AN: This Idea has been floating around in my head for a while. I hope you guys like it.
This Chapter is supposed to be in the Once-ler's POV.
He sat in his lerkim, and looked out at the desiccated landscape that he had created. He couldn't believe that in only five short years, it had gone from the beautiful valley that was so full of life, to the horrible nothing that was left behind. Why did he have to cut down the trees? Why did he have to listen to his mother?
"Pride." he mumbled to himself. He missed the Lorax, even if the little meatloaf annoyed him.
The only thing that gave him hope was the fact that he managed to salvage a small amount of seeds. In the first couple of weeks after the Lorax left he searched the entire valley looking for anything that would help fix what he had done.
The First Seed was an accident. He was walking and tripped over it. Once he realized what it was, he picked it up and his heart soared. If there was one, there should be more.
At the end what he had was a small pile of maybe ten or more seeds. He had tried planting a few, but they never grew. He figured after the third try that it was impossible for the trees to survive in the environment he now found himself living in.
"That I created." he sadly said quietly to himself.
He tried taking a few into the newly finished Thneedville, but he was pelted with tomatoes, and lost the seeds in his flight to escape. When he got back to his home he only had five seeds left. So he decided that if they wanted trees, they would have to come to him. But all of that had been eight years ago.
He had just finished his grim thought, when he had noticed a small person, coming closer from out of the fog. He couldn't believe it. Someone still cared. When they got a bit closer, he realized that the person was a young girl with overly curly hair.
When she got to his Lerkim, she looked straight up at his window and asked, "Do you know about trees?" He hadn't prepared for this kind of abruptness. He wanted to tell his story sure, but how could he tell if she was going to stay through the whole thing and if she truly wanted to hear it? He got an idea.
"I know about trees, but I can't tell you what happened."
"Why?" she asked puzzled by the mans answer to her question.
"I need payment before I can tell you." He bluntly replied.
She looked as if she was trying to look him straight in the eye. She was Succeeding. "What is it?"
"Before I can tell my story I need fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail."
She had a look of pure determination set on her face. "Okay." and with that she walked away.
He hoped she came back, for if she did, he would tell her everything.