The Once-ler fell asleep in the armchair by the fire. So far, nothing had bothered him since the Lorax left, and most certainly there were no signs of a ghost anywhere. The clock struck to midnight, and The Once-ler awoke.
Ding, dong. Ding, dong. Ding, dong. Ding, dong!
Nothing happened!
The Once-ler sat up triumphantly in his chair. To think that he almost believed the Lorax's ridiculous story of redemption. He calmly went back to his bed. His bunny pajamas were extra warmed up, having spent three hours by the fire.
He laid his head on his comfortable silk pillow and tucked himself back in. It wasn't until his eyes were ready to be shut that the curtains of his bed were draw a side by a hand, and when The Once-ler sat up, he was face to face with the promised ghost.
The ghost wasn't much of a human as it wasn't an animal or strange creature, but rather a thing. The thing had a body in the shape of a single candle, the lighted fire being the head, and he had the face of an old man. He floated in the air and was short in height, especially next to The Once-ler, who was extra-ordinary (and I meant to put those two words separate) tall. He also carried with him a candle snuffer of his size.
"Are you the spirit I have been told about?" The Once-ler asked, sweat dripped down his body.
"I am."
The voice was soft and gentle. Oddly low, as if instead of being so close beside him, it were at a distance.
"Who, and what, are you?" The Once-ler said in a low tone.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past. Your past." The Ghost got nearer to the terrified Once-ler, who almost fell out of his bed.
"W-why are you here?" The Once-ler got out of his bed crossing his arms over his chest, as if to protect himself.
"I am here for your own good. Come, walk with me."
The Once-ler followed him to the balcony, and the Spirit invited him to step on the railing. The Once-ler drew back.
"I'll fall and die! Remember? I'm mortal."
"Hold my hand, and you won't."
The Once-ler didn't knew why he trusted him enough to do it, but he did. As soon as their hands united, they both went flying through the air and, in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the plains of Once-ler's past.
"I cannot believe it!" The Once-ler's jaw dropped in awe. "H-how?!"
"We are in your past," responded the Ghost. "Let us go on."
They roamed the air until they arrived at a poor little school house. The Once-ler was shocked when the Ghost drove them right through the wall.
Once in, they saw a little boy, sitting in his desk, sadly singing a Christmas carol. Once-ler knew him to be his younger self.
The Once-ler approached him and waved his arms in front of him, but his younger self didn't seem to notice.
"These are just shadows of our past. They can't see us," the Ghost clarified and The Once-ler understood.
"I remember this day. I was waiting for my father to come pick me up but-"
"Hey dork-face!" his younger brother (younger by a year) Brett, barged in with his twin, Chet. They greeted young Once-ler with a fist to his face, which sent him to the floor.
"Father left home," said Chet, "and it's all your fault!"
"If you hadn't told him you wanted that stupid guitar, he wouldn't have bought it. Then he would've bought mom a new wedding ring and they wouldn't have fought!" Brett punched Once-ler again.
"It wasn't true you know," The Once-ler said, but instead of telling the Ghost, it was as if he told himself. "They had been fighting for over a year before he left."
The Once-ler and the Ghost left to another place and another time. It was Christmas day at his house. There, instead of the child Once-ler they saw, was Once-ler in his preteen years, sitting by a Christmas "tree" made out of dirty laundry.
"Look it mom! I wrote a song," said young Once-ler.
"What in tarnation! Once-ler shut up, I'm on the phone! How bout you get on workin' and do tha laundry!" His mother threw an old watch at him but missed and it shattered on the floor.
"Now look at what you did you dirty little hooligan!" His aunt Grizelda blamed him of breaking the clock. She picked him up by his collar and shoved him against the floor. He laid there unconscious and his uncle Ubb passed right by him, as if nothing happened.
"Here boy, buy yourself somethin' pretty." He tossed a cheap bottle cap at the dizzy Once-ler who gathered all his strength to lift himself up.
"Merry Christmas, punk!" said uncle Ubb, laughing to himself as he left the house.
The Once-ler's eyes were watery, but he tried to hold back his tears. The Ghost noticed and inclined towards him.
"Your lip is trembling," said the Ghost, "What is that on you cheek?"
"Nothing, something went in my eye, that's all." He wiped the tears with his sleeve.
"My time is running out," observed the Ghost, but he was not addressing Once-ler, nor anybody. "Quick!"
As soon as the Ghost said these words, they were at the Truffula Valley. It was the time when Once-ler's business was only just beginning. When the first few trees were being cut down for the Thneeds.
"Hey beanpole!" cried the Lorax as Once-ler's aunt, Grizelda, carried him away from The Once-ler's tent. "You broke your promise!"
Grizelda sent the poor Lorax flying through the air. Around him, The Once-ler saw the look of sadness and disappointment it the face of all the little animals. Pipsqueak, Lou, Melvin, all there.
The trees fell all around him. The loud crashing noises tortured Once-ler's ears and he tried to run away from them, but failed.
"Please Ghost of Christmas Past, get me out of here," pleaded The Once-ler.
"One more memory?" said the Ghost, ignoring The Once-ler and preparing to take off.
"No, please! No more!" The Once-ler cried.
He saw the face of the Ghost. Instead of the face of an old man, he saw all the faces of his past. Himself, his father, his brothers, his mother, his aunt and uncle, the Lorax and all the sad faces of the forest animals.
"Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no more!"
The Once-ler grabbed the Ghost's candle snuffer and covered him with it. The snuffer covered his whole body and, with all his force, The Once-ler extinguished the Ghost under it.
When he opened his eyes, he was back at his room. It was just as he left it. He quickly locked all doors and windows and ran to his bed, were he was forced into a heavy sleep until the next ghost was to come.