Gender: Why female, of course!
Age: Sewn on the 24th July, 1980
Hometown: Pripyat, Ukraine
Favorite Possession: Hessian's favorite possession is her little pink bow. It's all she has left from her life before.
Story: Hessian loves her bow because her mama gave it to her when she was first stitched. Hessian belonged to a little girl in Pripyat. She was a birthday present, sewn from some spare sacking. That's why she's called Hessian. When Hessian was made, her sack ripped all down the back, and there was no more to fill up the hole. So the little girl ripped off some of her dress and gave it to Grandma, and Grandma patched up Hessian. And afterward, Grandma collected all the little snippets from making her, and found some of the little girls dress. So she tied it in a bow on Hessian's head.
And Hessian and the little girl because the best of friends. Wherever the girl went, Hessian would be dragged along too. She soon got all scuffed up, but every time Grandma sewed her back together.
Until the disaster happened. Because Pripyat, if you didn't know, is very near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and, at 01:23 on the 26th April, the Chernobyl Disaster occurred. People didn't notice, at first, and why should they? None had been told. None had been warned.
But Grandma sensed something was wrong. People were complaining of a metallic taste in their mouths. They coughed, uncontrollably.
On the 27th April, the following was announced:
Evacuation announcement in Pripyat, 27 April 1986 (14:00) wrote:For the attention of the residents of Pripyat! The City Council informs you that due to the accident at Chernobyl Power Station in the city of Pripyat the radioactive conditions in the vicinity are deteriorating. The Communist Party, its officials and the armed forces are taking necessary steps to combat this. Nevertheless, with the view to keep people as safe and healthy as possible, the children being top priority, we need to temporarily evacuate the citizens in the nearest towns of Kiev Oblast. For these reasons, starting from April 27, 1986 2 pm each apartment block will be able to have a bus at its disposal, supervised by the police and the city officials. It is highly advisable to take your documents, some vital personal belongings and a certain amount of food, just in case, with you. The senior executives of public and industrial facilities of the city has decided on the list of employees needed to stay in Pripyat to maintain these facilities in a good working order. All the houses will be guarded by the police during the evacuation period. Comrades, leaving your residences temporarily please make sure you have turned off the lights, electrical equipment and water and shut the windows. Please keep calm and orderly in the process of this short-term evacuation.
And so the people got ready to leave. They were told to bring only a few documents, only essential items, because they would be able to go back in a matter of days. And Hessian was torn from the little girls hand.
The first thing Hessian heard after was silence. She listened closely, then realized that her family was gone. She stood in the dust, looking at the footprints. Then she turned her head, and saw her stitches were split. But that was OK, wasn't it? Grandma could fix those right up. And what had the little girl said? "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'll find you, I'll come back, I promise." I promise. That's what people said when they really meant something, wasn't it? So they were coming back. They WOULD.
So, Hessian lay on the ground and waited. And after a very long time: Hours? Or days? Hessian decided she would have to make her way back. So, she got to her feet. Her shoulder jarred, and she looked down carefully. Her seam had split, that was all. But it never HURT before?
Hessian dismissed the thought. She needed to move out of the dust, before the wind blew it through her sacking. So she got to her feet. She was a little unsteady. Why could that be? She wasn't unsteady before, when the little girl held her. She didn't even move at all then. Didn't? Or couldn't?
But this was no time for thinking. So Hessian kept moving, walking though the dust. She fell at times, but always got back on her feet. She had to move. Because what if the little girl came back, and couldn't find her in the dust and dropped things? So, she had to go home.
Picking her way through the streets, Hessian soon arrived at their house. Or was it? She couldn't be sure. Still, any shelter was better than none, and someone would find her and then they could take her back to the little girl, couldn't they.
So Hessian waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited.
Because Hessian didn't know that they evacuated forever, and that nobody could come back. And the little girl? Nobody knows what happened to her. But they got all living things out. Or did they?
And all the while, Hessian sat. Sometimes she would wander through the empty rooms, wondering why she couldn't call her little girl. Because she couldn't open her mouth. And her throat was full of stuffing, so the sound wouldn't come out. And so all she could do...
...was wait.
