Liana Low
The beating and hammering of the sea against my boat increased my uncontrollable gagging. As always, it was the opposite of smooth sailing, but I needed to turn our ocean back to its original state. I could hear the crunching and squashing of plastic bottles and cans and I knew I was in for a rough day of cleaning our Earth’s rubbish infested waters.
As I journeyed closer to the main point of destruction, I strapped the protection mask over my face, and heaved on my body suit. Into the water I dove, to remove the garbage that the human race carelessly left behind. Shock and confusion took over my body as I swam through an ocean that was clear. There were no single-use plastics, including cans, bottles and no fatal plastic straws. Extremely out of the ordinary. I hadn’t seen an ocean like this for 30 years.
I floated there bewildered, with thoughts and questions crossing my mind. How could all of this trash suddenly disappear? After searching my mind for answers, I suddenly felt an abnormal sensation and strong discomfort. I fearfully turned around to see a being like none before. It had bottle caps for eyes and layers of bottles for legs. Its abdomen comprised of hundreds of containers stacked on top of one another, and its face constructed out of plastic bags. I could not believe my eyes.
This creature was not just peculiar, it was furious. I could see deep in its bottle cap eyes that it was here to teach humans a lesson we would never forget. I dashed frantically back to my boat and started the engine. With the throttle at maximum speed, I could sense a presence not too far behind me. Once again, the rough ride began as I felt like I was motoring over mountains with rock hard spikes at the top of each. However, this time was different. This time I knew the trash I was riding over was something else. It was this uncharacteristic being, nothing like anyone had witnessed before, and it was under my boat.
I had arrived on land, to my home and my first instinct was of course to warn the community. Without thinking, I anxiously screamed out to inform everyone on what monstrosity was about to reach our town, but all I got in return was children taunting me while parents shook their heads in doubt. That was until I saw the face of a middle aged man turn as white as snow as he let out an ear piercing shriek. This began to occur more frequently, until every person was screaming and running in an unorderly fashion. I, of course, knew the being was back and it was ready for destruction. It rose out of the water and started stomping over houses and crushing those who moved in its path. Car alarms sounded as it punched through vehicles, until there was little left now that it could destroy.
People anxiously began to gather into a group and were nodding their heads in agreement. I was intrigued, wondering what they were plotting. I realised they were finally starting to take action, throwing the haphazard rubbish away. Things felt as though they were going back to how they were before, before humans ruined the ocean in the first place. Everyone followed, starting to put recycling bins out that somehow managed to stay whole, in fear that the creature would do even more damage. It let out an almighty screech as each body part was sucked into the bins bit by bit, until nothing remained. We had finally rid of the creature we created.
