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

my grandparents died and she was beautiful. Now, a piece of her beauty wastes away day by day. How could you doom yourself to such a fate?”

“I don’t know, April. I thought I knew, but I don’t.” Garrett hung his head again.

“It’s not going to be easy for you, you know. A lot of people around here are going to hate you for choosing to be here. They’ll look at you in spite for what you’ve done to yourself.”

“Yeah, I’ve already seen that on the ride here.”

April considered admonishing him some more, but she realized he’d had enough. What he needed right now was a friend, not someone telling him he needed to fix something in the past that could never be rewritten. “I’m sorry, Garrett, but you do have one friend over here. You have me.”

Glancing up without raising his head, Garrett saw April’s determined face staring at him in earnest. “It won’t be easy, but it’ll help to have a friend here.”

Still too ashamed to raise his head, Garrett muttered, “Thank you, April.”

“Have you received your work assignment yet?”

Garrett shook his head. “No, how am I supposed to know?”

“You’ll receive it on your interwave. Details of where you need to be, when, and what the hourly wage is will be sent to your interwave.”

“Are there any choices amongst the jobs sent?”

April shook her head. “No, Garrett. There are no choices during your first year as a Declarer. After your Declarer year is over, you might get lucky like I did and take an open position in our sector, but most people work daily assigned jobs. You’ll be sent one job and you’ll have to take it if you want to eat. Nothing is given away for free to us. We have to earn every moment of our lives. If we don’t work, we don’t eat. If we don’t work, we lose our homes. Some Decideds venture to our neck of the woods to help those who are less fortunate, but those individuals are few and far in-between. Mostly, we help each other with what little we have.”

“But I doubt anyone besides you will help me.”

April grimaced, but she knew Garrett’s words were true. The people of the Undecided sector would not be quick to help a Decided, let alone a Decided who threw it all away to become one of them. “It doesn’t matter, Garrett. I will be there to help you whenever I can. Besides, once people get to know you, they’ll begin to help you too.”

“You really think so?” Garrett finally lifted his head.

“Yes,” April nodded. “People around here don’t hold grudges for too long. It’s too much wasted energy.”

“I guess so,” Garrett agreed. Trying to pipe up, he added, “I’d offer you something to drink, but I don’t have anything inside my fridge.”

April chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. Drop by the library tomorrow after work and I’ll show you where to buy groceries. The one nice thing about living over here is that we get paid daily for our work, so you’ll have trecins tomorrow to buy food.”

Garrett’s grumbling stomach flipped happily at that, making a loud rumbling sound. April’s gaze flicked to his stomach and Garrett realized she must have heard it growling. “Sorry, I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“I’m sorry, Garrett. I wish I could have brought you food too, but I didn’t think of it and I don’t have any more trecins to spend today.”

“That’s all right, April. The sheets you brought me will allow me to sleep tonight and the towels will help me be clean for tomorrow.”

April nodded, wincing slightly. “You’re welcome, but might I suggest you wait to take a shower until after work. There’s a high chance you’ll be assigned a dirty job and you’ll want to clean up after that.”

Garrett replied with a grateful nod. “Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

Missing the energetic and hopeful guy who had come into her library only days ago, April encouraged, “Cheer up, Garrett. Things may seem bleak right now, but you never know how things will turn out. Eventually, you’ll find your way to survive here.”

“Thanks, April.” Standing, Garrett walked her the few feet to the door.

“You’re welcome.” Pointing to his interwave, she asked, “May I?”

Garrett handed her his interwave and watched as she input her interwave number.

“Now you have the interwave number of your one friend here.” April considered patting him on the shoulder in reassurance, but then considered it’d be too weird. “Bye, Garrett.”

“Bye, April.” He closed the door behind her and was once again left alone in his tiny apartment. But at least, unlike before, he’d have something other than a mattress to sleep on and the ability to clean his face after he woke up in the morning.

Chapter 22

 

Garrett awoke with a jolt as loud creaking sounds emanated from above him. Glaring at the ceiling he scowled as this was the fourth time that night his upstairs neighbors had awoken him. Bleary, red-rimmed eyes stared back at him as he checked the time on his interwave; it was 3:07 am.

Grumbling, Garrett rolled over nearly falling off the narrow bed. Swinging his arms to right himself, he threw his arm over his exposed ear, hoping it’d drown out the noise, but the noise only seemed to intensify. It sounded like an old ship being tossed around in a terrible thunderstorm. The floors must have been made from the worst wood to begin with and over time deteriorated further.

Then a thud sounded from the apartment next door to him. He couldn’t tell what the person beside him was doing, but it sounded as if they were throwing a ball against the wall over and over. Fury at his lack of sleep, Garrett threw off the sheet and stomped over to the wall, banging against it with his fist.