Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1), Eliza Taye [great novels .TXT] 📗

Plan by Submission Day at their city hall. Employees of the city hall will ensure that the Life Plan is sent directly to The Council for approval by Declaration Day. If you so choose, you may send your Life Plan for pre-approval. Pre-approval does not guarantee acceptance of the Plan you submit on Submission Day if it has been altered after the pre-approval process. Pre-approvals are checked by one member of The Council alone and they have the right to deem whether the Life Plan is likely to be approved. During the time the council member is checking the Life Plan for pre-approval, they are linked to that City Hall directly and are thus occupied. Pre-approvals are only accepted once they have been deemed by City Hall personnel to be legit and not a prank…’

City Hall? A council member was linked to city hall while the process of pre-approval was ongoing?

The corner of Garrett’s mouth began to rise. He knew what he needed to do.

Chapter 10

 

Back at home, Garrett began to devise his plan. There was exactly one week until Declaration Day and only five days until Submission Day. He had to enact his plan before then. All the while, his parents, teachers, and Opal would be breathing down his neck for him to get his Life Plan written. Somehow, he had to find a way to convince them all that he was working on his Life Plan, when in reality, he was plotting to expose The Council to the city. Or at least, uncover whatever it was they were hiding. But to do that he needed one thing—to get into the Special Collections Room. And the only way he could gain access to it would be through City Hall. Surely, there was some kind of key or something hidden inside City Hall that he could use to gain entry to the secret room.

There was only one problem. He’d be breaking several laws to do so. However, Garrett hoped that with Declaration Day fast approaching, he’d be able to escape any kind of punishment. But, he’d have to be caught for there to be a punishment and he had no intention of getting caught.

Laying the loose white sheets of paper across his desk, he began to write everything he knew so far about The Council, City Hall, and Anaxia Library. It wouldn’t be easy to sneak into both the City Hall and the main library, but he’d have to find a way somehow.

Glancing at his list on City Hall, he remembered that he’d been able to tour it years ago and for a souvenir, he’d gotten a blueprint of it. It was a childish rendition with crazy drawings and symbols for what each room inside the building was used for, but it was all he had. Hoping he hadn’t thrown it away years ago, he began to tear up his room looking for it.

Amidst the commotion, he heard a knock at his door. “Garrett, sweetie, your father and I are going to bed.”

Mrs. Gibbons gawked at her son. “What happened to your room?”

Caught unawares, Garrett sputtered. “A few years ago, our teachers had us write a mock Life Plan with the things we wanted to get out of life, the kinds of occupations we were interested in, and so on. I was searching for it to give me some inspiration so I could start working on my Life Plan some more.”

Tears began to pool at the rims of Mrs. Gibbons’ eyes as she hurried over to where her son crouched at the pile of papers on the floor and embraced him in a suffocating hug. “I just knew you’d finally come around if I pushed you hard enough. I’m so glad you finally understand how important your Life Plan is.”

“Okay…okay…I understand now, Mom,” sputtered Garrett with the last few breaths of air in his constricted lungs.

“Oh, sorry, son. Well, you go on and make as much noise as you need. We’ll be fine,” Mrs. Gibbons nodded twice and left the room.

Shocked his lousy excuse had worked on his usually astute mother, Garrett stared silently at the door for a few moments before resuming his search. His mother would kill him if she knew what he was really up to. He decided to hastily write a fake Life Plan, just in case his mother, teachers, or Opal asked to see his progress. If his mother asked again, at least he could feign that he’d been working.

Deep down, Garrett knew they pushed him because they cared about him, but he’d just never been that interested in writing a Life Plan. Now, this conspiracy had absorbed his every thought. He had to figure out how The Council worked and why everyone else but himself seemed to be so complacent about them deciding who got to live the lives they chose.

Tugging another box from the back of his closet, he sighed in relief when he saw sitting at the top exactly what he’d been searching for. He picked it up and walked over to his desk, plopping down in his chair without looking. The chair slid backward, and he nearly fell onto his butt, catching himself on the edge of the desk. Frowning in annoyance, he made a face at the chair as if it were its fault he almost fell and then returned to the map in his hands. The outer walls of the building were traced in blue like a regular blueprint, but the inside ones were all different colors to denote the different rooms. Their city hall was technically four levels, with the bottommost level being the basement. The top level—the third floor—was only half taken up on the foremost part of the building with the roof being the rest. Large windows rested just above the ground floor and he was certain he’d be able to enter through one of them.

A pencil lay