<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Brightly Knox</span></span><br/>The day had started out normally. I swear it was just as smoggy and filled with soot as it had been yesterday.<br/><br/>My sister’s blaring alarm going off in the other room is what jostled me out of my dreams. I groaned deeply with my pillow covering my face before pounding a few times on the wall my sister and I shared. I wasn’t a morning person, but I definitely was more of one than Kamille. My sister could have that alarm going off for half an hour but still be sound asleep. Instead she decided to wake up the entire neighborhood.<br/><br/>Accepting defeat, I rolled out of bed and swiftly made my way to my sister’s room with my pillow in hand. I stifle the alarm by slapping the snooze button. Not even a twitch from my sister. Reasoning that she had asked for it, I slam my pillow into her face. She had to get to work and I wasn’t going to let her be late again. She was destined to be a building designer from the start, and her boss has given her way too many final warnings about showing up late. I leave the room before Kamille can destroy me for interrupting her beauty sleep. I image her giving me some pleasant silent gestures behind my back.<br/><br/>My father greets me with a smile and slides a small plate of breakfast in front of me. I quickly sign 'thank you' and smile back. Our pantry must almost be out again. Between us hardly making enough money to get by and food supply being low, our meal options were steadily running out. I take a piece of toast and head to my room to get dressed. I worked with as an intern at a blacksmith since no one else would hire me. I only get paid if my boss is in a good mood.<br/><br/>I open our squeaky front door and pull my small cloth face mask over my mouth and nose. The area we lived in was incredibly dust and smog filled. Breathing the air here  is like inhaling sand.<br/><br/>A ravine stretches out before me. It goes down deep into the mines, but I wasn’t going there. I hurry across a precarious bridge that spanned the ravine. Oil lanterns hung from bent and broken metal poles illuminating the ground just enough so you won’t trip and fall. Once I cross the bridge I take a right and walk down the middle of some rail cart tracks. A train whistle tells me to step out of the way so I quickly press myself to the stone wall to my left. Two carts of coal speed down the tracks past me while nearly pushing me off balance.<br/><br/>I make it to work before another cart comes. I don’t even have enough time to get my safety goggles before a loud screech echoes throughout the whole town. It takes me a moment to realize it’s the old and rusted intercoms that are spread throughout. Usually they’re used to report emergencies like explosions or some poor guy falling off a bridge. This time was different.<br/><br/>A man spoke for a long time about the food shortages. He spoke about how humanity needed brave people to go. He said that they needed the lowest of the low. The people that didn’t fit in. They finally had a place where we could fit. I heard adventure and money and I was already hooked.