Eyes Forced Open

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own the Lorax.

It was Wednesday at three and the Lorax had once again barged into the Once-ler's office.

The Once-ler took one last look at the speech he was planning on giving later and then set it aside knowing that there was very little point in attempting to work while the Lorax was in the room.

"I know I hired security," the Once-ler said absently.

The Lorax frowned. "What, you mean those bulky guys who kept following me? I went into the bathroom and climbed out the window."

"Of course you did," the Once-ler said, sighing. "Why do I pay them again?"

The Lorax shrugged. "I don't know, kid. But maybe they have better luck with other people?"

"Either that or no one else actually wants to bother me as much as you do," the Once-ler muttered. "But then, why take that chance?"

"Listen, beanpole, we've got to talk about the trees," the Lorax said seriously.

Wordlessly, the Once-ler gestured towards the window.

The Lorax's eyes widened. "Are you trying to get rid of me already? But I've barely said anything! I've got to say, I'm just not getting on board with your increasing lack of accessibility. Why, I remember back when I could just walk in here and talk to you whenever I felt like it…"

Not like that had changed no matter how much effort people put into trying to change it. The Once-ler continued to point towards the window.

"What, do you want me to exit out the window?" the Lorax demanded, horrified. "You're getting a lot more corrupt than I had thought you were. That family of yours is a terrible influence."

"Let's leave my family out of this, okay?" the Once-ler suggested.

"I'm just saying that a fall from this height could kill someone, especially if you don't open the window first and right now it's closed," the Lorax pointed out.

The Once-ler rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not trying to get you to jump out the window and while I would sincerely like you to leave, I know better than to try to get you out of here so quickly. That would only make this take longer."

"Then what's with all the pointing?" the Lorax asked suspiciously.

"You're here to tell me that I'm ruining the environment and must stop before it's too late, right?" the Once-ler asked rhetorically. "Just like the last hundred or so times."

"If you've been listening to me all this time then why haven't you done something?" the Lorax demanded, his left eye twitching.

"I just want you, for the sake of argument you understand, to look out this window and tell me all about the death and destruction going on outside," the Once-ler told him. "And I promise to think about every word you say."

"Because we all know how much your promises are worth," the Lorax said darkly.

That hurt but since it was technically true, the Once-ler chose to ignore it. "Just look out there, will you?"

Surprised and now on his guard, the Lorax went over to the window (checking behind him a few times to make sure the Once-ler wasn't about to push him out, just to be safe) and gazed outside.

The Once-ler stood and walked over to him, making sure to stand a few feet away so as not to further worry the Lorax.

As far as the eye could see there was an idyllic paradise with animals frolicking happily under the multitude of trees. Except for his own buildings, the landscape looked much the same as it always had.

"Well?" the Once-ler asked smugly.

"…This proves nothing," the Lorax claimed eventually.

"No?" the Once-ler asked, amused. "It's just a little hard for me to believe that I'm destroying everything when not even you can look at this and make the case."

"The trees here haven't been touched," the Lorax conceded. "And clearly not the trees in areas that you go but if you just looked elsewhere-"

"Oh, that is such an excuse," the Once-ler burst out impatiently. "How easy is it to say that 'Oh, somewhere else where you can't see, things are terrible'! And how can I possible disprove that since I don't know where this alleged destruction is occurring? Oh, right, I remember…everywhere I haven't looked!"

"I am not making this up," the Lorax said, highly offended. "And I can't help it if you're being blind!"

The Once-ler felt a little guilty for that. He didn't believe the Lorax, of course, (how could he when all the evidence indicated otherwise?) but he knew that the Lorax believed his own spiel wholeheartedly and that he really did mean well. Extremists usually did.

"Of course not," the Once-ler assured him. "You're just…exaggerating to make a point. I completely understand, believe me, and I agree that if what you said was happening then it would be cause for concern. Rest assured, we won't let it get that far."

"You already have!" the Lorax cried out, looking like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The Once-ler silently pointed to the window again.

