Day of Destruction

The creature had dragged itself from the ends of the earth...weak, sick, demoralized, its body riddled with pain, but had enough will to hold on. The air was so hot, but the creature felt so cold.

The creature had to find him. It knew exactly where he was. The creature was in agony, it hurt just dragging itself there, clawing the dirt...it hurt to move, breathe...yet, it had enough strength to get itself to its destination.

Seeing its beloved home gone...polluted, corrupted, ruined. The trees were gone...murdered...the creature heard their screams of terror, only to be silenced by the deadly blows of the sharp, cruel blades of the axes when they sliced through their wooden flesh...their heartbeats ceased completely...

It continued to drag itself towards the man that stood on a hill near the giant home...his back turned. Once it had arrived, it stared at the shiny, black shoes and the green coat tails...green, not like its home...the color of money...greed...

With an agonizingly shaking hand, the creature grabbed the man's pant cuff, then stared into the blue eyes of the man...eyes that were once filled love and care that were replaced by avariciousness, corruption, and selfishness. Now they were filled with utmost horror and remorse as it stared down at the wretch...

The creature had to know...

Why?

*******

While Once-ler was gone into town trying to sell his invention, Fiora spent most of her days, lying on the grass in the warm sun, reading his books. The Lorax saw his pupil, absorbed in the Beanpole's books. He sat next to her and she smiled.

"How's learning about the human world going?" asked the Lorax.

"Wonderful," she said. "I never knew that there were so many things. It's like a forest I never knew existed."

The Lorax was pleased; he was glad she was enjoying lessons about the human world and getting used to their customs. They looked through the book...

...until they came across a very harrowing image: one of a land filled with tree stumps...everything was dead...it was horrifying. She couldn't stop staring at it with wide green eyes.

"What is this?" she asked, showing Lorax the picture.

Lorax frowned. Though he was glad that Fiora was learning about the human world, there was an ugly side to it that was too painful to explain. He couldn't answer her. The image bothered him too.

"Is...that what Once-ler was going to do?" she asked, recalling how he had brutally chopped down one of the trees.

He nodded, sad. "I'm afraid so, kid."

She touched the picture with her finger, feeling tears brimming in her eyes. Trees were murdered in the human world. Did humans not know the trees felt pain when they were cut down? Did they care? Were humans so terrible to do such a thing? Her mind bubbled with questions.

Upset, Fiora ran toward the lily pond. The Lorax and the animals all looked at her as she hugged her knees, sitting beneath the shade of the Truffula tree. Everything was so beautiful in the valley. She couldn't imagine it being so ugly like the picture she had just seen. She looked at the trees, seeing their colorful tufts blow in the soft wind. She caressed the trunk of one of them, hearing them whisper comforting words. Pipsqueak crawled into her lap, his wide adorable eyes filled with worry. She stroked his head, still sad.

"I...don't understand," she said. "Why would humans do such a terrible thing?"

"I think Beanpole should be the one to tell you," Lorax said.

She nodded lightly.

Completely disappointed, Once-ler walked back to the Truffula forest. Again, he was booed off the stage, laughed at...and ignored and had eyes rolled at with a few grumbles. At least he didn't get tomatoes thrown at him today...only a horrible thing happened: some girl broke his guitar.

He saw the Lorax was playing cards with Pipsqueak, a fish, Finn, and the baby swomee-swan, Bill.

"Hey!" said the Lorax. "You sell it yet?"

"Yea...no, no," stammered Once-ler. "Not yet. Might need to tweek my sales pitch again."

He sighed, cradling his broken guitar.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Oh some little girl thought it was funny to break my guitar," he said feeling his heart crush.

"Oh. That's too bad," said the Lorax sympathetic. "You gonna fix it?"

He nodded lightly, feeling some tears as his precious guitar that was given to him by his father. The last thing he had to remember him by. He wiped away any evidence of tears before the fuzzy guardian could see.

"I'm thinking about quitting," he said a bit hurt.

"Hey, you can't give up now, kid," said the Lorax. "I heard some of your jingles. They're getting better. The last few were kind of lame, but I'll have to say, getting better." He shrugged. "Say, y'wanna play cards? We'll deal you in."

"Mm no thanks," he said. "I better go fix my guitar. I'm gonna need it for the next routine."

The Lorax shrugged. "Hey, how about we help? C'mon, two heads is better than one."

"Alright," he said with a small smile. "I'd like that."

