My father left when I was ten. And the next years were a depressing continuity. Dad was a taboo; we were not allowed to speak about him at all, or it would upset mom. However, his place was soon taken over by my aunt Griselda and her wimpy husband Ebb. Within a month, they threw out all of his things and settled in to the house. (Luckily I managed to keep a few things for myself: a gray vest and a fedora that I would save for when I was older.) However, not everything got worse; my brothers picked on me less… maybe it was because my mother picked on me more. Her tolerance of me grew smaller and smaller. I think the reasoning was that I looked so much like dad. I can't blame her for being mean; my mother was human after all, so it figures she's get upset and heartbroken at the look of me… right?

The first couple of years, I just shrugged it all off. I'd get in trouble a lot, and sometimes my guitar got so annoying for everyone else that they'd just lock me in my room so I wouldn't be able to bother them. But I didn't care. On those nights, I would sit by my window and wait. Soon… soon I'm sure my dad would return. Or maybe at least send a letter.

But that never happened. After the first four years, I gave up. He wasn't coming back. He didn't care about me. Oh well, he's just like the rest of my family. But maybe I could change that. I eventually tried harder to impress my mom. I learnt to sew dresses and blouses just for her, I learned to play an assortment of songs in all sorts of genres, and I even learned how to cook. But, it was all in vain. No matter how beautiful the dresses were, no matter how perfect the songs sounded, and no matter how delicious my food tasted to me, I got the same reaction: mom would stare at me with those bitter, unkind eyes, and tell me it was awful… and then of course, to finish it off, she'd say: "You're never gonna amount to anything, Oncie."

I was told that nearly everyday. Of course, I was fairly used to this; I was told that for as long as I could remember… however, I used to have dad there to raise my spirits and tell me that I wasn't worthless. But now that was gone. And I was alone.

It was eight years after my dad left that everything changed, and the second link in the chain of my self-destruction was added. I was sitting alone outside with my guitar. It was early in the morning; the only time I could practice my guitar without bothering everyone else. I strummed the strings and made a random melody as Melvin gave me that same, disapproving look he always seemed to have.

"What, Melvin?" I asked him. "I'm just practicing. It's not gonna sound perfect yet." I continued playing. "I'll find it… I'll find the place. The place that'll have just what I need~ I'm gonna hold it all in one big embrace…" I looked up and found myself hugging Melvin. He glared at me. "Whoops. Sorry." I was a bit over-dramatic when it came to guitar playing, I suppose. "Sorry, Melvin. Just singing about a lost dream."

"Hello?" A voice behind me asked. It startled me enough that I nearly fell over. Now that I had grown so tall, I tended to be even more klutzy, especially with my ridiculously long legs.

"Ah! Hi!" I said, trying to act normal. It was the mailman, and he was holding a package in his arms. "Can I help you?" Normally, I'd be curious; but recently mom had ordered tons of packages, all of which were really ugly scarves and shirts.

"Yes, sir. Package for…" He read the note pasted on the top. "..for Mr. Once-ler."

"Oh." I said. I had never received a package before. "Uh… that's me."

"Great! Sign right here." I did as the man said, and he gave me the package and then went on his way.

"What could this be?" I asked Melvin. He gave me a curious, agitated look, as if saying open it! "I'll open it in a second, Melvin." The address was smudged and hard to read, so all I could make out was the city. "Greenville? Where's Greenville?" Melvin let out an annoyed groan. "Alright, alright, I'll open it! Jeez…" I opened the box to find a letter on top. I read that first, and I nearly had a heart attack. The handwriting was sloppy and smeared… it was my dad's handwriting.

Dear Oncie,

How have you been? I haven't gotten any letters from you. That means one of two things: either your mother didn't want me talking to you and hid the letters I sent, or you're just mad at me. I understand the latter. But believe me when I say that I've been writing you all these years. And I'm sorry for being too stupid to not think of sending you a package like this sooner.

Anyways, how have you been? I'm sure your mother is taking good care of you. And I'm sure you're taking good care of her, too. However, you're almost nineteen, right?

I stared at the paper for a moment. I am? I thought really hard for a second. When was the last time I celebrated my birthday? It was my tenth, before dad left, right? It's been so long… when is my birthday? April… something. I couldn't help but smile. After all, dad must of cared at least a little if he could remember my birthday after all these years apart when my mom couldn't remember my birthday while living with me.

