Chapter Thirteen: To Kill a Once-ler

-Marilyn's POV-

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." I sat by my window, sipping a cup of hot coffee and reading my copy of Harper Lee's To Kill Mockingbird. All the signs of a perfect day (or at least by Theedville's standards) played in this particular morning.

I have been in jovial spirits since my family accepted The Once-ler because now that they did, I felt like I didn't have to hide our relationship from them anymore. But the nature of our relationship puzzled me. We were more than just "good friends" but we weren't, you know, like dating either. Because we never even kissed, I knew for sure we weren't friends with benefits. But I often dreamt of kissing The Once-ler. And I wondered if he dreamt of kissing me too.

I was sure that he loved me, as I loved him too. Even if our love wasn't tested, I knew it was real. It has been over three months since we first met. And two months since he met my family. We have been hanging out every day ever since. And in neither of those days have our lips have had the pleasure to meet.

I began to think that he was waiting for me to give him permission to do so. But I believed that something like that should come naturally. Maybe destiny was waiting for the perfect moment.

Today was one of those days in which I would go over at Once-ler's to play and write music together and do a number of other fun things. But my daily routine was sadly interrupted by a mob of people who stood at the gates of town.

They seem to be in a bad mood, all of them. Like blood-thirsty hounds ready to take on a prey, they stood listening to a speech delivered by a small man. As I came closer, I was able to have a better view of the speaker and what he spoke about.

I had to fight my way between the crowds, but who I saw and what I heard I will never forget. A small man, smaller than Norma (if you can believe it), with an odd bob haircut and silky black hair, standing between two giant men, speaking through a megaphone that was bigger than his body but smaller than his head, was trying to lead a protest against The Once-ler.

"Why should we be under control of a man who took away all of our trees?! Whose fault it is that we are poor, struggling and miserable?! He destroys us because he destroyed our air! I say we take him down! Take away his power, his money, his control over our city, our property, our lives and our future! Who's with me?!" Everyone at once shouted in agreement, everyone but me. His voice was so deep and powerful that I couldn't blame anyone for lending their ear to him.

"Dear people of Thneedville, if you let me become your leader, I can bring fresh air back to you! I can make this city rich and prosperous again! Bring it back to its glorious days when our children had the right to play outside. When family and friends could lift their faces to the blue sky and see the sun, the clouds, the stars and moon!" At the point, some sort of donation boxes were being set up. I could tell that these were to finance the means by which this horrible man would try to overthrow The Once-ler.

People began to pour every sort of money and things of value they had with them. Though nobody realized, I saw the greedy expression on the man's face. He rubbed his hands together, a mysterious grin slapped on his countenance and for a moment, I could swear that a saw dollar signs form in his eyes.

Without thinking, I ran towards the boxes, screaming and pushing everyone to the side, knocking over one of the donation boxes which immediately cause an outburst from the crowd.

"Hey, what the heck are you thinking idiot! Are you demented or something?!" A man in the crowd shouted out at me. People from all sides shoved me with their feet, one went straight for my face until two giant hands grabbed my shoulders and aggressively lifted me up above the mob. It was until I finally knew what was going on that I looked down and saw it was the small man's body guards.

They led me to where the man stood and threw me at his feet . My knees and hands reacted painfully against the concrete floor. When I was able to stabilize my body and keep my face from going againts the floor, I looked up. He bent over slightly, just so that his face was only two inches away from mine. He was everything but satisfied.

"And what was that all about, Missy? Why did you just create all that commotion?" I felt his spit settle on my face and before I answered I wiped them away, no doubt expressing my disgust.

"What you do is wrong" I firmly said. "You are trying to take away what rightfully belongs to The Once-ler. He built all this! None of it would've been here if it wasn't for him!"

"Well, well, looks like we got a sympathizer here!" He said to the crowd.

"Listen kid," he vigorously took hold of my cheek so forcefully that my lip looked as if they were pouting. "I make the rules now here and you listen to me. If you don't like it, then get out!" He pushed my face aside and pointed at me shouting "Traitor!" and everyone followed.

People pulled my hair, ripped my clothing, scratched my arms and neck and slapped my face, all at once. What felt like forever was only a matter of a few seconds and before I knew it, I was thrown to the dust outside of the city.

The air was cold and my eyes were so watery that I could barely see where I was going. I was confused and desperate. Alll alone, I tried to think whether I would be able to even see my family ever again. I didn't know what to do or where to go. But before I even convicted myself to do so, my heart and feet carried me towards The Once-ler.

I don't know whether it was the blood loss or all the blows I took to my head but I began to see hallucinations. As I walked along, I saw Truffula trees sprouting from the ground. As they grew, the green of the grass spread, covering the hills and into the horizon. Fresh water gushed through their old paths and singing fish splashed around in it. Yellow birds covered the sky, revealing hues of blue and brush strokes of white in the sky. Little bears ran around playing with each other. A beautiful rainbow formed above my head and for a moment, I thought I died and went to Paradise.

Then I began to hear voices. Little conversations that sounded like two friends teasing each other. One voice was a little scratchy and had a Baltimore accent while the other voice sounded like that of The Once-ler's.

The scratchy voice called out something that sounded like "Hey Beanpole" and Once-ler's voice responded by saying something that sounded like "Hey Mustache". Then little scenes began to play around me as I walked along. I saw The Once-ler making a promise that he wouldn't cut another tree. I saw a multitude of people (some of those faces I recognized to be in the mob earlier) running towards The Once-ler, with money in their hands, begging to buy a Thneed. I saw his family coming in on an RV and cutting down the trees, one by one. And that's where it all began.

A monument that looked like The Once-ler's factory and mansion rose from the ground. The machines with the four axes on its front simultaneously began to hack the trees as they fell together in perfect synchronization. The rivers around me all of a sudden turned pitch black. A cloud of smoke formed and spread, covering the skies and like a shadow all around me. The animals began to falter and ultimately died on top of each other. Their corpses dissolving into the ground. And then I saw him, The Lorax.

A look of panic was over his face, but he did not notice me. He looked all around him, bewildered. He began to run and I after him, but I stopped when I realized that all the trees were gone. All but one. And as I stood there, the world seemed to go in slow motion. I heard cries in the distance. Weird unfathomable noises throughout space until I heard it. One clean slice, right through the trunk of the tree, followed by a loud... crashing... noise.

At that moment, the ground below me began to vibrate violently. I heard loud cries, wails and shrieks raise from the ground, what I assumed, was all of nature. Silence was all that was left.

My heart broke into pieces. Because it made me realize that every night, this horrible memory plagued The Once-ler as he slept. You can't understand him until you understand this. The nightmare he lived and still lives.

I turned my head and walked towards his mansion. As I come near, I see an opening in the sky and a magical light came down, carrying The Lorax away as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants. Then I realized that he looked straight at me. I will never forget the sad look in his tired eyes. He pointed his finger down at a pile of rocks and he disappeared as everything went back to normal.

I made my way to the pile and uncovered it from the dead vines that grew around it. I read the inscription carved into one of them. "Unless" I began to cry as I ran up the stairs to find The Once-ler.

"Always put yourself in other people's shoes.

If you feel that it hurts you,

It probably hurts the person too."

-Rachel Grady