Visions of Greed

Chapter 17: A Shadow of Himself

Notes:

Possible trigger warning TW: There is some mental anguish in this chapter, along a brief scene of dissociation.

Recommended Songs: Control- Halsey, Had Enough- Breaking Benjamin, Calm Down (A Little Bit Calmer Now)- All Time Low, Breath- Breaking Benjamin

The remaining days leading up to the party went smoothly for the most part. As soon as the plans were approved, a filter was installed in the manufacturing area of the factory. With the installation of the filter, the building already smelled cleaner. As a result, the employees that worked in the manufacturing area no longer complained about the smell nor of any hallucinations. They were also relieved to no longer have to wear respirators.

Plans to add additional filters, upgrade all the manufacturing equipment, and also upgrade the electrical panel after the factory expanded were finalized as well. Meanwhile, the construction company worked quickly to renovate Once-ler's penthouse, while Isabella took charge of planning the party. This left Once-ler to focus on his regular office work and on building the super axe hacker prototype.

During this time, the Lorax had not made an appearance. Once-ler wondered if perhaps the forest guardian had finally given up, and Once-ler was relieved to be able to work without being interrupted by his lectures. Once-ler also had no more direct encounters with Greed-ler, neither during the night nor during the day. However, Once-ler was still not entirely free of the latter. Occasionally, Greed-ler's reflection instead of his own would appear in the mirror, and he would also sometimes see Greed-ler's green gloves on his own hands while he worked.

These illusions would fade away quickly, and they were no longer accompanied by the smell of smogulous smoke, but these brief images still left Once-ler feeling uneasy. Once-ler did not want to admit it, but he knew deep down that unlike his employees, his own hallucinations of Greed-ler would not go away along with the smogulous smoke. There was something about the green-clad man that simply felt much too real. As the days went by, Once-ler continued to fearfully anticipate when Greed-ler would reappear and come after him again.

Once-ler tried to push all of these thoughts aside as he spent the majority of his time leading up to the party building the super axe hacker prototype. Finally, the night before the event, he had finally completed it. "Look at this. It's amazing. I am so proud of me," Once-ler remarked to himself as he looked over the invention that was parked behind his newly renovated penthouse.

Although Once-ler still had some mixed feelings about making and eventually using the super axe hacker, he could not help but feel proud that he had designed and created another (hopefully) successful invention. After Once-ler finished inspecting his new creation, he pulled out a rag and started to polish the machine.

Nearby, Once-ler's brothers leaned against the factory building The twins had been helping Once-ler and monitoring him for the past several days while he built the super axe hacker and they were tired and bored after another long workday.

With a yawn, Brett looked down at his watch, then turned to Once-ler. "Hey Once, the factory closed twenty minutes ago. Do you think you'll be alright if we headed home?"

"Oh sure, go on ahead." Once-ler replied with a wave, "Thanks for all your help. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, Brett and Chet both left while Once-ler continued to polish the super axe hacker. Just as he finished shining one of the axes, Once-ler yelped and dropped his rag in shock when he suddenly saw Greed-ler's reflection appear against the surface of the axe blade.

At that moment, the Lorax floated down from a nearby truffula tree he had been hiding in. His fur bristled as he angrily marched over to Once-ler. The forest guardian had far from given up on him. On the contrary, the Lorax had continued to watch over Once-ler for the past several days as he built the super axe hacker, growing more and more angry as time went by. The forest guardian had simply been biding his time, impatiently waiting for just the right moment to speak with Once-ler alone, without the risk of being tossed back into the forest by one of his relatives.