They went inside his cottage to fix his guitar. The Lorax held the guitar in place while Once-ler used wood glue to bind it back together, then clamped a pair of clamps on the neck to hold it in place. The Lorax got glue on his fuzzy fingers, making the young man chuckle.

"Besides the Thneed, what else have you invented?" asked the Lorax.

"Oh, lots of stuff," he said, lighting up.

He showed the Lorax some blueprints. The Lorax was delighted to see how well of an inventor Beanpole was. Most of it were machines, gears, even cars!

"This is great stuff," he said with a smile.

"Thanks," Once-ler said sheepishly.

"What inspired you to invent this Thneed anyway?" asked the Lorax.

"Oh...well, er...y'see we didn't have a lot of stuff growing up...so I figured people who can't afford it could have something that they can use at an inexpensive price."

"Interesting," said the Lorax.

He looked outside, enjoying the serene scenery of the colorful trees outside his window...then saw Fiora sitting by the lily pond. She was hugging her legs and looking out at the flowers that dotted the glassy surface.

"What's with her?" asked Once-ler to Lorax.

"She's just upset," he said. "Fiora saw a picture in one of your books that bothered her."

"What did she see?"

"A picture of cut down trees. I think you ought to be the one to explain things to her."

"Why can't you do it?"

"You're the human, Beanpole...you should answer her questions about your world."

Sighing, he went towards Fiora, who sitting there in silence. She had purple hair today. All the animals stared at her, filled with worry. Some of the humming-fish tried to give her a water lily in an attempt to cheer her up, only to accept it with low spirits.

Once-ler sat down next to her, staring at the sad sprite.

"Mustache tells me you saw something in my books," he said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"So, is it true?" she asked, looking at him misty-eyed. "When you came here to this forest, were you planning on killing all these trees to make your...invention?"

He sighed. This was not easy. How the hell was he going to explain his world to this girl who was learning about humans only to see terrible things they could do?

"Yes," he admitted. "But I promised I wouldn't. You have nothing to worry about."

"But...why?" she said. "Why would humans brutally murder trees? It's so monstrous."

"Well, yes it is," he said, agreeing reluctantly. "But humans don't cut down trees because we want to...sometimes we have to. There are humans who do that, but not all of them. We clear away trees so we can live on the land. We don't just cut them down and leave them there. Trees are made into things we can use. "

Once-ler showed her pictures of all the things trees were used for: paper, furniture, houses.

"But why?" she frowned. "What have trees done to deserve to die like that?"

"Well, in the human world, it would be very difficult and uncomfortable to live without these things. We usually plant more trees to replace the ones that have been cut down. We need the trees too. And not all trees are cut down. We have trees that are used for other things like food."

He showed her pictures of farms with orchards.

"I suppose that's...true." Then she looked sad. "Still, how can you live without trees?"

"Um...well, I dunno. There's not a lot of trees where I'm from. It seems pretty easy to me. I know that trees produce fresh air. Still, why do we need trees?"

"Don't you know trees bring life, Once-ler?" she said, staring up at the fluffy tufts. "They bring the rain, make clouds...everything. They give food and shelter to the animals, provide shade from the hot sun, and they keep the water from evaporating too much. And they keep the ground stable. Without trees, life can't exist. Besides, if all your orchards were gone, wouldn't you have no food?"

"Hm," he said with a shrug. "Not really, but I see your point."

How she knew all of this was amazing...well, it shouldn't be surprising since she was old as time itself and lived in the forest all her life, spent a lot of time with the trees and its creatures.

"So...what exactly do you do here, Fiora?" he asked.

"I take care of the trees, make sure they are happy and healthy," she said. "I make things grow."

"Grow?"

"Yes."

She held her hand up and a green sphere glowed and she touched the ground...amazingly a flower sprang up!

"Oh! Wow!" he said. "That's amazing! About you reviving me, how were you able to survive?"

"My magic comes from nature. An animal, a plant, or a tree is easy. However it still requires a lot of magic and energy, which is quite exhausting. Truth be told, I've never used my magic on a human."

"I see. So would you have been able to save that tree I cut down?"

She hummed a moment, deep in thought.

"I don't think so. The tree was killed by a force outside of nature. I'm not familiar with this at all."

"So...it was gone."

"Yes. My magic can't stop death. Once a living thing is dead, it is permanent. The cruel side of nature is that it has to take things as well. I do accept that things die."

