The thumping sound of light footsteps could be heard, making their way quickly down the flight of stairs in a certain household.
The footsteps belonged to a particular young boy, who raced and rushed from one side to the other, fixing his dark brown hair with his hands as he searched hastily on each nook and cranny for his belongings. His dark chocolate-brown eyes darting to and fro, eyeing each item in front of him.
"Mooom! Have you seen my backpack?" he then called out after seemingly running around for thirty minutes.
Sitting at the dining table, a fairly middle-aged woman holding a coffee mug replied, "Last time I checked, you left it in your room, and I have nothing else to do with it!" She told him with a rueful yet bemused sigh, stirring her drink.
"I already checked my room a hundred times!" Ted groaned, raising his face to the ceiling.
"Try checking again, sweetie," his mom prompted before taking a sip.
Ted let out a loud, tired sigh before starting off to head back up to his room again.
"Alright fin-aH!?" the young boy exclaimed, jumping back in shock due to the fact that a certain sneaky old lady was now standing right in front of him.
She chuckled and held out a black rucksack with both her hands in front of her, "Looking for this, dearie?"
Ted was rubbing his chest with his hand, trying to calm down his heart, "Oh. Grammy... Shoulda known it was you," he said in a slightly exasperated voice. He never could really get used to his Grammy's sudden pop-ups. He then took the rucksack from her hands, mustering up a small yet questioning smile, "Um, thanks?"
His smile shifted however when he noticed that his bag felt somehow heavier. He opened it up to check what was inside and took out a bag of marshmallows that hadn't been there before. He glanced back at her with the same questioning appearance.
She chuckled again and replied, "Well, you're going to see him again after all this time aren't you, why not bring a housewarming gift while you're at it?"
"Heh. Yeah, thanks Grammy," he said as he returned the pack of marshmallows into his bag, zipping it and slinging it on his back.
"Well, I'll be heading out now, bye Mom, bye Grammy, catch you all later!" Ted declared as he raced out the door and hopped onto his scooter, driving out into the streets.
His Grammy walked out to the doorway, waving goodbye to her grandson, and she looked on as he sped through the streets, greeting everyone that he met along the way. And when he was no longer in sight, she then retreated back into their house, closing the door with a wistful expression on her face.
Meanwhile, Ted was zipping through town on his scooter, exchanging good morning's with some of the people he saw along the way.
And speaking of the town; one could say that it was getting better. The townspeople had removed all the concrete that was covering the soil, and that gave grass the opportunity to thrive and to grow again. Flowers and plants that people could hardly remember anymore had started to spring up all over the place.
And in the center of the town? There stood the still fairly small and growing truffula tree.
As Ted arrived at the plaza, there was a certain redheaded girl diligently watering the tree and the other plants surrounding it.
"Hey Audrey!" he called out to her as he got off his scooter, his little heart fluttering a tad.
Audrey looked back from where she stood, and she immediately smiled upon seeing the young boy, "Oh, hi Ted!"
"So... you're watering the tree again, huh?" Ted asked, which was a rather silly question in all honesty, as Audrey had been coming here everyday without a miss ever since they planted the seed, and had been taking good care of the tree since then.
"Gee, really, Ted?" He thought to himself, cringing internally immediately after what he had said. Honestly, even Ted could see the stupidity in his pitifully pathetic attempt to strike up a conversation with this woman.
"Yes of course! You know just how important this is for me! And to think how amazingly fast the tree is growing in like, what? Only two or so years? This is a really beautiful thing for everyone!" Audrey replied with a cheerfully gentle demeanor, nonetheless.
Maybe that was the main reason why Ted had come to like her so; she was pretty, bright, and had a good heart.
"What about you? Where are you off to?" she asked Ted, catching him drifting off into daydream land again.
"O-Oh! W-Well, I'm heading off to the valley for a bit!" he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets trying to play it cool. "I'm uh... visiting a friend there,"
"Really? You have a friend living all the way out there in the valley?" she asked, her curiosity and fascination obviously piqued, as it was very unusual to have anyone living all the way out there.
"Yeah! He's... actually the same guy that gave me that seed in the first place, actually,"
"Really?!" Audrey gasped with widened eyes, "How did he get that seed? Where did he get it from?"
