Lorax - Once-ler x Aurora - Breathless -Chapter 21

Just thought words would ruin the comic.

-----

The Once-ler happily stepped into the warm sun and its rays warming his body. He breathed in the fresh air from the seedling Truffula trees. The watering can heavy to his tired achy joints. It took what seemed like an eternity, but finding a boy who wanted to know about trees, for a girl’s affection no less, actually pulled it off. Once-ler smiled, reaching up momentarily to touch his mustache and smiled remembering the Lorax’s words, “nice mustache” just a few hours ago. He walked over to the closest Truffula tree and bent over slightly to water it when he heard someone say, “I hope you’re not planning to make thneeds out of those…”

Once-ler’s eyes grew, still not used to visitors after the past few days of excitement and turned his head to see who it was. He felt the can of water fall from his fingertips and land on the ground where the water spilled, but the Truffula trees happily absorbed it. His eyes fell upon the face of someone he thought he would never see again. The light reddish brown locks that she allowed to sway in the wind most of the time was now pulled up into a tight bun of gray. Only a few wisps were allowed to sweep across her face. Her coral lips were now encased with parentheses and her ivory skin was now wrinkled with the lines of laughter and emotions that were once there. But those piercing blue eyes and soft brown freckles on her nose were one thing that had not changed in the least.

“Aurora…” was the soft whisper that fell from his lips.

“Hey, Once-ler…” she replied as Once-ler stood back to his full height who even in his old age didn’t shrink much. Aurora looked at the old man standing in front of her. As far as she could tell, time had been fairly kind to him considering what he had done all those years ago… While his skin had sagged and wrinkled, the only new thing she noticed was the mustache. Her eyes glanced at the familiar black and green top hot placed atop his mess of grey hair and green suit with a pink thneed wrapped around his neck. Even after all these years, she kind of felt silly when she felt heart skip a beat when he was near her.

As he looked at her face, he wanted nothing more than to apologize as he felt tears begin to form. “Everything I did… “ he spoke, his voice raspier than the smooth voice she remembered, “I wish I could take it back… I’m sorry – I never intended to hurt anyone… Especially not you…” He pinched the bridge of his nose before having to turn from her gaze as he continued, “It all just happened so quickly! I just wanted my company to work, to sell my product! I failed to see the destruction it was all causing around me! I failed to see it happening right under my nose… I made so many excuses and was blinded by greed, I wish I never did it! I wish I could take it all back, bring the trees back before it was too late, but…”

Once-ler gasped when he felt arms wrapping around his small waist as Aurora placed her head to rest on his chest before he heard her whisper, “I know… But you did something better, you didn’t just wish them back, you helped bring them back…and… it’s never too late…” she whispered against his chest as warm tears began silently streaming down her face as she held her first love tightly.

Once-ler smiled warmly feeling her arms wrapping tighter around his thin midsection. He lifted his arms and wrapped them loving around her as she retracted her arms and reached up to wrap them comfortably around his shoulders and they both hugged never wanting this moment to end…

“Gran-Gran?” Audrey asked curiously as she walked up to the two, Ted following closely behind with smile on his face.
“Oh! Audrey, dear!” Aurora said. “Thanks for bringing her here for me, Ted.”

“No problem. Oh, and Gram says “hi” and she wants your lemon squares recipe.” Ted replied.

“Oh, I’ll be sure to give it to her. What a doll your gram is. Can you believe I’ve known her since I was in college? Gosh, I don’t think there’s anything I haven’t told Norma.”

“She said you told her about the Once-ler and that he knew about the trees and that’s how she knew to tell me. So, how did you two know each other? What happened?” Ted asked.

“That story is a tad long. Maybe some other day…” Aurora said, sighing deeply.

Once-ler and Aurora looked at each other before Once-ler interceded, “Who wants smores?”

“Oh, I do, I do!” Ted said and Audrey eyed him with a slight grin on her face. “Well… if it’s cool with you, anyway.” Ted continued, his voice lowering.

“Sure. That sounds great, Mr. Once-ler.” Audrey interceded. Aurora smiled at the cute reaction Ted had toward her granddaughter.

“Oh, wait. I’m out of marshmallows…” Once-ler said.

“Always have a spare.” Aurora said with a smile, taking a large bag out of her tote bag.

“I’ll race you inside!” Ted said, starting to run to the door but stopped. “Oh. After you.” He said more debonair like as he gestured for her to walk in front of him.

“Heh. Thanks, Ted.” Audrey said as two kids went inside the house. Once-ler removed the contraption on his door ever since Ted planted the seed in Thneedville. Once-ler held out his hand to Aurora. She looked at it before gazing up into his light blue eyes and placing her hand in his as he aided her up the stairs. After a wonderful evening conversing with one another with chocolate milk and smores while Once-ler told the summarized tale he told Ted, it wasn’t long until the hours passed quickly and the sun was already high in the sky.

“Why did I have to listen to that over two days? You told it in a few hours.” Ted complained.

“Because she didn’t keep interrupting the story.” Once-ler replied.

“Hmph.”

“Come, on, Ted. It’s getting late.”

“Uh, sure. Whatever. That’s cool.” Ted replied as him and Audrey began walking near the door when he felt Aurora grab his arm.

“Ted… Be yourself. Trust me, it’ll work.”

“True, Ted. It was when I started acting different when I lost the girl I loved the most.”

“And when you did the right thing, I did come back…” Aurora said looking over at Once-ler and smiling.

“But Audrey’s so pretty, I need to impress her, I can’t act like a little kid.”

“Believe me, I know my granddaughter. She likes you for you. Nothing else. Remember that.”