The Lorax sighed as though the Once-ler was being the unreasonable one. "I'll be back. I need to think."

"Could you make an appointment on your way out?" the Once-ler asked hopefully. "It would cause less of a disruption to my schedule and you wouldn't have to run from security."

The Lorax shook his head as he marched towards the door. "The forest doesn't run on your schedule!"

The Once-ler translated that into normal people speech. "If you don't have a watch, I can always buy you one!"

The Lorax didn't dignify that with a response.

"Mr. Once-ler, your three o'clock is here," his secretary warned him.

It was Wednesday at three again.

The Once-ler pushed his paperwork aside, pleased that he had some advanced notice this time. His conversations with the Lorax always took a lot out of him. It was just so trying to be faced with someone who was convinced that everything that had ever made you worth anything was going to bring about doom and gloom to everyone in the city and the forest to boot. Not to mention that he still sort of considered the Lorax a friend even though he was well-aware that the feeling was entirely one-sided.

"I didn't make an appointment," the Lorax grumbled as he walked in.

"No but you come every Wednesday at three so I made one for you," the Once-ler explained. "You're welcome."

"I wasn't going to thank you. And I am not predictable!" the Lorax protested.

The Once-ler glanced pointedly at his clock. "Well…"

"I'm not," the Lorax insisted.

"Whatever you say," the Once-ler said, deciding to humor him. "So tell me, how am I destroying the environment today?"

"The same way you are every other day of the week," the Lorax replied. "You're cutting down all of the trees."

The Once-ler glanced out his window. "It doesn't look any more devastated than it did last week."

"You say that you can't just take my word for it? I get that. It's completely ridiculous that after all we've been through you can't trust me but I get it," the Lorax said tragically.

" 'All we've been through'?" the Once-ler repeated. "Like that time you tried to kill me?"

"That was an accident," the Lorax said virtuously. "And I saved you afterwards."

"It would have been a lot more impressive if you hadn't put me in that situation in the first place and if I were positive you didn't save me just because Pipsqueak was still on the bed," the Once-ler said flatly.

"Well, I did warn you," the Lorax said defensively.

"You really didn't make it clear that my very life was on the line," the Once-ler argued.

"Ah, isn't reminiscing about the good old days fun?" the Lorax said, changing tactics. "It would be really great if we could get back to those and not have to worry about you destroying all of the trees."

The Once-ler glared at him. "Some of us aren't worrying about that."

"That's part of the problem," the Lorax said sagely. "But like I said, I get it. You have to really see things to believe them."

"You know something else I saw? I saw the funeral you gave and how melodramatic you were after I cut down one tree," the Once-ler announced. "So really, I can easily believe we're just cutting down a few and things are fine but you can't handle it."

"There is nothing wrong with being sad at the senseless loss of life," the Lorax said firmly. "And funerals are customary when living things die, or so I understand."

"When living people die," the Once-ler corrected. "Maybe even living pets, especially when kids are involved."

"Oh, I see how it is. You think your people have a monopoly on funerals!" the Lorax accused.

"Well…I mean…sort of?" the Once-ler fumbled. "Trees can't even see or hear or think or feel!"

"Go ahead, try to justify your snobbery," the Lorax huffed.

"Oh come on!" the Once-ler protested.

"Personally, I blame that family of yours," the Lorax confided. "But that's not why I'm here. You'll have the rest of your life to seek out therapy to fix the damage that they've done."

"The damage that someone's done, certainly," the Once-ler muttered.

"I've decided that the best way to convince you that what I'm saying is true is to actually show you," the Lorax declared.

The Once-ler blinked. "That…would actually be appreciated. How do you propose to do that?"

"We are going to take a field trip," the Lorax informed him.

The Once-ler looked at all the paperwork he still had to deal with. "Oh, I don't know. I have time here and there to deal with you but that sounds like it will take much longer."

The Lorax frowned as he tried to think of a way to convince him.

Finally, he snapped his fingers. "I know! How about this: you come with me and see the devastation that you've wrought upon the landscape and are continuing to cause for just one day – one full day – and then I promise that if you're not convinced then I'm not going to bother you with this ever again."