Ted scratched the back of his head, reminiscing some rather old memories, "It's... kind of a really long story,"
"Oh my gosh, how come you never told me any of this!?" Audrey asked, excitement filling her as she wanted to hear so much more about this mysterious friend that just so happened to have a truffula seed after all these years. And why has he not planted it sooner?! Why wait this long? It would be pretty impossible if they had just so happened to stumble upon a seed and just give it to Ted all willy-nilly! So many questions raised! And Audrey was already itching to know the answer to each and every one of them.
"Well, I guess the conversation never got brought up till now..." Ted replied with a shrug. "Sooo, do you wanna come with? To his house, maybe? You could probably ask him more about that seed if you'd like,"
Audrey's eyes practically sparkled with excitement at Ted's invitation, "Yes, I'd love to!"
"Oh! Okay! Um, neat! So um..." Ted practically mumbled, awkwardly gesturing towards his scooter.
After several other little moments of awkwardness that of which will no longer be relayed, as it is an act of sparing one from secondhand embarrassment, the two proceeded to ride through town, and past where the barrier once stood. The barrier that once successfully isolated the town in a shied of denial and blissful ignorance from what was actually happening around them.
They arrived at the valley quite soon enough, just outside of town where grickle grass used to grow, where the wind once smelled slow and sour when it blew, and no birds used to ever sing excepting old crows.
But now, things were starting to get a little bit brighter.
Bright green grass was slowly starting to grow all over the place again, and the sky was clearer and bluer than before. Soft, gentle breezes would come pass by more often again, and you can occasionally see birds flying past over the horizon just as they used to way back when.
Eventually, Audrey spotted a rather odd-looking building of sorts, and it seemed as though they were indeed heading towards that direction. She couldn't talk her eyes off the strange little, well, not really "little" so to speak, rather tall tower.
"Hey Ted?" Audrey suddenly called.
"Hm?"
"What's your friend like?"
That made Ted hum a little, "Well... he's... pretty old,"
That earned a soft chortle from Audrey, "Is that really all you have to say about him?"
"Ehh, you'll just... havta meet him for yourself to get your own idea of the guy," Ted simply replied.
Shortly after that, they stopped at the front of the house and hopped off their scooter.
"Hello?" Ted called out loudly, stepping onto the house's front porch with Audrey following him close by.
They stood by the doorway as Ted tried calling out some more, but with no response, and the young woman simply took her time eyeing the rest of the place. It was old, kind of a rusty place. The walls were discolored and had several cracks here and there. But there were also plants and vines growing and crawling around the crevices and corners. It kind of gave off that whimsical feeling, which was pretty nice. The door was most peculiar, however, as it had this signboard with the words, "The Once-ler" engraved on it. This simply made Audrey wonder what on earth that could be, but she kept her thoughts to herself for now.
Ted in the meanwhile was looking if his old friend was outside nearby doing something else, that is, until Audrey found the doorbell switch.
"Hey, why not try the doorbell, doesn't it work?" Audrey prompted as she reached for the switch, immediately making the young boy's heart drop in horror.
"What? Wait! NO!" Ted yelled as he ran back and tried to stop her, but as he pushed her away (as gently as he possibly could), it was already too late. The doorbell rang, and before Audrey could even try to comprehend what was happening, the door flipped to reveal a contraption of sorts. The device worked in a way that as the door flipped, it would cause this scissor attached to it to cut a piece of string placed in-between the blades, and as that string was cut, a small catapult of sorts launched a plate of pie directly at the person standing in front of the doorway. In this case, that was poor Ted Wiggins.
"Not again...!" was all Ted could say before being hit square in the face with a plateful of fruit pie, falling flat onto his butt along the way.
"Omigosh, Ted!" Audrey exclaimed in concern as she ran up to help the boy. "What the heck was that all about!? Are you alright!?"
Poor Ted mumbled for a bit, taking the plate off his face and wiping some of the pie off of him. "Eh, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, just some prank..." he mumbled rather bitterly.
As Audrey helped him get up to his feet, a rather tall, scraggly-looking figure ran up to them, "Hey, what's with all that racket?" the person asked in a rather irritated, raspy sort of voice.
The two of them looked up and saw the strange old man. Strange, in the way that he looked. His tall worn-out top hat and thick, bushy mustache were what seemd to have caught Audrey's attention the most. He looked quite cross with their presence at first, but as Ted greeted him a "Hey old man," his expression quickly shifted into amusement, and then shortly to that of laughter.
"Well Ted, I expected you to fall for my little traps once or twice, but I never would've guessed you'd fall for it the third time around!" the old man jested.