Well, happy birthday, Oncie. I bet you've turned into a fine young man. Are you still working on completing your thneed? If so, I have good news for you: after traveling around for years, I've finally found a place to settle in to. It's called Greenville. It's no short distance but… the trip's well worth it. The town's pretty small, and I'm almost busy constantly during the day due to my job building houses and such… but anyways, the town is not that special, but its surroundings… it's beautiful! I've never seen such a beautiful forest before! And the trees that surround this place have the most beautiful tufts. I sent you a sample of one. I think this might be able to work for your thneed.

And… well, I hate to be blunt, but I really miss you Oncie. If you can find it in your giant heart of yours to forgive me for leaving, I'd love to see you again. If you could find a way to come and visit me, I'd be really grateful. Like I said, I'm living in a small town called Greenville. It's west of your home, and is about a three and a half day trip. If you could find the time… and the kindness to come visit me, I would be really happy. But if you don't want to see me, I completely understand.

And again, I'm sorry.

Love, Dad.

P.S. Send my love to your brothers for me, will you?

I found myself beaming at the letter. Melvin nudged me with his head gently, trying to get an answer from me. I didn't say anything, but instead opened the box. I lifted the portion of tuft out of the box to get a closer look.

"Whoa…." The tuft was orange in color, and it was softer than anything I had ever touched before. It felt better than all of the other materials I had tried to make a thneed out of before: cotton, flannel, wool, you name it. And this tuft… it had the sweetest smell to it. I couldn't tell what it was, but all I knew was that the aroma was relaxing… a lot like the smell of freshly brewed chamomile tea. "This is great!" I exclaimed, startling Melvin a bit. "Melvin, do you know what this means?" I smiled at him. "Melvin, this means I can make my thneed! I can finally become a success! I can finally…" I calmed down a bit. "Make everyone proud…" He must've sensed the change in my tone, because he nuzzled me gently, as if trying to motivate me. I petted him. "Thanks Melvin. Oh! We need to get packing! Stay right there!" He gave me an unamused look, as if to say gee, thanks. Mom always kept Melvin tied to the fence. Hopefully she'd let me take him with me if -no, when - I left. He never got to move his legs.

Mom agreed to let me leave. Well, she didn't put it that way. In her words, I was a waste of space in the house that only caused everyone else problems, so me leaving was seen as a blessing instead of a curse. But I didn't care. I was too eager to see dad to even listen to her over-used insults. I packed the wagon with everything I'd need: sewing materials, supplies to build a tent, food and cooking supplies, gardening equipment, an axe, clothes, marshmallows, etc. I hopped onto my wagon with Melvin, ready to take on the world… completely unaware of the horrible fate that awaited me.

And this is where I began my story with Ted. Of course, I didn't tell him a thing about my father… he didn't really need to know about that. He really didn't need to know that I had reasoning for doing bad.

"Now Oncie…" My mother said, her tone sounding gentler than usual, "If for some reason your invention is a failure instead of a success… well, that wouldn't surprise me at all!" She began laughing hysterically, and soon the entire family joined in. Then one of my brothers punched me and Melvin kicked him back. Melvin was secretly a really good friend… and the only one that I really had. But after I set off and got out of earshot of my family, I felt a strange sensation bubbling up inside of me. A large grin appeared on my face. What was this feeling? Joy? I pulled out my guitar and began to play a random melody. Yes, this is joy. It was the first time in years I had felt so happy. Things were finally going my way: I was going to see dad again, I was going to sell my thneed, I was going get away from my family, and I might even be able to make them proud too. Everything was great!

"Nah na na na na na o bop a doo do doo do doo. Goin' off to make a thneed~" I began to sing. Melvin glared and rolled his eyes as if to say this is going to be a long trip.

As expected, it took about three and a half days for me to find the forest. (Actually, it took me four days because I have no sense of direction.). Bu the forest was even prettier than I had imagined. The grass and plants were a bright, exuberant green, and the trees… the trees were brighter than anything I had seen before! They came in all sorts of bright pastel colors, ranging from bright orange, to a cool, deep red. Even the creatures living there were bright and exuberant too! It was amazing… to think that the world could be this beautiful, especially in comparison to my dreary old home.

