Fiction: Group 4
What I am Then and Now
Island School, Sloane, Rachel - 14, Fiction: Group 4
feel dead. Though, I’m not, I still feel like it. Nothing lives here anymore. It’s all black or brown.
Forgotten memories swirl through my waters like everything else bad. Lost lives, plastic bags and dead
bodies of what was the remaining life in me float aimlessly down. I have been abused. I felt it even
before it started.
Life. I was full of life. The rainbow-coloured fish swam in my waters, ever so happy. My waters were
teeming with corals of every colour and all kinds of water plants. The water lilies and the lotus flowers were
my favorite flowers, and they still are. The people who had based their livelihoods by my waters lived in
peace. I felt so loved. Everyone lived in harmony by my waters. Life was plentiful and blooming. The trees,
oh the trees, were just beautiful and full of fruit and flowers. The leaves were sparkling on the sunlight.
Beautiful.
The people did do some fishing but there were never too many people. Over fishing was never a problem. I
was the most important water source in all of Southern China, I was so proud. I felt so happy and in
harmony with the people and the rest of nature. The people loved me and their lives had always revolved
around me, the crashing waves during storms to the calm gentle lapping of cool water during the summer’s
heat. This peace seemed to live on forever as the years, decades, passed. That is all I hoped for. It would not
last. I knew it couldn’t when the grey smoke appeared more and more in the sky above me. Starting.
At first it was harmless because there was only one chimney. But then the pollution came from the never-
ending growth of the factories. The factories started to bleed sewage into me. It was horrifying. More and
more of them started to build and take up residence near me. I got so scared. Horrified, even. Fearful.
Factories are horrid things! It got worse. So much worse. The early settlers left first. The air was getting very
bad for them because of the smoke that was being created directly opposite from where they lived. If the air
was bad, the noise was dreadful. The low rumbling, groaning and moaning of the strained machines were
constantly assaulting ears of innocent humans. Every now and then there would be a high-pitched scream
of the worn metal. Stop!
Featureless is the best word to describe the factories. They are made from brick and concrete. The concrete
goes unpainted, so it leaves the building looking like a big block of greyness. The grime, dust and dirt cling
onto the walls of these factories. The big, black cloud of smog that bursts out of the chimneys goes up into
the air and slowly makes its way down and back onto the factory that created it before infecting the
surrounding areas, as it would creep slowly around pushed by the wind. Gone.
The surrounding nature! It was once my beautiful paradise, it’s no longer. The once gorgeous tress with
shining leaves, are now dead and plastered with grey. Even the embankment is grey and dying. No flowers
bloomed now. The sky is a deep grey, and it is set to remain that way forever. A constant reminder of what
should have, never have been allowed to happen. Forgotten.
The boats are driving me mad! They are constantly going up and down, up and down to get to container
ports. These big boats loaded with shipping cargo go around to different ports and it is extremely
maddening! Alone.
The fish, oh how I miss the fish! There are none left here. No reminder of how much I had, only of what
little I have left. No fish not even dead ones are still lurking in the shadows in my currents. The once ever-
so colourful corals are no-where to be seen. My water looks appalling! It mainly depends on what section
you are in defines the colour you’ll see. At one point, the water was blue. No, not the clean blue or the
deep-sea blue, but a very dirty polluted blue. Another part has the water looking like a charcoal milkshake
I