"That make sense. I guess everything is give and take even in nature."

"Indeed. Is it the same in the human world?"

"Well...yea. In a way," he said with a shrug.

In a way, he felt terrible not telling her that there were humans that were greedy and selfish. Like his family. But why upset her? She already saw a terrible thing about humans today.

The two of them looked out at the lily pond. He looked at Fiora's green hand...wanting to touch it like he did when they first shook hands. He blushed, unsure of how Fiora would react. He didn't want to scare her since she was just getting used to his human customs.

He let it go for now.

*******

By evening, Fiora settled in her home tree. She liked spending time with Once-ler, hearing him tell her about the human world and learning more about it each day. She curled up under the Truffula tufts...and began to dream...

Fiora stood in the forest...it was its usual peaceful atmosphere with Lorax and the animals. Suddenly, the sky turned a blood red color. Then, there was an orange-yellow monster that roared loudly; it had multiple swirling arms that slashed sharp, glinting arcs, chasing Fiora through the woods...Lorax, the animals fleed, terrified as the glinting arcs slashed through the trees.

Soon, she was deep in the woods, feeling safe. While she caught her breath, a green clawed hand slashed at the trees, making them fall over, knocking her over as well. When she lifted her head up, she found herself in a barren land with all the trees gone, nothing more than sharp, splintered stumps. On top of a mountain was a massive metal cave with holes where lights glowed: there were long shiny arms that led up to this dark mountain, twisted snakelike...it had circles with teeth that rotated, humming loudly and hissed. On top of the cave were giant metal mouths that emitted grey clouds towards the sky and more mouths spit a shiny black mud, turning the clean rivers the same color.

Then, a shadow hovered over her. Fiora looked up in the sky and saw a horrible sight: a green monster towering over her with a pair of giant eyes: dark tunnels with shiny blue speckles. It smiled evilly with razor sharp teeth as it looked down at Fiora. The green monster held her, Lorax and all the creatures in the palm of its giant clawed hand...the other hand descended upon them, which she hugged Lorax in terror...

Fiora screamed as she woke up from the dream.

"Fiora?" said Lorax, poking his head in the hollow. "Are you alright?"

She calmed down and told him about the dream, weeping into his fuzzy shoulder, trembling.

"It was just a dream," he assured. "Fiora, I know you and Beanpole are getting close...but, try not to be so trusting of him."

"Why not? He said he would keep his promise."

"Yea. But we don't know for sure. That's why I'm keeping an eye on him."

"Why don't you trust him?"

Sighing, he looked at his student who was very confused. If he knew one thing about humans was they were flawed creatures. Though there were some with good hearts, others were not. And those were the most dangerous.

"Humans are complex and fickle creatures. They may not be who you think they are."

"But didn't you say there are good ones?"

Though Lorax was glad Fiora was making a friend, he was worried. He could see how much she was starting to like the human and he didn't want her to get hurt. He could see the way they looked at each other with...some kind of feeling...but it was a bit awkward between them. He laughed a little as he watched the two of them: sitting in the grass under the trees or by the pond, looking through books or just talking the day away. She seemed happier near Once-ler...and so did he.

"I did, but just remember: there's always a bad fruit among the good ones."

"And isn't Once-ler a good fruit? He's kept his promise so far."

"That may be, but humans can be unpredictable." Seeing her confusion, he said simply. "Just...be careful, OK?"

********

By morning light, Fiora went to bathe in the lily pond. The water was cold, but it didn't bother her. She was used to it. She paused to sniff the water lilies, the humming-fish playfully stuck their heads up from the water, giggling and singing with her, others plaited her hair. She tickled them and stroked their scales lovingly. She dipped her head underwater to wet her hair, swimming through the vast silence and darkness of the water.

Once-ler decided to take a bath. He'd feel a bit refreshed so he could feel confident for his Thneed sale. He worked on another routine and sales pitch last night. Humming and smiling to himself, he dropped his towel on the shore. He dipped his toe in the water, which made him shiver a bit. He waded in the water slowly; goosepimples appeared on his skin. He was just about waist deep when something hit him, knocking him over. He let out an alarmed scream, dropping his soap and sponge in the water.

Fiora's head bobbed up to the surface. She hit something while swimming...only to be met by a spluttering, wet Once-ler. He blinked his eyes and saw Fiora...then immediately threw his arms in front of himself and scrunched his legs together in an effort to hide his...er...shame. His speckled cheeks turned a dark shade of pink.

