I do not own the ideas or characters of "The Lorax", they all belong to Dr. Suess. This is my first fanfiction ever and I am looking to improve my writing so feel free to send negative reviews if you really believe it is that bad.

Warning! This will be rated M. It will have slash of the male on male variety. You have been warned!

"The day before it happened was just like any other. I awoke, dressed, stomached whatever food I could force myself to, and watched. For countless years, I gazed out across that wasteland towards Thneedsville, but now my obsession with it was faltering and fading once again. I would take breaks to eat, though, I always knew that I would find myself observing the space between the old factory and the town it once supplied with thneeds when I finished.

If I had to guess, it had been nearly ten years since anyone had escaped that metal-clad city. A young boy had come, inquiring about trees, but he never came back to hear the rest of my story. I thought the kid would be different, that he would be the one to break the curse plaguing the countryside. I believed he would break my curse too.

Since he left on his wheeler, I watched the broken up path to the city with a renewed vigor, hoping that he would return if only for the rest of the story and a truffula seed to accompany it. He never did, however. Years have passed with nothing positive to show for it. The smog and decay of the ecosystem have only worsened. I often found myself fantasizing and yearning for the forest creatures' return. They were the only beings to ever accept me for myself and now they were gone because of my own selfishness.

The Lorax was right and I was too blind to see it. I kept taunting him, asking where his vengeance was but it was not something to be seen in a day or a year. I was feeling it now, decades after I cut down that first truffula tree to make a thneed.

That wasteland was only part of the punishment the Lorax left behind. The other part was something only I knew. I only acknowledged this curse twice a day but I know that it was the worst thing the Lorax could have come up with for me to suffer.

The end of the day drew near. I could barely see hints of red or orange through the smog but I could feel the familiar heaviness in my eyes. The kid would not be returning today. I pulled away from the splintering boards across my upstairs window and closed the shutters up for the night. I rubbed my sore eyes, wishing that just rubbing them could erase the memories in my head. I do not know whether I would have rathered unseeing all of the pollution my factory put out and the destruction of the beautiful forest that I caused or the forest itself. Sometimes, I could imagine being happier not knowing how gorgeous this place had been. How welcomed I felt here. How at home I really was.

I trudged down into my kitchen, reminiscing about the thriving thicket that surrounded my house. The kettle was barely warm to the touch so I fired up the stove and added a bit more water. My refrigerator contained half of a sandwich that I could not finish for lunch. Every time I ate, I would think of the barbalutes and their love of marshmallows. I slunk into my old truffula wood chair and unwrapped my dinner. As I ate and drank, I fussed with my grey moustache due to its knack for getting in the way of eating. I know I must have swallowed at least a few coarse hairs but that was not the cause of my loss of appetite. Ever since I broke my promise to the Lorax, I no longer wanted to eat. I would see those betrayed faces all over again and just stop eating.

A sigh passed my lips and I wrapped the rest of the sandwich up to be placed back into the refrigerator. The tea, however, accompanied me down stairs to my living quarters. I passed through hallways of old pictures of my family. They smiled at me, not because they were happy to see me but because I made them rich for a small time. There were faded gaps on the walls showing where I had once displayed old depictions of the forest. Rare photographs I had taken of the animals, the landscape, and the Lorax. After the last tree fell, it did not take me long to put those pictures away.

My bathroom was the same, though, the green striped wall paper was peeling far more than I should have allowed. It was clean and well kept. I began my nightly rituals. My hat was the first off, placed on the black marble countertop. Then I removed my wig, false moustache, and beard, putting them onto the dummy head and topping it all with my hat. I rinsed off my face determined not to look at my reflection as much as possible but once I lowered the green towel from my tired eyes, I could not help but steal a glance.

Those shocking blue eyes stared back at mine from beneath the same black bangs that have graced my face for years. This was the real curse. I did not change inside or out. I would remain the same unless I changed. I took a deep breath and began to strip. The articles of clothing were tossed haphazardly into the dirty clothes hamper. I stepped out of the bathroom, flicking off the lights and feeling my way to the bed. That horrible face was ingrained in my mind. Those wide blue eyes framed by feathery black wisps of hair pierced my conscience.

I would sit here, remembering forever, unless I changed. The Lorax's words lulled me to sleep as they echoed in my mind.

"As we all leave, here you will stay.

Never being forced, you will remember this day.

The swomee swans will fly, the humming fish swim,

The bar-ba-loots will flee until you're fixed by him.

Here we leave you, in this land so dry,

Waiting for your change, unless you change, you never die."

He kept telling me that the land's revenge did not work how I thought it did. He was right. I rolled over, hoping that my arm would catch a small furry animal but there were none to be caught. I never anticipated that the punishment for my actions was for me to live in this desolate wasteland unless I changed it, unless I changed myself. That one word echoed in my mind until I drifted off into sleep.

Unless."