The Valley of Plastic

Beyond The End.

"You can't stop me seeing him!" I screamed directly into the face of the commander. He stood unflickered by my emotional outburst. "He didn't do anything wrong! You did!"

The commander wandered around his table, and started sifting through the piles of papers. I stand glaring at him, waiting for him to respond.

"I think you need to read this." He slammed a piece of paper onto the desk and grinned at my worried look.

I read the paper.

"Bullshit! He didn't sign that! You're lying!" I ran. I ran home, tears spilling with every footstep. I burst through the door and found Matthew and Andrea sitting there, silently. Waiting.

"The Commander is saying he signed something," I struggle to get the words out between breaths, "signed a form that says he understands any classified information shared by the person," more pants, "will be paid for with their lives."

I try to get my lungs to inhale as much air as possible, while waiting for Andrea and Matthew to join in my panic and rage.

"Amia, sit down." Matthew said, far too calm for my liking. I looked at them both confused, but do as I'm told and sit on my bed. "Amia, every soldier is forced to sign it when there selected. He did sign it."

"You're lying!" I scream, my face red with rage. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't not tell me about something like that. I shake my head, and bounce my leg in furious disbelief.

"He asked me to give you this," Matty held out a folded sheet of paper, "he gave me it, the morning he started the spread. He asked me to wait to give it too you. Calm down and go to your spot and read it. That's his instructions, not mine." Matty puts a comforting hand on my shoulder and sits with Andrea. Her eyes are bloodshot and red, with tears darting down her face. She opens her mouth to speak, but stops herself. She shrugs. She knows no words will be enough.

Without a word, I leave.

I look out on the overcast sky, dark clouds filling the horizon. I take the letter out of my pocket, unfold it trying to flatten out the creases and start to read.

Amia,
I know you're pissed. I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice, I had to do something. I hope one day you'll understand my decision. I am sorry it means I have to leave you. I will never forget the moment I saw you, storming to what was your spot on my first day here. You looked so miserable, yet so beautiful. Your awkwardness when playing football, and wishing me a happy birthday because I complimented you. You made my time here unbelievable. That is why I have to do this, you shouldn't be forced to live in a world where you are punished for everyone's mistakes. That is pointless. I know you don't agree, and I know your angry, but this is for the best. I've fractured the system, you need to bring it down. Get the clean up done, and literally save the world.

I will be in every sunset you see until your dying day. I will love you, beyond the end.

Niall

I can't stop the tears, a few drip onto the page, blurring the blue handwriting. Beyond the end, I whisper to myself. I sit for a moment, letting the tears fall as my heart shatters.

I neatley refold the letter and place it in the pocket of my plastic picker suit. I wipe my eyes and stand up. I walk, no march back down the hill.

The crowd sparks my interest as I see them gathered outside of the mess hall. They're loud, but they're voices are muffled. My march turns to a run, as I race toward them.

"There he is." I hear them say. I use my elbows and force my way through the crowd. Naill was being dragged out, his hands tied behind his back, his face bloody and bruised, by two soldiers. I scream his name. He looks directly at me immediately even through two swollen blackened eye sockets,

"AMIA I LOVE YOU!"

"I LOVE YOU!" I am stopped by a line of soldiers as I try to run to him, and two of them whisper, I'm sorry, as they hold me back. I fight. I kick. I scream. I can't get through.

"The soldiers are very aware of the policy," the booming voice of the commander drowns out the crowd to a silence, "any lies spread from their mouths, will be treated with the severest punishment," he points an aggressive arm at Niall, "this man spewed the vilest of lies to you people. Causing an unsettled community. This man is toxic, poisoning your minds against the government who is trying to save you! And for that, I sentence this man to die!" The crowd gasps and I scream. I catch a glimpse of Andrea, sobbing giving Olivia to Max and looking like she's sending them home. Matty has an arm around her, with tears streaming down his face. I carry on screaming.

"But he didn't! You did!" I scream at the commander, causing Niall to lift his head and the crowd to silence. "You told them! You told them everything! You caused it, not him!!" The soldiers let go of me, and I readjust my clothes whilst regaining my balance.

"He may have caused you to say it, but you said it! Not him! You spoke against the government that loves us, not him!" The crowd breaks out in claps and cheers. I feel that sense of unity again.

"AMIA LAURENCE BE QUIET OR YOU CAN JOIN HIM! NOTHING BUT A JUMPED UP CHILD!" He bellowed marching towards me with a finger pointed, in the fashion of a strict school teacher.

"You, sir, should be up there not him!" I spit in his face.

He pulls out a handkerchief and wipes it away.

"AMIA DONT IT'S OK!" Nialls voice breaks the cheers and applause. "BEYOND THE END!"

I look at him, his bruised beaten face, sad yet emitting the warmest of energy.

"SQUAD!" The commander shouted. A group of six soldiers emerge from the mess Hall, carrying the rifles they had had swinging around their backs for the past two and a half years. The two soldiers stood Niall in an open space and the commander approached him,
"Do you have any last words?"

Niall straightened his stance and coughed, "Amia I will never stop loving you. You all can be the change you need to see, don't stop the clean, the world deserves it, it is not pointless. But don't let yourselves be the only ones responsible for it. It's a world wide issue that needs every pair of hands in the world. Never stop fighting for it to be that way!" The commander swipes the back of Naills head with a stern fist, forcing him to stop.

The commander walks away from Niall, leaving him on his knees, hands still bound. Andrea and Matthew appeared beside me holding my hands and my eyes burn with tears of sadness and pure hatrid,

"READY!" The commander yelled, the soldiers raised and cocked their guns.

I stare at Niall, willing this not to happen.

"FIRE!"

The sound of bullets shattered my ear drums and my entire body gave way. The crowd screamed and cried, I fell to the floor clutching Andrea sobbing. I could feel her tears splashing the back of my neck. The bullets rang loud for around thirty seconds and my sobs couldn't drown out the sound.

After registering the end of the bullets, I forced myself to my feet and ran over the ground to him.

He lay face down, riddled with bullet wounds, bleeding. I cuddled him, hysterical, begging him to get up, to come back.

He was gone.