The Valley of Plastic

The Valley of Plastic Part 9

The night was a restless one - not for Max he slept straight through, not moving at all, he must have been exhausted. Andrea and I tried to take turns with the night feeds. Olivia was clearly upset and unsettled she was in a strange place with strange people, who she had literally never clapped eyes on before this morning. I tried to count how many times she woke up, but I soon forgot. It felt like every ten minutes though - Andrea and I looked at each other with painful blood shot, tired eyes as the siren sounded. It was becoming a familiar sound. I stood up straight away and took Olivia over to her car seat, she had not long been changed so there was no need to do it again. I put the car seat in front of Andrea while she lay in bed for an extra few minutes with her hand stretched below the bed, gently rocking the seat. I stood on the first step of the ladders up to the top-bunk and gently woke Max. He was a little groggy and asked for him mam, before the memory of yesterday hit him. He actually apologised to me for thinking I was his mam - honestly I could have broken down there and then. I reassured him that he doesn't have to apologise and I miss my mam and dad too. It sounds awful, but I hadn't thought about them all that much, purely because of the pressure of suddenly having an eight year old and a baby to look after. If nothing else it was a good distraction. 

I got into my suit and shoes, and wriggled uncomfortably. Andrea couldn't help but let out a chuckle, as she sat up and reached into the top drawer next too her. She pulled out three pairs of socks and threw them at me. She reached to the bottom of her bed and pulled the belt off the jeans she had on yesterday and came over too me. She tied the belt around my waist and adjusted the suit so the baggy-ness of it hung over the belt, shortening the trousers enough I might actually be able to walk in them without falling over. 

"Cleaner-chic," I giggled, pointing my arms in the air like I was ending a trip on a cat-walk. Andrea chuckled back and nodded in agreement. There was a knock on the door, I opened it, 

"You, again?" I said, without realising as I opened the door to the familiar soldier.

"Er, yeah, Good Morning, I've brought you breakfast. All of you." He tried to peer over my shoulder to Andrea, but I closed the door enough so he could only see me. The door was ripped out of my hand by Andrea, stood in her baggy black T-shirt, which hung to her knees (it was probably more of a dress really),

"You don't have to bring us breakfast! We are perfectly capable!" She snapped,

"I know, we take breakfast to every house..."

"Oh right, and you just so happen to have to bring ours here?" She chuckled sarcastically, folding her arms in front of her chest,

"Er, yeah, kind-of. We have been assigned districts to care for - one through six is mine." Andreas mouth drops open a little bit, and her face flushes bright pink. A smile dances across the soldiers face, which he quickly coughs away. 

"Thanks, byeeee!" Andrea said, snatching the boxes, closing the door, and leaning her back against the door, with her eyes closed. She opens them to see me and Max staring at her,

"Oh shut up, you two." She said giving us a box each. 

The box held a glass bowl with cereal, and a suction lid to hold it in place, there was a metal small bottle of milk, a spoon and a banana. 

"Oh, er, Andrea," The male voice came through the door, and Andrea darted to open it, waiting to readjust her T-shirt first, she flung the door open, 

"What?" She snapped,

"After you have eaten, put the boxes out here and I will collect them," I could hear the smug smile on his lips from inside, "Oh, and here's a fresh bottle for Olivia," he pulled another fresh bottle out of his pocket, "leave that here as well and I'll get it washed and brought back to you." Andrea stood, not saying a word. I could hear as his heavy boots walked away from the door, 

"You're Welcome!" he shouted. Andrea slammed the door shut, and let out a large sigh. She sat on the bed and we all ate in silence, I finished first, so I fed Olivia, still comfortable in her familiar car seat. 

The siren sounded again, and we quickly got up and walked outside- assuming it was the siren that indicated it was eight o'clock. Andrea took the car seat and Max's hand and wished me luck, I walked in one direction and they walked the other. 

I recognised similar suits stood in a huddle at the top of the row, so I headed there. There was easily three-hundred people stood here, and I couldn't help but notice, they were all very young. The oldest I could see being around eighteen - maximum. The place was abuzz, but I didn't know why. Everyone was talking to each other, but I didn't know anyone there so I just stood there silently and awaited my orders. 

The soldiers came driving up in four-wheel drives, shouting through megaphones for everyone to form five orderly lines. I joined onto a line, looking at my clown-feet in these horrifically large shoes the entire time. Within two minutes the lines were formed, and that is when I seen it. I looked up, and gasped. The beautiful field in the middle of this beautiful forest was gone. Now replaced with mountains of plastic. Plastic bottles, plastic carrier bags, plastic food packaging, plastic toys and plastic containers - and that was only what I could see directly in-front of me. There was hundreds of thousands, if not millions of items piled high, so high I couldn't see the trees on the other side anymore. Everyone looked around in complete and utter shock. 

"Ok so, listen carefully. Your job today is to separate the types of plastic, we have skips that have the names of the desired plastic on the side. It will be separated into carrier bags, plastic bottles, toys and food packaging. Anything else you find is to be left there for now, today the mission is the four categories I've just listed. Does everyone understand?!" No one responded to the mega-phone-man, and just stood simply in disgust at the piles of rubbish plonked in the middle of this forest. "I said do you understand?" scattered yes, mm-hmm, and nods were given. "What're you waiting for then? Get to work!" The voice commands. Everyone shuffles slowly ahead, and into the plastic mountains of hell. 

I stay on the outskirts, using the large material bag provided by a soldier on the way in, to collect plastic of your choice. I've decided to gather the plastic bags -  I am dumbfounded by the plastic bags that look so familiar to me. I grab them and stuff them into the bag, and then when the bag is full I go and empty it into the named skip.

"Hey," I hear a voice behind me, it is familiar but I can't put my finger on it, I turn around and welcome the familiar face. 

"Oh my god, hi!" I fling my arms around him without thinking, just happy to see someone I recognise. My embrace is met by his open arms. We both let out sighs of relief. 

"Where's Helena?" I asked Alex, Helena's younger brother - he's fourteen- and looks very similar to Helena, tall, dark hair, dark eyes, and almost perfect symmetrical facial features.

"She, er," He scratches his head, "She was made to stay with my parents, she's going to the other place," my heart drops, and I can feel a lump form in my throat, "She's got a whole in her heart, doesn't she? So they wouldn't let her come here. They said she wasn't fit for work." His eyes fill with tears that he quickly wipes away and clears his throat. I'm not sure what to say, I don't know if he knows what this means. I fling my arms around him, and hug him tightly again, trying to fight back the tears. 

"You two, get back to work!" Mega-phone-man shouts, being chauffeured around stood on the back of the four-wheel drive. We release each other, and get back to separating the plastic, in silence.