The One In Green

ch. 1

The fresh dew dripped down the soft leaves of the trees, painting my face and falling to the plush grass beneath me. The sound of rushing water and humming filled my ears as I stood, walking about the truffula forest till I heard a new peculiar sound. It was enticing.

Upon walking over, taking the cover of the thick tall grey and white trunks of the trees, I peeked to see a tall man with an unusual hat and a giant metal looking object. Music came from it. He scatted random words and walked through the forest, followed by the humming fishes, barb-a-loots, even the brand new duckling born just hours before.

He danced around, the animals following close behind. I couldnt help but giggle at their dancing, but quickly stopped when he began to haphazardly throw things behind him from his wagon. I quickly caught the objects I could before the sharp edges hit the poor animals, just barely missing a pair of scissors from nearly decapitating the duckling. I dropped them at my feet and stood tall.

"You need to be careful around them!" I spoke clear, which caused him to tense and bump his head on the top of the wagon cabinet.

"W-woah!" He rubbed his head and turned, meeting my eyes. "Hello there, I didn't know there were others here!"

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms as he continued.

"You are from around here, right?"

"And what of it?"

He walked over, seemingly taking in the person before him. His face tinted a light pink and he cleared his throat. "Apologies, I'm the Once-ler." He offered a hand but I only stared at it confused. I grabbed his pointer finger and examined his hand quickly before letting go. He took his hand back and rubbed his it subconsciously. "So, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm merely a watcher of the forest. Why are you out here?" I placed my hands in front of my legs, crossing one over the other. I could feel the animals toxic energy radiating from them, as they began grabbing the dropped weapons I had taken earlier, putting them up threateningly and walking slowly towards the new person.

He took a step back, shuffling behind him in the wagons cabinet and taking out two very large pink sacks of white squares for defense and yelled. "Ah HA-" he instantly realized his mistake, that it wasn't a weapon of any sort. "Oh-"

Suddenly one of the barb-a-loots ran towards him, jumping up to attack. I quickly dashed towards the mob to try and stop them from full on attacking the poor man but the animal made its way to the bag, mercilessly tearing it open. Instantly, a bundle of white squares began raining down upon the party, and we all watched in awe.

It was a sea of them. I put out my hands to catch one, inspecting it. It was soft, it smelled sweet, and it was rather spongy.

One of the younger barb-a-loots smiled, a full mouth of them, and I couldnt help but giggle, rubbing the soft hair on their head. Turning, I saw the Once-ler smiling content, hands on his hips. I tilted my head, sniffing at the cube and taking a bite. It was... delightful. It tasted like nothing I had ever had before, sweeter than the fruits that grew on the truffula trees. I smiled wide, settling the last bit in my mouth to foam on my tongue.

I didn't realize how long it had been before my moment of ecstasy was ruined by the sound of thumping, chopping. Gasps flooded, following by running when I turned, racing to the man and tearing the weapon from his hands. It slid from his fingers with ease.
"What are you doing!" I yelled, throwing the axe at our feet. "What.." The tree crashed to the ground. "..have you done?" I knelt at the stump, rubbing my thumb agaisnt the broken flesh of the tree. I tightened my hands into fists and glared at him. He showed his hands in defense, but rather ignored me and grabbed the trunk, pulling it towards his wagon.

I couldnt believe my eyes. I stood in shock, looking to the stump, to this... adversary, then again at the stump. The animals began to crowd around, watching what used to be life. One of the fish knocked on it, assuming to see what it would do, but immediatly jumped away as the ground began to shake and the clouds form into a circle, darkening by the second. All the animals ran to hide, lightening striking the stump rapidly. Everything was windy, my hair flew rapidly behind me as I stepped back, a giant bolt lightening hitting the stump once again when all was silent.

"Welcome back, Lorax."