"Ex-cuse me!" the young boy exclaimed while quickly wiping off a large amount of pie bits from his cheek, "But this time I actually took it on purpose for someone! So it doesn't count!"
"Hmm I see..." the old man, Once-ler, said as he turned his attention towards Ted's companion. "So, are you his babysitter, little missy?"
"Gramps. Stop." Ted said apathetically.
"Wait, he's your grandpa?" Audrey asked, a little puzzled.
"What? Oh, no, I just call him that to make it easier and less awkward to call him by his name," he replied casually.
"Pfsht, isn't that a little rude?" she said as she playfully punched the boy on his shoulder.
By this point, the Once-ler was starting to catch on, and a playful little smirk danced across his face.
"Oh no, I really don't mind," he chimed in, "Besides, it's this loverboy here the one being rude, not introducin' me to his little... girlfriend here,"
At this, Ted's face was practically flushed in red, his mouth opened agape and he couldn't yield a rebuttal, but his glare at the Once-ler basically screamed "traitor."
"Oh, I'm not his girlfriend! Ted's just a really good friend of mine," Audrey laughed, almost too obliviously. That helped Ted save face, but he couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken inside.
"My name is Audrey, sir, and it's really nice to meet you!" she introduced herself, shaking hands with Once-ler.
"It's very nice to meet ya too, Audrey, just call me Once-ler or whatever nickname suits your taste. Oh, and Ted's actually been telling me a lot about you!" he replied, instantly making the young boy glare daggers at him, but he only smirked it off.
"Really? That's hardly fair! Ted only pretty much told me about you today!" Audrey explained as they let go of their handshake. "He told me that you were the one who gave him that truffula seed, is that really true?" she asked with her eyes sparkling in anticipation.
"Well... yes," the Once-ler replied simply.
"Oh gosh, where did you get it from? And since you live all the way out here in the valley, were you around long enough just to see the truffula trees here?" Audrey asked, trying very hard to contain her curiosity.
The Once-ler muttered for a bit, trying to process her questions and just how to go about in answering them before replying, "It's kind of a long story, actually! Would you, er, like to come in, maybe?" he asked, gesturing somewhat awkwardly to his lerkim.
Audrey said that she'd simply love to, and Once-ler said that he simply hopes that they aren't in a hurry or anything at all. Of course Audrey was only more than eager to listen.
They sat by some rather old chairs that the Once-ler had propped out for them, and so began the retelling of the Once-ler's tale for the second time around as Ted simply just made himself busy with cleaning himself up. The Once-ler sang a few songs, and even played his old guitar, surprising Audrey. But it was a good surprised.
They went on with their storytelling, as well as several question and answer portions between the old man and Audrey.
He was strangely happy with having such company around, Ted noted, but he couldn't help but feel happy for the lonely old man's sake. Ted recalled inviting the Once-ler to come and move to Thneedville, but he said that it was a place with far too many... rather melancholic memories to go back to. And he felt that he wouldn't be that much welcome anymore.
Which was pretty ridiculous, Ted would recall blurting out, he lived the rest of his days in this valley that he practically destroyed for pete's sake, there was hardly any logic with his reasoning!
But nonetheless, the old man simply insisted that he was already doing fine here in the valley on his own.
Hours passed, and their storytelling finally came to a close.
Everything was pretty much exactly the same as Ted had heard from him, save for his new addition about a certain boy that he met, a boy whom, he would say, cared a whole awful lot, and eventually helped him get better with his life, and ultimately the lives of everyone else in town.
That earned a small smile from Audrey and Ted. And the room fell peacefully silent for a good minute.
Suddenly, Ted remembered something and reached for his rucksack, saying, "Hey! I almost forgot!"
Once-ler and Audrey both looked back at him as he unzipped his bag and pulled out a quite large pack of marshmallows, "Ta-da!" he presented the little gift proudly.
This made the old man practically dance with glee, and he excitedly skipped on over to Ted, eyeing his favorite snack.
Ted passed the pack of marshmallows on to him saying, "Sorry I nearly forgot, but to be fair, I could've remembered it sooner if you hadn't teased me earlier for nuthin',"
"Hmph, fair enough, loverboy," the Once-ler replied with a sly smile as he opened the bag and immediately started eating a few mallows. "Thank you anyway, Ted,"
"You should probably be thanking my Grammy though, she's the one that always goes out to buy you those things whenever she hears I'll be coming for a visit, or at least doesn't forget to remind me," Ted explained.
