A Second Life: Chapter 10

Two hours.

Everyone had been searching for Pipsqueak for two hours now.

Once-ler, the Lorax and some of the animals, including Sun-Ray, were looking on the west side of the valley near the mountains.

They had been calling and shouting for Pipsqueak till their voices were nearly hoarse.

"I hope everyone else is having better luck than we are," Lorax said, looking in every little hiding spot the little Barbaloot could be.

Once-ler just nodded as he too looked around hoping to find Pipsqueak before the storm came in.

                                                                                                                                         


Gran was beginning to get worried that they couldn't find Pipsqueak. She and some of the animals had walked up and down the road looking for him, but all she saw was an RV that had parked and set up about a mile from their driveways, heading in the direction of her old house.

She was curious about it, but never questioned it. Gran had more important things to do. Like finding their little Barbaloot.

                                                                                                                                         


"Pip!" Melody shouted, following the river down stream. "Pipsqueak, where are you?"

The rest of the animals had followed Melody and were squawking and calling for Pipsqueak.

"Come on buddy!" Melody shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "It's fixing to storm! And you don't like storms! We have to get back home so you can be with Once-ler and Ais! Remember? They keep you safe from the storms!"

Melody had hoped that mentioning the storm and Once-ler and Aislinn's name, that maybe the little ball of fur would come scampering back.

When she saw nor heard anything, Melody's heart sank.

                                                                                                                                         


"When I get my hands on him . . . I'm going to yell at him . . . then probably break down and cry and freaking hug him to death!"

Aislinn had went by herself, having sent the other animals in different directions to hopefully cover more ground, toward the east side of the valley, where the forest was boarding the valley.

She had cried, screamed, cursed, and pleaded some while she was yelling for Pipsqueak.

Aislinn had come to see the little Barbaloot like her own child, and having him just go missing was out of character for him.

Aislinn was nearing the part where the fence wasn't complete yet. She had prayed that Pipsqueak didn't get too curious and decide that he would go explore the forest.

As Aislinn got closer to fence, she noticed a black car sitting at the fence. She had never seen the vehicle before and she knew it wasn't one of the fence builders' cars.

Aislinn also knew that the worker's had left when the storm started getting closer. So no one was supposed to be out here. She began to creep up toward the vehicle when she started hearing voices.

Voices that she knew all too well.

"Ma? Why did you want me to kidnap this little Barbaloot?"

"Yea Ma. He's really nice. He wasn't hurting nobody."

"Shut up! You just do what I tell you and don't question it!"

Aislinn managed to sneak up and hide behind the back of the black car.

Isabella had her back toward Aislinn and Bret and Chet was standing in front of their mother. Aislinn saw that Bret was gently holding Pipsqueak, and the little Barbaloot looked perfectly content being in Bret's arms.

Aislinn stood up from the behind the car and silently walked up behind Isabella.

"I would like to have Pipsqueak back please," she said, coldly.

Isabella jumped slightly and whirled around and glared at Aislinn. Bret and Chet looked surprised and Pipsqueak squeaked at Aislinn and raised his little arms up toward her, as if he was saying for her to come pick him up.

Isabella smirked.

"Alright," she said. "Bret, give her back her little Barbaloot."

Pipsqueak started to squirm a little in Bret's arms trying to get to Aislinn. Bret walked over to Aislinn and gently handed her the squirming ball of fur.

"He's really sweet," Bret said, as Pipsqueak cuddled up against Aislinn, while she held him in her arms.

Aislinn smiled sweetly at Bret.

"He's really sweet," she answered. "But he can get a little too curious sometimes, and it gets him into trouble."

Chet had meekly made his way beside his brother and was looking and smiling over Bret's shoulder.

"That's sweet," Isabella said. "Boys get back over here."

Bret and Chet looked at their mother then back at Aislinn sadly.

"We'll see you, Aislinn," Bret said, walking away.

"Yea," Chet said, following his brother. "See you Aislinn."

It broke Aislinn's heart to see the twin's look so sad. She remembered them from when she worked at the Thneed Factory and they were always sweet and nice to her. They did anything she asked of them and never asked for anything from her. Aislinn felt bad now. She couldn't believe she had forgotten how kind they were. She had let her anger toward Isabella cloud her knowledge of how the twins really were.

When the twins had reached their mother, she had a small smirk on her face.

"Get in the car," Isabella snapped at them.

The twins hesitated.

"I said get in the car!" their mother shouted.

The boys flinched and got into the back seat of the car.

Aislinn frowned.

"You need to leave Isabella," she said, getting angry. "You are trespassing and your little plan to kidnap Pipsqueak failed. I caught you."

