and explain what happened, but he had to blow up!"

Shrek firmly set his cup of coffee he was holding on the table. There was a moment of silence for a short time.

"Well I'm sorry that you and Murdoc couldn't work things out, perhaps you should try again."

"Fiona, Murdoc seems to have made up his mind about me..."

"You don't know for sure what he thinks."

"He's not going to accept me, I just know it."

"You won't know if you just give up."

Shrek sipped on his coffee and thought about Murdoc. He sighed in sadness and disappointment. Fiona looked at Shrek with sorry eyes, she wanted to make him feel better some how.

"Oh Shrek, don't worry about it, just relax and enjoy the rest of your family."

Shrek didn't reply.

"If it makes you feel better, I can run us a big bath of hot water and we can soak in it for a while."

"Ok." Shrek said with a small smile.

Shrek emerged from the guest house warm and cheerful again. While relaxing in a soothing hot bath with Fiona earlier, Shrek calmed down and got his mind unknotted. Shrek had a new approach to Murdoc's unpredictable behavior.

"If I can't please Murdoc, at least I can be a brother to the rest of my family. If he doesn't accept me as his brother, it will be his own fault. I want to be happy, not burdened down with sadness."

Shrek looked around the property and saw various activities going on. Littleuns where running around the main lawn, chasing mice. Maria, Cearl and several other ogres played musical lawn chairs. And several of his older brothers where sitting around in lawn chairs talking, Shrek decided to join his brothers in talk.

"Hi Shrek." Tayer said.

"Mind if I join?"

"No not at all, pull up a lawn chair."

Shrek sat down and listened in on what his brothers where talking about.

"So anyways, she said to me, "Do you want to come to my house tonight?" And I said, "Sure, I'll drive us to your place." Then she said back to me "In the HUMMER?" I looked at her and said "If you wanted me for the HUMMER, you should have just asked me to be your taxi!"'"

Shrek's brothers laughed, Shrek however didn't know what Tayer was getting at.

"So Shrek, how has your life been going?" Peter said curiously.

"Oh, well... it's interesting. I rescued a princess from a dragon guarded castle, and then I married her. Then we went to her parents and I almost got killed. We both returned home and now we are trying to live happily ever after. That's my life all summed up."

A sudden feeling of curiosity fell over Shrek's brothers.

"What happened before?" Osric asked...

"Nothing really, just some bad moments here and there."

"Well that's nice that your life is working out for you. Most of us are just trying to get our lives going." Osric replied back.

Shrek and his brothers laughed a little. Shrek was enjoying being with his older siblings.

"You know Shrek, have you ever thought about moving back with the family?" Tayer said.

"No actually, I never gave it a thought."

"Hmm, your parents would be so happy, but then again you have a wife, and you may want to start a family."

"I don't know what my wife would say Tayer, I don't even know what we have planned for the next little while."

"Well Shrek, even if you decide not to move back, it's nice that you're back with the family."

Shrek and his brothers continued to talk for a little while about each others lives and wants.

Lorian was a close friend to Murdoc. He was a bit shy, but was more outgoing and cheerful than Murdoc. Lorian was considerably short compared to most ogres; he also had more human like features than usual.

"I wonder were Murdoc has been for the last couple of day?" Lorian said to himself. "He hasn't visited me lately."

Lorian walked over to Murdoc's small cabin. He walked passed Maria and Cearl's house, and through the main lawn. None of the ogres in the main lawn area noticed Lorian walk by.

As Lorian approached the door to Murdoc's cabin, he said to himself, "I wonder what Murdoc has been up to?"

Lorian knocked on the door, it squeaked open a bit, the door was left unlocked. Lorian took a step in and looked around the wide open room, something was not right. Murdoc place was a mess, furniture was knocked over, clothes and personal possession where on the ground in disarray.

"Murdoc?" Lorian said out loud. "Anyone here?"

Lorian stepped over an overturned chair and picked up a few unknown papers from the ground. The writing on the papers was unclear and sloppy. Lorian didn't know what the papers said or meant.

"Someone been here"

Lorian took a step backward toward the door.

"I'd better tell his parents what happened"

Lorian took one last look at Murdoc's then turned around to go back; as soon as he turned around he saw Murdoc standing in front of the closed door.

"Oh, Murdoc, glad to see you... what happened here?"

Murdoc didn't say anything; he walked up to Lorian and said,

"Look like you'll be coming with me my friend."

Before Lorian could say anything he was already on the floor unconscious.

The day was finally drawing to a close; the whole family was tired out from working and playing all day. Shrek had a great day with his brothers. Fiona had also a good day with Shrek's sisters; they where trying out new clothes and talking about each others husbands.

Maria Cearl and their family went to bed, and so did Donkey and Dragon.

As Shrek and Fiona lay in bed trying to sleep, both of them thought about what might happen the next day.

Maria and Cearl also lay in bed; they where talking about the next day.

"Do you think Shrek will find out what where planning?" Cearl asked.

"No, he won't suspect a thing." Maria answered.

"Good I want this to happen, smooth and without a commotion."

Maria and Cearl where thinking about Shrek, what where they planning?