A trip down memory lane
Raven slept restlessly against a pile of chopped down Truffula trees. Eleanor sat on the top of the pile keeping constant watch of her master. He tossed back and forth fitfully as his features twisted in a look of pain from his dreams.
~In his dreams~
Raven stood tall on the balcony of his office overlooking his business empire. He had come to this one horse town with nothing but a covered wagon containing his only possessions and a dream. A dream of making a product that everyone would need. A dream where people would come from all over the world to see him. A dream that he would never have to worry about going hungry ever again. And he had done it! His thneeds were loved by everyone. They sold out before they had even reached the shelves. So what if the forest was looking a little thinner than it once was? His team of lawyers helped on quieting the more vocal environmentalists.
… Except for one. He sighed as he saw the pesky Lorax came storming up to him. “Listen here you annoying green bean!” He shouted waving a finger in the air. “This is your last chance to stop what you’re doing and leave this forest!”
Raven huffed in annoyance. This had to have been the hundredth time they’d had this conversation. “And why would I want to do that? I OWN this forest now. I am making progress and progress requires sacrifice.”
The Lorax scowled at him. “Take a look out there, you dunderhead! This forest is almost dead and what ever is still left is burning!” He growled angrily at him.
"You’re being over dramatic!" Raven shouted back at him. "We’re not burning trees to the ground! We are simply utilizing every part of the tree to maximize efficiency. It just so happens the sap of truffula trees makes a great oil for my factories. You should be proud we’re not being wasteful about things!"
The Lorax looked at him with a mix of disgust and pity. “You really have deluded yourself into thinking you are doing a good thing, haven’t you bean pole.” He said shaking his head morosely. “And now you are forcing my hand here. There is still time to reverse this. But even these old eyes can see you aren’t going to stop until there are no more trees left… You’ve let me no further choice.” And with that the Lorax started chanting in an ancient dialect long forgotten through the ages. His eyes glowed white as Raven stepped back in slight fear. The chanting grew louder and louder as the winds began to pick up around them.
"You think your little light show will-" Raven started but was cutoff mid sentence as a ball of light shot from the Lorax’s fingers and hit him square in the chest causing him to fall to the ground panting heavily. "What…. What did you do to me?!" He yelled at him in a mixture of pain, fear, and anger.
"I made it so you will feel exactly what you have done to this forest." The Lorax said solemnly. "If I were you, I’d start making some big changes in how you run this company of yours." After that was said, the Lorax jumped off the balcony and disappeared into the smog filled forest.
Raven grips the railing of the balcony tightly and stands on shaky legs. He felt an unnatural warmth flow through him and looked down at his hands to see his hands burning bright with flames. He yelped and scrambled to put out the flames quickly. He could see now what the Lorax meant. He glared out into the foggy distance trying to find where the guardian had disappeared to but couldn’t. “Lorax!! Get back here and fix this!!”
He turned around when the doors leading out to the balcony opened and a woman came running to his side. She wore a simple yet elegant purple dress. Her dark curls were covering her face as she panted slightly from her run. “Are you alright Oncie, sweetheart? I saw a terrible storm outside just a moment ago and heard you screaming so I came as soon as I could.” She was looking at him with worried brown eyes hidden behind large red frames.
She reached out to touch him but he took a step back instantly worried the flames would come pushing back through his skin an harm her. “I’m fine Norma, darling.” He said trying to ignore the hurt look Norma gave him at moving from her touch like she carried some fowl disease. “That retched Lorax came by and we got into our usual spat. Nothing to concern yourself with.” He said giving her a smile to dissuade her worry.
Norma sighed sadly and pushed away her hurt to smile back at him. “If you say so sweetie. Come back inside. It’s getting late and you need to rest. It looks like you’ve had a stressful day.” She said and kissed him on the cheek before going back inside.
He nodded and silently followed her back into the house and back to their bed. The days after went by in a blur. Raven slowly tried to gain control of this newfound power the Lorax had given him to little success. He began to distance himself from his family and wife in an attempt to keep them from finding out his secret. He knew his distance was hurting Norma especially hard but he couldn’t risk hurting her.
That was until the accident. He was alone in his office trying to call out his fire then snuff it out on command wit little success. He had ordered that no one was to disturb him unless the world was about to end. It had gotten some odd looks but everyone had shrugged it off as one of is eccentricities and left him be. And up until this point he had been left in solitude trying to gain control of his curse. His meals were left outside the door where he would quickly grab what he wanted and left the rest for the help to clean up. But even after almost two weeks of practice he was no closer to mastering his curse than before. He growled angrily as he once again had to dowse his hand in water to stop the flames from spreading. “It’s just no use.” He said slamming his head to the desk in frustration.
This one act done in frustration would be his down fall. Because of his weary emotions he was unable to keep a tab on the flow of fire allowing it to flow freely. The papers on his desk soon turned the desk into a raging inferno. Raven jumped back in shock as his desk burst into flames. He tried to control the burn but it only resulted in the flames growing greater and greater until the entire room was on fire. Moments later the fire alarm sounded throughout the building making Raven curse.
The doors to his office burst open as Norma barged through covering her mouth with her arm to shield herself from the smoke. “Oncie!!” She yelled trying to get to him through the fire.
"Stay back!" Raven yelled backing away from her in fear that he would hurt her. "It’s too dangerous. Just get out of here!!"