Isabella calmly walked over to a rope that was loosely tied off to a Truffula tree. The rope was tight and looked to be supporting something. Aislinn raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh kidnapping that little thing wasn't the main part of the plan," Isabella said, placing her hand gently around the rope. "The plan was to use him to split all of you apart. Then I could take care of the witch that has corrupted my son."

Aislinn watched as Isabella's hand tightened around the rope and jerked it.

Aislinn gripped Pipsqueak tightly and closed her eyes; waiting for something to immediately happen. When nothing happened right away she opened her eyes and looked at Isabella and smiled a little. Isabella's smirk got wider.

Aislinn then heard a crack.

Aislinn turned to look behind her and her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in a silent scream.

The rope had been holding four Truffula trees together. They had all been cut and made to lean in a way, that when the rope was loosened, they would all fall.

And Aislinn and Pipsqueak were right in the path.

All Aislinn could think of doing in that split second was throw Pipsqueak out of the way. When she felt her arms push out and the sensation of fur gone from her hands, she was a little relieved. Then Aislinn glanced back up at the trees that where inches from falling on her.

She simply closed her eyes and braced herself. And the last thought that went through Aislinn's head before she felt the pain and the rock hard ground was of a raven haired, pale blue eyed man.

Once!

*CRASH*

                                                                                                                                         


Once-ler froze.

Something wasn't right.

He looked toward the east side of the valley where Aislinn had went.

"Kid what's wrong?" the Lorax asked, noticing Once-ler had stopped.

Once-ler shook his head.

"Something's wrong," he mumbled.

Lorax looked in the direction that Once-ler was staring at. He didn't see anything, but from the look on Once-ler's face he could tell that he felt like something was off.

Suddenly Sun-Ray perked her head up and looked in the direction that Once-ler was looking. She then took off flying.

Once-ler glanced down at the Lorax and they both nodded to each other and they quickly followed Sun-Ray.

Not long after they started following Sun-Ray, the skies opened up and started pouring rain.

"Kid!" the Lorax said, trying to keep up with Once-ler's longer legs. "It could take hours to get to where they are! We should wait for them at the houses since it's raining to bad!"

Once-ler ignored him. His heart was hurting and his stomach was twisting into knots. It was like his gut was saying something was really wrong.

"Something doesn't feel right," Once-ler said, still following Sun-Ray. "I'm going to where they are. You can stay at the house if you want too."

The Lorax frowned to himself. He wasn't going to let Once-ler go out in this storm by himself. The two of them had been through a lot. Good, bad and ugly. He wasn't going to leave him now.

"No thanks," Lorax said, following Once-ler close. "I'll stay with you."

Once-ler looked down at the Lorax and smiled his thanks. Water that had built up on his fedora rim spilled over the edge and fell on the already drenched orange creature. The Lorax jumped and glared up at Once-ler, who held his hands up in innocence. The Lorax just grumbled to himself and they both continued on.

It took them two hours to reach where Sun-Ray had finally stopped and had started circling frantically.

Once-ler recognized the place immediately. It was where the fence was nearly complete.

Once-ler and the Lorax started slowly walking in the cold rain to where Sun-Ray was still frantically circling. They were nearly over the hill, when Once-ler noticed some Truffula trees were down. He assumed that the storm had blown them down. When they had reached the top of the hill, Once-ler started looking around for Aislinn and Pipsqueak. Then he heard a gasp from the Lorax.

"Oh God," the Lorax barely whispered. "Kid look!"

Once-ler followed the Lorax's gaze and he saw a scared, whimpering and drenched Pipsqueak sitting next to something buried under the fallen Truffula trees.

Pipsqueak was pushing and shaking something that was covered in mud, from the ground, and soaking wet, from the rain.

Once-ler cautiously walked forward to see if he could tell what Pipsqueak was shaking.

The wet, muddied, and clumped up dark blonde hair sprawled on the wet ground, made Once-ler's heart stop.

It was Aislinn under the fallen trees.

There were four trees pinning Aislinn to the ground. One tree was laying on her shoulder blades, almost on her neck, another was on her lower back. The other two were laying half on her legs and half on the two trees that were on her back and shoulders. She was lying on her stomach with her right arm stretched out in front of her and her left arm pinned next to her. Her hair was all sprawled out around her head. Aislinn's left cheek was laying on the ground and her gold eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly open.

Aislinn and the ground she was laying on was soaking wet from the heavy rain that had been falling. Once-ler's face turned white at the growing puddle of blood around Aislinn, and the fact that she wasn't moving at all, despite Pipsqueak's pushing and shaking.

"Oh God please no," Once-ler whispered.