Disclaimer: I do not own "The Lorax". Warning for language.

Hollow brown eyes tiredly regarded their counterparts in a broken, blood splattered mirror. Their owner was completely numbed by some pill that was forced down his throat. It had kept him completely paralyzed and painless for hours but it had also kept him awake. Ted wished he did not know what that drug was used for but the thought would not leave him. R.J. had a whole bottle filled with those things that were so often used to drug young girls to take advantage of them or kidnap them to bring them into the prostitution ring. That bottle was just the one Ted had seen, who knows how much of that stuff R.J. had, but Ted could not deny that no matter what the man was involved in, he had saved him. R.J. had brought him to his house to recover from the crash. The act may have just been to repay Ted for the money he had earned for him just a month before to help with medical bills but Ted could not overlook the generosity R.J. showed him.

Another wave of boiling heat welled up into the boy's mouth to signal another bout of heaving but his empty stomach lurched to void itself of nothingness. Ted had already lost what seemed like every meal he had ever eaten. He watched his reflection raise a hand to wipe its mouth and now satisfied that nothing more would be able to come up, he departed from the bathroom to reunite with the small gathering at R.J.'s kitchen table. It was a fairly motley bunch of people Ted counted as friends that had stayed to make sure he would survive the head injury that had actually dented his two thousand dollar helmet. EatR had insisted the overpriced thing had done its job and saved him when Ted was still paralyzed and the others were discussing it but R.J. had not been convinced that the thing was not a waste of hard earned cash.

The two were still arguing over something though Ted could not decipher what about. Though she was not present at the race, apparently EatR had jumped on Hunkling as fast as possible to bolt down here when she heard the outcome. At twenty six, she was Ted's big sister of the rougher side of town. Her black wavy hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail that streamed down to her elbows. She wore a tight white wife beater tank top that did nothing to hide her high beams and a pair of black running shorts. She fiddled with her ever present rope bracelet while glaring daggers at R.J. from across the cluttered table. Her face was scrunched up into a squinting mass of hatred that hid her black eyes until they seemed beadier than they really were. She had been cursed with something like a baby doll's face and was often over looked as a racer. Her full fanned lashes and plump pouting lips looked more silly than anything when she was at the tracks, glaring at anyone who crossed her path. She was thin but her dark skin retained a healthy glow that was uncommon around this table. One of the blessings of being a woman, you could find work that was not hazardous to your health. No, EatR was a very successful showgirl but Ted could never figure out where it was she performed.

R.J. did not have that problem though. Apparently he had stumbled across her act at one time and embarrassed her at it in some way. The two had been at odds like cats and dogs since, like they were now. R.J. did not seem nearly as put off by their arguments. He always seemed to have the upper hand even if EatR was right. Now though, he was off his game. Somehow in his own lair, he seemed uneasy. He was standing tensely in a corner against the plastic composite countertop and garbage disposal. He probably stood to allow his guests to take the four mismatched chairs at his table. Two were a dingy pair of pale blue green vinyl cushions supported by metal frames that certainly had their share of brown stains. One was a medium brown wooden chair that was greatly scuffed but sturdy enough to support much more than EatR's slight weight. The last one was a cream colored plastic stool with cuts and writing spread across its surface. R.J. had been sitting there until Ted took his place when he woke. Ted sat back on the creaky surface to rejoin the gathering.

Ted was sitting almost in front of the standing hulk who had drugged him earlier just that day. Between Ted and EatR was Wes, probably acting like a sort of barrier for the two adults who were constantly at war. A pathetic hindrance for the two, he was. Wes was still in school, a freshman in high school this year actually. He was tall and lanky but boy was he skinny. Most joked that a slight breeze could whisk him away and the joke was only reinforced by his first encounter with a motorcycle. Apparently he did not have a good enough grip on the thing because he flipped right over the taillight and onto the pavement behind him. His terror filled expression sent the hardened racers into hysterics but even with his mortification, it was a rite of passage for him. That was probably his best chance as wall between EatR and R.J., everyone in the crew loved him and would murder someone before allowing anything to harm the boy. One of the sharks had ended that way actually. He did not die by racer's hands but he was frightened so badly that he never returned to the tracks. Now if only the rest of the sharks would disappear too. They were necessary for betting purposes but they were the real danger of the tracks. They glorified themselves and took any role between friendly repo men to old Grim's job to collect debts from betting. EatR had fallen into their hands when she first came around. She had placed a bet she could not follow through with and was passed around between them for some fun before they started to really got down to business. They all claimed that one finger was all she owed but everyone knew better than that. Someone had interfered when they removed her left ring finger and they were ashamed to admit someone could overpower the lot of them. No one knew who had done it though since those were considered private matters.