I immediately when to work. I befriended some animals, (by befriended, I mean I gave them marshmallows so they wouldn't kill me), and then chopped down a pretty, pink truffula tree that stood alone. I pulled it back to my tent and began to hum a little melody. Melvin gave me an impatient look and paced.

"What? We'll go to Greenville, later okay?" I said, pulling out a bag to put the tuft in. He glared at me. "Oh don't give me that look." He nudged my legs gently. "Look, Melvin, I don't want to go meet dad until I've sold some thneeds. I want to make him proud first, okay?" He rolled his eyes and started eating some grass.

The rest of the story from here is pretty straight-forward. It was then, when I was carelessly harvesting the tree, that I met the guardian of the forest: the Lorax. If I had to describe him in one word, I guess it would be… cute? Well, he would be cute if he wasn't so annoying! He went out of his way to sabotage me by any means necessary! This ranged from trying to destroy my makeshift home, putting my bed in a river and even trying to call it all a "curse" of nature or something. He was a weird tree-hugger to say the least. But even though he, for lack of a better term, would be considered my rival, I couldn't help but envy him. He had something that I never had: assertiveness. He did what ever he wanted to get his point across, and he never, ever gave up. I couldn't help but envy that. I had been passive my entire life to my family… and I hadn't done much to try and change that. So I silently respected this strange creature… and I planned to prove him wrong too, especially when he called my thneed garbage.

Garbage?

It's nothing of the sort! And I'd make that clear!

A week and a half later, and I failed. I was pretty optimistic on the first couple of days, ready to take Greenville by storm with my thneed, but.. They weren't quite as enthused. In fact, they seemed to enjoy mocking me. A lot. Not a day passed where I wasn't covered in tomatoes and whatever else the citizens of Greenville wanted to pelt me with. Some people even thought it was funny to throw a couple punches at me too! Even a nun tried to beat me up! Since when do nuns do that? But the worst part of all was when a little girl broke my precious guitar. She just ripped it from my hands and broke it in half! I was mortified! That was dad's guitar! A few days passed after my guitar was broken, and I gave up.

"That's it!" I declared, glaring through the remains of tomatoes that were splattered on my clothes and face. "You know what? I give up!" I stormed off the stage, and the crowd seemed upset. Of course, this was only because they enjoyed ridiculing me. "Mom was right! I quit!" I ripped the thneed off my neck and threw it in the distance, not caring where it went. "Come on, Melvin!" He was trailing behind me, looking sadder than usual. Maybe he really was rooting for me? I'm not sure, but all I knew was that I certainly wasn't rooting for me anymore. What was the point? I was a loser. Melvin and I walked back to the forest in silence, and depressing thoughts were whirling in my mind. You're an idiot, Once-ler. Did you really think you'd sell that thneed… that garbage? How stupid. Don't go visit your dad, he wouldn't want to see such a disgrace… I sighed and kept walking, slumping over and staring at the ground listlessly.

"Ah ha!" I heard the Lorax boast in the distance. He and the other creatures must being playing cards again, I figured. It was so strange. How come he could teach the animals to play cards when he couldn't even teach them to speak? What a weird creature. I ignored it and kept walking.

"Hey, beanpole!" The Lorax shouted. "Where's your thneed? Did you sell it?" I mustered up a smile despite my fowl mood, but I still couldn't help but find it odd that the Lorax actually cared. Oh well. He'll be taunting me in a second. He'll laugh and boast about how he was right and I was wrong…

"Ah yeah… no." I said. I kneeled down to the tiny creature's height. "I guess it was just a little ahead of its time…" I winced, ready to be ridiculed.

"Well, you gave it your best! What else can you do?" The Lorax replied with one of his rare smiles. I was too shocked to say what was on my mind:what? The Lorax had done nothing but sabotage me from the start, and now that I had done something wrong… he was nice to me? "Sit down, we'll deal you in."

"Uh, what are we playing?" I asked, a smile growing across my face. Maybe mustache wasn't too bad after all. Maybe… I nearly laughed at the absurdity of the thought. Maybe I could even call him my friend.