"Hunh, really...?" the Once-ler replied, his voice sounding somewhat distant and solemn.
"Yeah,"
"Hmm, hey Ted? How'd you know how to find Mister Once-ler by the way?" Audrey asked, "I mean... it's not like anyone in the valley knows that he still lives here after all these years,"
The old man seemed to stiffen.
"Oh, well, strangely enough, Grammy told me! Which was kinda weird, since she only started talking about you after I mentioned something about where to find a tree..." Ted explained, looking at their host, who now for some reason has started to look rather forlorn and quiet.
This made Ted rather concerned, "Hey gramps, you okay?"
No response.
"Mister Once-ler...?" Audrey called out in a concerned tone as well.
It took them a couple more seconds before the Once-ler finally snapped out of his trance, "O-Oh! Eherm, sorry 'bout that! I, er, getting old stuff, you know? Haha!" And shortly after he was back to his bubbly demeanor, but it felt sort of forced, in some way.
"Phew, you had us worried there, gramps, ya sure you're okay?" Ted prompted.
"Yes yes, yes, I'll be fine! I'm fine!" he replied with dismissive hand gestures.
Audrey was still silent though, and looked like she was thinking deeply about something.
"Hey Ted... What's the name of your grandma again?" Audrey asked.
"Hm? Uh... Norma Wiggins, why?" Ted replied, glancing at Audrey, at which she instantly glanced at the Once-ler again, who now seems frozen in place once more.
Ted noticed this behavior as well, but wasn't quite sure what to make of it, "Hey... gramps... did you happen to know my Grammy?"
"I feel like they know each other Ted, I mean how else could your grandma know about Mister Once-ler after all these years!" Audrey exclaimed in a way that sounded like she just cracked the code to some riddle.
"I never really thought of it that way... hey gramps-"
"Oops! Would you look at the time, you youngsters should really be startin' to head back home before dark now!" Once-ler suddenly declared quickly with his face held low, and then proceeded to have the two leave despite their objections.
He abruptly closed the door as soon as the two were outside. This made Ted and Audrey awfully confused, but it also compelled the curious redhead to want to know more. And even Ted was just as piqued.
And so they both agreed to have a little Q&A with old Grammy Norma.
As the Once-ler watched the two zip off on their scooter from his window, he let out a huge sigh.
He was practically trembling at this point, and as he raised his face on normal levels again, one could see the old man's cheeks burning a flustered red.
Shortly when they got to Ted's house, Mrs. Wiggins was cooking something in the kitchen, and Ted's Grammy greeted the two home.
The three sat at the table and Grammy asked them on how their little visit went.
"So, did anything new happen with you, Tedster and Audrey dear?" she asked while playing with what seems to be a pink string of yarn with both her hands.
Ted and Audrey stared at each other for a brief moment before nodding.
"Yeah... and um, I know it's kind of out of the blue, but me and Ted were wondering if you and Mister Once-ler know each other, maybe?" Audrey asked as respectfully as she could.
This caused Grammy to stop in her tracks, and she had a mix of a surprised and blank expression on her face.
"Um... it's okay if you don't feel comfortable telling us though, Grammy..." Ted added, somewhat reluctantly. He really wanted to know at least more about their connection, for some reason, but didn't want to push her if she didn't want to.
A small, thoughtful smile then crept onto Grammy Norma's face, and she began playing with her yarn again and said with a giggle, "Did he tell you anything about that?"
Audrey replied, "Um, no he was just kinda... he just kinda acted pretty nervously when we talked about you and mentioned your name and stuff,"
"Aaand he kinda kicked us out after trying to directly ask the same question," Ted added.
This earned a good laugh from Grammy, "Oh, he was always such a nervous card! It looks like he still hasn't changed much... Okay, well maybe that's not actually the case, but..."
She was trailing off, and she had this reminiscing little look on her face.
"So you two really do know each other!" Audrey exclaimed, leaning forward on her seat.
Grammy Norma simply smiled a little wider.
"Soo... considering gramps ain't gonna tell us anything, can you be the storyteller this time, Grammy? Please?" Ted pleaded, leaning forward on his seat as well.
His Grammy chuckled lightly and began, "Alright, dearies, but I hope you're not tired or anything, because this is gonna be a long one!"
The two simply smiled and nodded in unison, getting in a comfortable position on their chair.
"Then it all started a long, long time ago..."