“Alright. Thanks, Aurora. I’ll see you later, Once-ler.”

“Have a good one, Ted.”

“Bye! Thanks for everything!” Audrey said from the door as she waved to her grandmother and Once-ler, still questioning how her grandmother knew the Once-ler but knew one day she would tell her.

“You’re welcome. I’ll be home soon, dear.” Aurora said smiling and waving at the young teen.

“Kay, Gran! Bye and thanks again, Mr. Once-ler.”

“You’re very welcome, dearie.”

With those words, Ted and Audrey began the journey home. After they left, Aurora looked back at Once-ler from her place near the front window as she watched the two sped off back toward Thneedville on his moped. He was sitting quietly on his bed, his guitar in his lap and humming softly as his fingers played the old strings.

Aurora sat next to him and smiled and suddenly, it was 50 years ago. Seeing him full of energy breaking out into song at any moment. She laughed looking at the world now. The cabin now seemed so outdated but still retained the small cozy feel. She felt a hand resting against her shoulder blade.

“How many other grandchildren besides Audrey do you have?” Once-ler asked.

“Three more. She’s the only one who lives in Thneedville. My son and his three kids live in a different town after the pollution grew too great. His asthma couldn’t take it.”

“So, you have just the two kids?”

“Well, yes, and they’re twins, so just one set.” She said, smiling and laughing softly.

“And your husband? How is he?”

“I never married…” she said, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks as she looked over at Once-ler who looked at her with a look of unbelief on his face. “Look, there’s a reason I asked Ted to bring Audrey here… There’s a reason I wanted you to meet Audrey… considering you’re her grandfather…” she whispered as Once-ler’s eyes grew and his mouth fell open in shock.
“What?” he asked, his breath shallow as he tried to absorb what had been told to him. And he remembered the night so long ago… After the night played again in his mind, the realization of what happened hit Once-ler like a ton of bricks when he realized what that one night of passion made occur.

“It wasn’t until later I found out I was pregnant… with your children… It was a bit taboo, but I wanted to raise the twins alone. I wanted to prove I could do it on my own… And I did. I was still able to finish college, land a dream job in Thneedville, and lived there ever since … have it all… but… there was always something missing…” she whispered, her hand reaching over to touch his face. “You… the goofy guy that stole my heart…”

“Oh, Once-ler, I wanted to tell you so many times… but I couldn’t bring myself to come back to a man who had done this to my beloved Truffula forest… I was so angry for so many years… I wanted to forget you but whenever I looked at my children… I saw you in their eyes… To the point I wasn’t angry anymore but the time that had already passed was so substantial that I couldn’t bring myself to come here. We were basically already quarantined in Thneedville… I gave up on things ever changing or ever seeing another Truffula tree growing again… It wasn’t until my granddaughter Audrey came along and she asked me about them one night. And she asked me what I was painting – and she soon loved trees too. They needed to come back. I missed them terribly… and I missed you… And keeping those memories alive, I sang her the song… The touch of their tops is softer than silk… and they have the sweet smell of butterfly milk…”

“I gave up ever seeing you again. Never truly knowing what happened after I left so many years ago… It wasn’t until she met Ted that all of this started happening. Norma remained a dear friend. She would even babysit my children when I went to school. She ultimately told Ted about trees, apparently because of his crush on my granddaughter and her love of them… which lead him to you… and now look…” she said, glancing out his open door and at the forestation of tiny trees growing.
“They’re back…” she whispered.

Once-ler glanced outside before looking back at Aurora. Both their eyes filled with tears as all the wasted years went rolling down their face as they embraced. “I never thought I’d see you again…” Once-ler whispered. “I missed you so much… If I had only known…”

“So… is it okay if I take back my ‘never’ and you can ask me that again?” Aurora asked, wiping her tears from her face.
Once-ler looked at her questioningly before he smiled and pulled the ring from his pocket. Aurora’s eyes grew in shock as she looked at the beautiful ring lying against his palm. She felt him take her left hand and watched in shock as he dropped to one knee after removing his hat revealing his mess of white hair. “Will you marry me?” he asked, tears dripping from his eyes and into his moustache.

Aurora just nodded in response before laughing softly through tears as she felt him push the ring on her finger, and it fit perfectly. She pulled him toward him and giggled when his beard tickled her face when she leaned in to kiss him.

“Come on. Let me introduce you to our daughter…” she said, taking his hand. Once-ler stalled for a moment. He followed her outside and onto the ground where a few springs of grass began popping up. He looked in the distance at the bears, swans and fish began making their return to their once beloved home. The Lorax walked up to him and smiled.

“I’ll take care of things. Go on.” He said, shooing the two of them away.

“Should I change?”

“No… You’ll fit right in...” Aurora said, her hand grasping his hand warmly and leading him to Thneedville to meet the family he never knew he had. As they walked the distance to Thneedville, he took a moment and glanced around the forest. Seeing the trees growing and knowing the destruction was his fault in the first place. He knew he couldn’t turn back time. He looked back at Aurora. Believing it was impossible she’d ever look his way again after what he’d done, but yet here she was.

Once-ler turned to look at the Lorax. As much as Once-ler hated to admit it, the small orange creature happened to be right the whole time…

Once-ler looked down at the thneed around his neck as a scarf and stopped momentarily. He shook his head at the material and what he had done to this place… all for these? Nobody needed a thneed that bad. Once-ler smiled before removing the thneed from his neck before tossing it on his porch. “Never again…” he whispered before taking Aurora’s hand and walking toward the town that could now breathe again freely with the Truffula trees making all the air they’d ever need… for free…

...THE END!

-----

Previous Chapter - [link]