That did sound awfully tempting. "How do I know that you'll keep your word?"

"Hey, I'm not the one with a history of breaking their promises here," the Lorax pointed out.

"One broken promise does not mean that I have a history of breaking them!" the Once-ler objected.

"What happens in the past is history and I've only seen you make one promise…which you broke," the Lorax replied.

"Well, how do I know that you haven't broken plenty of your promises in your time?" the Once-ler demanded.

"You don't," admitted the Lorax. "But I haven't broken any to you, now have I?"

"No but you did try to kill me," the Once-ler reminded him.

"I don't recall ever promising you that I wouldn't," the Lorax said calmly.

"I think I'd like a promise to that effect before I even consider going somewhere alone with you," the Once-ler said, eying the Lorax warily.

The Lorax stuck his hand out. "Very well. Kid, if you come with me then I promise that I won't try to kill you again or do anything that I think could seriously injure you."

The Once-ler didn't move. "You know that sounds a lot like you're not going to promise that if I don't go with you…"

"Look, do you want your promise or not?" the Lorax demanded.

Reluctantly, the Once-ler took his hand. "Yeah, I do."

"Great. So when are we leaving?" the Lorax asked him. "Is now good?"

The Once-ler glanced again at his desk. "Are you kidding? I can't possibly leave on such short notice! This company would fall apart without me, you know."

"Well when then? Tomorrow?" the Lorax pressed.

"I've got another press conference," the Once-ler said, shaking his head. "I guess I can do Friday, though."

"Two days from now," the Lorax said, frowning. "I don't know, kid."

"What's wrong with that?" the Once-ler demanded. "Surely you can't possibly think I'll finish destroying everything in two days."

"No but every day you continue this only causes more devastation," the Lorax told him. "I'm just worried that your family will talk you out of it like they do every time I or the animals try to come anywhere near you when they're around."

"Oh, they do not," the Once-ler said, rolling his eyes.

"Haven't you ever wondered why you never see Pipsqueak or the others anymore?" the Lorax asked him.

"I assumed that you had turned them against me with your wild tales of me destroying their home," the Once-ler said coolly.

"Forest animals just don't think like that," the Lorax explained. "That's why they need me to watch out for them. And why do you think I keep coming to your office? You might have security but that secretary of yours refuses to let your family just barge in whenever they want to."

"That would explain why they want me to fire her…" the Once-ler murmured. He had actually tried to fire her the first time his family had suggested it but she had threatened to make up at least half a dozen ailing relatives that would make him a terrible person for even considering letting her go and she had only gotten half-way through describing the first one before he had remembered that she was, in fact, an excellent secretary.

"So?" the Lorax prompted. "About your family trying to talk you out of it?"

"If I say that I'll go with you then I'll go with you regardless of what my family says," the Once-ler said firmly. "Why wouldn't they want you to stop interfering anyway?"

"Maybe they realize what you're doing and are afraid that I'll finally make you face the truth," the Lorax suggested.

"That doesn't make any sense," the Once-ler protested. "If they thought that I was wiping out all the trees and we need trees to make thneeds then they'd tell me. We can't do business with no trees."

"I'm not sure that your family is all that business-savvy," the Lorax said delicately.

"I am a grown man and the head of my very own highly successful corporation that is growing by the day," the Once-ler declared importantly. "If I say that I'll go with you and see what it is that you're so concerned about then I will go with you and see what it is that you're so concerned about."

"So…are you saying that you'll come with me?" the Lorax asked pointedly.

The Once-ler sighed. "You're not leaving until I agree, are you?"

The Lorax shrugged. "I've got nowhere to be for the rest of the day."

"Then fine," the Once-ler agreed. "I'll see you on Friday. What time should we meet? And where?"

"Oh, I'll come find you," the Lorax assured him.

Something about the way he said that made the Once-ler wonder if this was such a good idea after all. Still, if it got the Lorax off of his back then he'd go along with it. After all, how bad could it possibly be?

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