Chapter 1
The floorboards creaked as a figure moved through the old house, avoiding the squeaky floorboards one at a time. A dark green, reptilian creature standing on two legs stopped in front of a mirror by the front door. He reached for a hat, which then found its place on his smooth, scaly head. With a swing of the door and one last inspection of the gray t-shirt and cargo shorts he was wearing, the creature found himself outside. He carefully closed the door to avoid jamming his tail, and walked down the driveway. He turned in the direction of the tall skyscrapers that signaled downtown, and walked down the street past houses that looked not much newer than his own and just as tired. The creature was passing a house that looked like it hadn't received a coat of paint in decades, when he heard a shout.
"Hey Nolafus!" A lighter green creature that looked quite a bit younger came out of the door right beside Nolafus.
"Hey Kolski, anything exciting happen this morning?" Nolafus asked continuing his pace down the dusty road.
Kolski rolled his eyes. "I slept through my alarm again. I even have that thing close to full blast."
"You better not sleep in, you might get fired." Nolafus said shaking his head.
"Well that's why you're here, to wake me up when that does happen." Kolski said and they both laughed as they continued to walk. "So anything new with you?"
"I'm not sure if I told you or not, but I'm not going to be showing up to work on Friday." Nolafus responded gazing into the distance.
"It's the fifth year anniversary isn't it?" Kolski said quickly dropping the humorous tone in his voice.
Nolafus sighed and said, "I miss her sometimes and it's been hard for the kids, but we're doing alright now. I know my kids aren't the only kids to lose one of their parents and I'm not the only husband to lose his wife, but sometimes I look back and wonder how we made it this far without her."
Nolafus and Kolski reached the end of the street and the bus stop located on the corner. The two of them stood in silence as the bus came screeching to a halt, and they boarded.
"Hey, check it out." Kolski nudged Nolafus and pointed to a couple empty seats, "We can sit down."
Nolafus responded pointing to a sign at the front of the bus. "We can't, remember?"
"I hate that ru-" Kolski started to say, but was interrupted by a shove from a middle aged human.
"Move" She blurted out as she made her way to one of the empty seats, followed closely by a middle aged man who took the other seat.
"That was awfully rude of her." Kolski whispered to Nolafus. "Maybe I should talk to her about the meaning of manners."
"Don't start," Nolafus said putting a hand on Kolski’s shoulder, "You know the humans don't treat us the same. It's something we just have to live with."
Kolski sighed and nodded his head. Thirty minutes passed until their stop came. Nolafus and Kolski stepped off the bus and into downtown surrounded by skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. The fire station was just a block down the road and they soon stepped inside.
"Hey Nolafus and Kolski!" A human shouted from across the room, waving with a smile, "You took long enough to get here, bus running late this morning?"
"Yeah Joe, it was." Nolafus said with a nervous sigh.
Nolafus and Kolski made their way past Joe and into the chief's office.
"You're late, again!" The fire chief exclaimed his muscular face growing red, "Explain!"
"The bus was running late this morning sir." Nolafus explained trying to defuse the situation.
