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The poster she grabbed two days ago has been bothering her. There was a sense of unnerving deja vu. The man in the poster, felt like she had seen him before. She could've asked someone his name, but she has little critters to take care of. The only time she could truly work was at night when most were asleep. The people here seem shortsighted. Everyone doesn't seem to care about the state of their city, isn't that absurd? People are just ignorant, ignorant, Ignorant. She sighed, this train of hate wasn't worth it. She did let this slip up too. She wasn't even helping with the environmental crisis around her.
But maybe...
Just maybe, she should stop running from her responsibilities. Maybe she could be that respected journalist again. She could help for a good cause. If she could just know who this man is.
She heard a creak. She looked behind her. "Lorax, why are you awake at this hour?" "I was about to ask the same thing about you. " The Lorax raised an eyebrow. "I have been thinking a lot, especially after that day." She continued talking, but the Lorax's attention was all on the poster. "Why do you have that poster?" He pointed at the man on the poster. "I found it in an alleyway. He just looks oddly familiar." She looks at the pumpkin, "Do you know him?"
"He was an old acquaintance of mine" The Lorax stopped for dramatic effect. The little moustache jumped on my desk. Then he looked at me sternly. "His name was the Once-Ler. I met him when he was a young fellow." "Wait." She looked at him with dread in her eyes. "Could you say his name again?" She said nervously "Once-Ler? What about his name?"
"C..."
˚┊❛ Flashback❜┊˚
It was middle school. Kristel was walking around the school hallway. She was chewing bubblegum while spinning her ID around her finger. She was humming a little tune until she heard a conversation on the other side. Her ID hit her in the nose accidentally. "Ow..." She rubbed her nose. She could still hear the loud conversation. She tilted her head at the edge of the hallway.
There was a boy with black hair in the middle, ganged up by the middle school students. "What's wrong?" The child said mischievously, "Need your mama to save ya?" The group of students laughed. "This isn't funny!" The boy shouted. He was scared and uncomfortable.
"Hey." She said sternly and loudly. All the schoolmates looked at her. "Well, well, if it isn't Krissy" Her classmate chuckled, "Won't cha be a dear and leave? Go on, Imp." He looked at the poor boy, "Or maybe, be a Pocket Knife and join us" The poor boy whimpered.
She sighed and walked towards her classmate. Her classmate offers a handshake. She looked at his hand with disgust. She gives him a handshake. But then unexpectedly, she squeezed his hand and brought it back, making him trip. She then punched his chest. "Ack!" Everyone was shocked. "Get out of here before I punch your nuts off." She looked at them with anger. The group nodded and ran away. One of them tripped on his pants. It made the boy, sitting on the ground, laugh.
"Hey, are you ok?" He flinched. She chuckled at his nervousness. "Oh, I'm sorry for my odd introduction" She looked at her classmate, he was groaning in pain. "N-no, It's fine" The boy laughed awkwardly. "Oh ok, good. I'm sorry thought I-" Her classmate began to choke her. They both gasped. "You think I'll leave that astray?!" He shouted. He was laughing while the two were in panic. They both didn't know what to do until...
"Author!" A teacher shouted sternly. He instantly stopped choking her. She felt dizzy, so the boy went to grab her to stop her from falling. The teacher pinched the child's ear. The teacher looked at both of them. "And you two, go to the clinic. You both look like a mess." The teacher said sternly.
They started to walk to the clinic. "Oww..." She was off balance. The boy was guiding her. "Thank you..." He said quietly. "No problem-" She fell to the floor. "Okay... now that broke my nose" She rubbed her nose as she got back up. Her nose started bleeding. "Yep." He panicked and grabbed a handkerchief in his pocket.
They reached the clinic, then sat on the bench outside the door. "We haven't said our names yet, haven't we?" She chuckled. She offers him a handshake. "Kristel Alexander H. Smith, Kris for short." He made a shy smile and gave her a handshake. "Once-Ler" She chuckled. "Once-Ler? That's an odd name." He made a slight frown, but she didn't notice. "I like it! It's pretty unique!" He instantly smiled.
She noticed everything getting blurry. She looked around and...
˚┊❛ End of Flashback❜┊˚
The Lorax was snapping his fingers at her. "Hey, were you even listening?" The pumpkin looked annoyed. "Yeah.. honestly, no. Sorry, I feel tired right now" The Lorax nodded once. "I mean it's 1: 35, we do need to" "You were talking for that long!?" She looked at the clock. She looked back at the poster. "Can we... talk about the Once-Ler tomorrow? I need as much information as possible" She sounded serious, which surprised the Lorax. "Yes, of course."
She stood up from her chair and stretched her back. "Well, we better go to sleep" She chuckled tiredly. "Good night, Kris-berry." The Lorax jumped out of her desk and went inside her fridge. "Yeah... goodnight." She stumbled while she went to bed. Multiple Barbaloots were lying on her bed. She sighed tiredly and lay down.
She looked back at the poster for the last time. She looked back disappointed. Pipsqueak hugged her arm, she sighed and made a tired smile. She rubs the bear's head and falls asleep.
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