Aleks

                                                                                I 

 "Aleks! Aleks Garrison get down here right now!" Aleks mother bellowed from the downstairs of his apartment.

As Aleks woke up with a startle he fell out of bed and headed downstairs.

"Yes mother?" said Aleks groggily rubbing the shoulder he fell onto. 

"Did you forget something young man?"

Aleks scanned the room of his apartment looking for something that was missing or out of place.

"Did I miss something? Because you've got me stumped."Aleks said with a shrug and a puzzled look.

"You're missing your pants" she said with a smirk.

"Yeah Aleks If I were you I wouldn't go to school like that." said Violet, Aleks's twin sister.

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Be careful what you wish for." They bickered back and forth quickly being interrupted by their mother.

"both of you need to go to school soon so, you Aleks get up there and put on some pants and Violet get ready for school, after you put on all that makeup you still are only half ready."

"Fine." Said Aleks as he went up the stairs and grabbed a random pair of pants from the floor, smelled them, and agreed that they were good enough. He looked out his window to see the bleak city of Chicago; he could almost feel the smog filling his lungs as he opened the window. Still he breathed deeply so that he could go outside and not suffocate from lack of oxygen. He went into the bathroom took a shower and went downstairs.

"Now how do I look?" said Aleks in a tone one can only explain as annoyed.

"Fine, now what I called you down here for is that you have got mail, from court, something about an unpaid parking ticket?"

Aleks's eyes darted around the room like he was searching for a hand to grab that would save him from this situation.

"I...I.I you see I." said Aleks realizing that the hand was not there.

"Aleks I told you that if you're going to start driving you have to pay attention. Now this is your first and final warning."

"Yes mother I'll try harder not to mess up again."

"Yes you will, now both of you go to school; I don't want either of you to be late this time."She said calming down some.

"Okay mom" said Aleks.

Both Aleks and violet left the warmth of their apartment, and stepped out into the cold hallway of the Building.

"God... five years and still the heat doesn't work in this place." Said violet rubbing her arms to emphasize the effect of the cold.

"You can say that again, about time they fix it before the owner finds out. If you think about it it's probably better this way, we would never get any sleep if they did fix it." Said Alex looking down the dimly lit hallway."

"No time to sit and belittle our wonderful place, we have to go." said Aleks sarcastically

"yeah, let's go." Backing up and locking the door Aleks and his sister put the large orange radiation coats on and fitted their filters to the black gas masks and heading out the door.

                                                                                    II