"Are you nuts?!" She yelled as she ventured onwards towards him not caring about the edges of her dress starting to burn in the flames. "I’m not leaving you here!"
She had almost reached him when Raven threw his arms out in defense as he back himself against his desk. “I said stay back!” He yelled as flames shot from his hands to the ceiling above them.
Norma stared at him in shock and fear. “Oncie… what-” Before she could say another word a smouldering section of the ceiling came crashing down.
"NORMA!!" Raven shouted and ran towards her and desperately tried to lift the beam from her. "Hang in there Norma!" He shouted to her straining to lift the rubble off her. "I’m gonna get you out of here!"
Norma coughed and looked up at Raven with silent resignation. “O-Oncie…” She said softly to get his attention.
Raven looked down at her with tears streaming down his face. “You shouldn’t speak. You need your strength.” He said and went back to trying to clear away the rubble enough to pull her out.
"I-It’s too late for me Oncie…." She coughed out as she reached a shaky hand on his leg. "Y-you need to get out of here… before this place colla—" She was cut off mid sentence by a coughing fit from the smoke.
"No… No!! He shouted as he knelt down to clasp her hand tightly. "I’m not gonna leave you here!… God this is all my fault! I should have done better to protect you!" He choked back tears as he looked at her weary face.
"Shhhh Oncie…. It was an accident…." She said softly, cupping his cheek to wipe away his tears. "You couldn’t have known this would happen…" She looked at him with pain filled eyes. "Please… my darling… Leave me.. I… I couldn’t stand it if you d-died here with me…
"No! You’re not gonna die here! I’m going to get you out of here and we’ll leave together!" He shouted with tears falling down his cheeks openly now.
"We both know you can’t lift the rubble off me Oncie…" She said looking up at him with resignation and tears. "Even if you did… My legs and spine are crushed… I can feel it now… I don’t have much time left.. so please… please Oncie, my darling.. Leave me here…. You have to live for the both of us." She said her voice getting weaker and weaker with each breath. "Remember…. I will always love you…" Her eyes slipped closed of their own accord and she went still.
"Norma." Raven called out cupping her cheek with his hand. "No… Nononononononono!" He sobbed, clutching her body close. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry." Darkness began to cloud his vision and soon he drifted into oblivion.
He awoke hours later in the rubble of his home and factory. All that was left was a smouldering husk of a building as fire fighters fought to snuff out the remains of the fire. Raven stood up on shaky legs and stumbled from the wreckage of his life’s work. Only one thought stood in his mind. He would make the Lorax pay for what he had done to him. He slipped through the shadows past the authorities and ran deep into the forest leaving a trail of fire in his wake.
"Lorax!!!" He roared when he spotted him by a sludge filled river. "You and your stupid curse have destroyed my life!!"
The Lorax stared at him impassively. “I warned you bean pole. I told you that the curse would cause you to feel the same pain the forest does.”
"My wife is dead because of you!!" He yelled grabbing the Lorax up by his pelt and slamming him against a nearby tree. "And that’s all you have to say about it!! I’ll kill you!!!" He roared as he called his flames forth to his hands and hurtled a fireball at the Lorax.
However much to his shock, the fireball dissipated inches away from the Lorax. “You can’t kill me here bean pole.” The Lorax laughed haughtily. “This is my forest. And as long as I’m still in it, you can’t touch me!”
Raven glared at him in fury and helpless despair until a thought occurred to him. He broke out into a sadistic grin as he moved away from the Lorax. “Then I guess I’ll have to make sure there’s no forest for you to be in!” He shouted and through his arms out as he summoned his flames. He began hurling fireballs left and right at the trees. Soon enough the forest was ablaze with his fire. “Let’s see how you like to see your life’s work burning to the ground!” He laughed manically.
The Lorax looked at Raven with righteous anger as he stormed up to him. “HAve you gone mad!!!” He shouted at him pulling Raven’s gaze from the inferno he created. “You don’t realize what you’ve done!! You’ve not only destroyed the forest, but you’ve signed your own death certificate! If this forest dies, you’ll die with it!!”
"Good!" Raven shouted back and looked at the Lorax in anger and deep depression. "I can be with Norma again.." He said and smiled a bittersweet smile. He felt a searing pain course through his heart and gasp and collapse to his knees. He looked down at his hands and saw flames licking up his arms. However unlike the times before he could feel them searing away at his flesh. The flames spread quickly until they completely engulfed him. In his last moments of consciousness he let out a happy sigh of content as if the flames weren’t there at all. "I’m coming home Norma." He muttered to himself and surrendered himself to the sweet bliss of death.
Raven sat up with a gasp as he awoke from his nightmare. He looked around frantically unsure of where he was until he saw Eleanor peering down at him with curious red eyes. “Good morning, my sweet.” He said stroking her feathers. “No need to worry over me. It was nothing but a bad dream.” He said unsure if he was saying so to comfort his feathered companion or himself. He stood up on shaky legs and grabbed his ax from the side of the wood pile Eleanor was perched on. “Come on Eleanor.” He called to the raven as he walked into the forest. “We have a lot of work to do today!” The raven cawed and flew after her master deep into the forest. Moments later you could hear the thump of an ax and the thundering crash of a tree resounding through the quiet of the forest