She joked about it now sometimes saying that she was married to Hunkling but the crew knew that the event left her horrified. On EatR's other side was Wes's mom. She was a matronly character in physique and tendencies. Ted could still feel echoes of the sensation of her fingers brushing back his hair while he was immobilized. Mama Rose, everyone downtown called her though she lived in the mid-city. Someone had even painted her house a rosy pink color to match her name which she good naturedly kept up. She had a lighter shade of brown hair than her son but their dark eyes were the same. Now her rather plump cheeks pushed up wards by her mauve stained lips. Her smile was enough to put Ted at ease. She was the one who decided which medicine they would use one him since he did not have the money or insurance to go to the hospital. He needed to be awake but she did not want him to experience the pain from the crash so those date rape drugs were chosen out of R.J.'s limited medicine cabinet. Today she was in a pink shirt and khaki pants. Her son wore a forest green button up and a pair of khaki slacks that could have been the same pair as his mother's except for the size differences. These were his school uniform, Mama Rose must be furious that he was missing class.

The two bickering individuals were still stuck in some sort of stalemate of recriminations when Rose cut them off to address Ted. "What in Thneedville did you think you were doing Ted? I thought you had finally come to your senses enough to give up on this silly racing thing." Everyone turned to look at the still battered but now heavily bandaged boy. It was not him who answered though.

"He did it for 'is Ma, Rose," R.J. put a big gloved hand on the table next to Ted. Every racer knew the lust for racing was something others just did not get so they had long since given up trying to explain it to the concerned woman, but this time was different, it seemed some sort of justification was in order for this race, it was after all Ted's last chance to make everything right. "Apparently he hasn't been to work for a week. She's going to be evicted from the home and Ted also lost his apartment to in that race. My question is where they hell have you been boy?" R.J.'s other enormous hand went to Ted's hair to force the boy's head back to make eye contact for the answer.

"He hasn't been going to work either? Ted, this is not all because of that girl is it?" Mama Rose sounded concerned now. Of course she knew about his previous infatuation for Audrey but did she have to bring it up in front of racers?

EatR picked it up from there, "What girl? The red haired vixen that has been makin' Ted's pants tight since he got outta diapers? Sorry, but I don't think she wants ya. That new tree makin' guy of hers was the one who rigged the course."

"We don't know that for sure!" R.J. retorted, releasing Ted's hair to lean over the dirty table, closer to the black haired girl.

"Oh, it was so that-"

"Guys!" Wes yelled with his voice cracking shrilly which sent the congregation bursting into hearty guffaws but effectively cut the arguing off. "Look, what is really important is where the fuck Ted has been."

"Wesley! Language!" Mama rose scolded in a hushed voice.

"That is not important now Rose," R.J. turned back the regard Ted with his serious steely eyes. "Well, Ted? Where you been?"

While he was gone, Ted had not thought about it much. Leaving was so easy, as running away often was. His mother should have had plenty of money saved up. He still was not certain what had happened to her retirement fund but now she was broke, made destitute by indiscernible circumstances. Now he was left homeless, jobless and he had to come up with a way to support his mother. He could not find where to begin. Thankfully, Wes chimed in to give him a point to start from.

"Was it really all because of Audrey?" His voice was quiet but everyone had heard. It felt strange to Ted, hearing her name and not feeling that burning desire to please her.

"Yeah. No. Hell, I don't know." Ted answered glumly. "I left because I was mad at first and then I just couldn't come back. I know it's stupid but I could not help myself. I just," His voice faltered. What was he about to say? He just fell in love that was it, but was that right?

"Oh Teddy, you can't just hide in a hole just because a girl doesn't like you. Where have you been anyways?" EatR reached out lay a hand over one of Ted's earning her a glare from R.J..

Ted pulled his hands away to put them demurely in his lap. "I left the city," The collective gasp that resounded from his statement could not have gone better if it was planned. "I went out to see the Once-ler. I broke his window and have been spending the past week fixing it."

R.J. snorted from behind him, "You expect us to believe it took you a week to fix a window. What is the Once-ler anyway?"

"He- uh," Ted could not think of a way to describe the man. So far all the Once-ler had done was trick him, fuck him, and trick him again. "He killed all the trees." The admission was a revelation to Ted. The Once-ler was that man who murdered all of the trees. He was the same monster that killed any chance Ted had with Audrey. The Once-ler was the reason Ted was here, jobless and homeless, trying in vain to find some way to keep both he and his mother alive. Ted was lost to the world now. His friends tried to wheedle more answers from him but he was so broken that he sat motionless and quiet for the rest of the evening while the others fought over and debated his fate. R.J. volunteered to put him up as evening came upon them. EatR left to start her shift dancing and after a dinner made by Mama Rose, she and Wes went home to mid-city.

Once the two were alone, R.J. coaxed Ted onto the beaten up couch with a blanket and pillow. They sat watching each other for a long time. Ted barely noting that the other was there and R.J. thinking of nothing else. Finally, before R.J. departed for bed, he tucked Ted in, looking like there was something more he wanted to say but unable to say it. The lights went out and Ted was again plunged into darkness but this one did not have the same effect as the last. His problems and pain were only worsened by this blackness. Ted lay there, wondering about the blue eyed man.