"Jeez!" he exclaimed startled. "What the...hell are you doing here, Fiora?"

Fiora didn't answer; just stared with wide green eyes. Her hair had turned slightly pink. He shrank like he was trying to hide, but she didn't understand. He was naked...yet seemed uncomfortable. Why was he seem so? She had seen him take off his pajamas a while ago, only to be shooed out by Lorax. Not that she saw very much...a bit of flesh and muscle, some of his features. She was able to get a better look at Once-ler this time. No Lorax shooing her away this time. Oh! How fascinating a human's features were!

Once-ler was very uncomfortable being naked in front of a girl. She certainly made no effort to hide her own nakedness...not that he saw anything since her long hair covered most of her as well as the water. He could see there were more vines and leaves all over: they looked like veins. Some were small and thin and others were thick. There were some on her face, neck and breasts, which were hidden, thank goodness. He swallowed, feeling his cheeks and ears burn and stared up at the sky a bit. While he was a young man who had desires and this would've been a dream come true for any normal man his age, this was too awkward and weird for him.

"Er...you know I'm naked, right?" he began, trying to look in her eyes and not...down.

Fiora didn't say anything. She was staring again. Great! Why was it that every time they met, it had to be an awkward and embarrassing situation? While she was certainly was comfortable in her natural state, she was a bit perplexed.

"Aren't you...embarrassed?" he said.

"Why? Am I supposed to be?" she said confused.

"Well, in my world...it's embarrassing to have two...naked people in the same place at the same time."

"Why?"

Great! He thought. How am I supposed to explain this to a girl who had the understanding of a child?

"Look, I don't want you to see me naked. You remember when I talked about privacy?"

"But we're not in your house. You said privacy is 'get out of my house and leave me alone'."

"Well...it is. Privacy means that someone wants time alone."

"Oh, I guess...I was rude..." she said.

"No, no," he said gently. "You weren't being rude. This was just an accident."

"What's an 'accident'?"

"It means you do something that was not intentional." Another puzzled look from Fiora. "Intentional means that you do something with thought. An accident is done without thought. You understand, right?"

"Oh, I see. So...neither of us...were thinking..."

"Well, yea. Now, would you excuse me for a moment? I'd like to...have some alone time."

"Very well," she said with a nod.

She watched as he looked around for something at his feet.

"Have you lost something?" she asked.

"My soap...it's a white rock. I dropped it..."

"I'll look for it."

"N..." He was about to say...

...only for Fiora's head to disappear completely under the water.

He blushed, praying she didn't see anything. God forbid the Lorax caught them like this! It'd be another endless lecture from him: all about the funny ideas that male humans had. He couldn't deal with that again since he found them in bed together.

Fiora looked on the bottom of the lake, looking for this white rock that Once-ler had dropped, finding it nestled amongst some other rocks. She could see his legs were scrunched together...she just popped up with his rock in her hand. It kept slipping, but she held it pretty tight.

"Is this what you're looking for?" she asked simply.

"Um...yes." He was shaking as he took the soap from her. "You didn't see...anything, did you?"

"No. I only was looking for your slippery rock," she promised. "What does it do?"

"It's called soap. And I use it to clean...myself." He cleared his throat, uncomfortably. "C-could you excuse me please?"

"Certainly. I will give you your alone time."

She swam towards some tall reeds, a few feet away. She was behind them for quite a while...soon she stood up right behind them, with her back turned, still naked.

Now this was even more awkward and embarrassing. He had to look away. After all, she gave him his privacy only to stare at the naked girl. He couldn't resist. He stared at Fiora's features: more vines and leaves embedded in her flesh. The soft line in her back...the hourglass figure of her waist...the roundness of her bottom...he had to stop looking!

He couldn't believe he was staring at the naked girl! He was a young man after all. He had looked at girls at school. He was shy around girls. His hormones were still raging at his age. A beautiful girl who had no self-awareness and comfortable in her natural state.

He prayed she didn't turn around since he didn't think he could handle it. She just squeezed the water out of her hair, shaking her head, then bent over to reach for her dress, which she pulled on...getting a brief glimpse of her breasts...shit! Now he was doing just what he had told her not to do.

He had to calm himself...he felt his cheeks burning...oh! To not be a man right now! He felt like such a pervert! He probably shouldn't mention this to her. What the hell was wrong with him?!