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

Opal couldn’t believe she was getting conned out of her money by a little kid. But looking down at his scruffy face, hand outstretched for payment, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Ten trecins would far from break her. She’d saved up hundreds of trecins over the years and had been frugal about how she spent them.

“Fine, I’ll give you five trecins now and the other five when you show me where my friend is, deal?”

Alvin’s smirk disappeared, but then after a few moments, it spread into a wide grin. “I can see you’re a smart woman. I can respect that. Fine, five now and five when we reach your destination.”

Opal plucked a five trecin coin out of her pocket and placed it into the boy’s small hand.

“All right, here we go then.”

Alvin took Opal through several winding streets, passing all sorts of sketchy neighborhoods until finally, he stopped in front of a building so dilapidated, Opal wondered how it still stood.

“What is this place?” she asked.

“We call it Carvington Mansion, but it’s mainly a joke. I don’t know what the official name of the place is.”

“Carvington Mansion?” Opal wondered, taking out another five trecin coin. With horror, she asked, “Why is it called that?”

The little boy opened his palm to receive the coin, “Oh, that’s because there was a rumor some guy was murdered there. Carved up into a million little pieces and buried all over the backyard. I think the mansion part of the name comes from the size of it, but I’m not sure.”

Opal swallowed hard. She had a difficult time imagining Garrett living in such a place. Compared to the dormitory she’d just moved into, this place was an abomination. Whereas her place was beautiful, immaculate, and clean, this place was hideous, decrepit, and filthy.

“Well, see ya.” Alvin started trudging off, hands in his pockets.

“Wait,” called Opal.

“Aww, what now?” complained Alvin. “If you want anything else, it’s gonna cost you an additional charge.”

“How do I know this is where my friend lives? This place is big. I’m sure it has many units. Which unit does he live in?”

Alvin threw up his hands. “How should I know? Look, you wanted to know where your friend lives, and I showed you. You didn’t ask for his exact unit number.”

“If I had, you still would have said you knew and brought me here just to get my money.”

Alvin started smirking, kicking at a stone at his feet. “Aww, you know me pretty well already.”

“Alvin, seriously, I need to know where to find him.”

“And seriously I don’t know which unit it is.” Alvin began to walk away, then spun on his heels and returned to Opal. “Look, most people around here return from work anywhere between 7pm and 9pm. You can wait outside for your friend there. If he doesn’t show up by then, you can start asking people inside if they know which unit he’s in. Otherwise…” Alvin shrugged and walked away.

Opal sighed in frustration. Even though she’d visited the Undecided sector for years, she’d never ventured this far into the sector before. She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious about waiting alone outside the apartment complex for Garrett to arrive.

“Garrett,” April shook him gently on the shoulder. “It’s time to wake up.”

Garrett stirred but didn’t open his eyes. “Can you give me just a few more minutes, Mom?”

April chuckled at him calling her mom and shook him a little harder. “Sorry, Garrett, but you have to get up now. If you don’t, the stores will be closed before we get there.”

Groggy and still half asleep, Garrett opened his eyes to see April smiling softly at him. With a start, he awoke and with embarrassment realized he’d just called April mom. “Oh, April, I’m sorry.”

April laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Garrett. I can say it’s the first time anyone has ever called me mom before, but it’s okay.”

Feeling mortified, Garrett tried in vain to shake off the humiliation before asking, “So how far is the grocery store from here?”

“Fortunately, not too far. They close at 9pm, so we’d better hurry.”

“Hurry? I thought you were closing the library at 6pm.” Garrett sat up and rubbed his eyes then rose to his feet and stretched.

“I had planned to, but you were sleeping so well that I didn’t want to wake you. Based on how much you were snoring, I knew you needed your rest.”

Garrett froze. He’d been snoring? In front of April! Just when he thought he couldn’t get any more mortified.

April watched his expression and then burst into a fit of laughter. “I’m just kidding, Garrett. Although, you did have that heavy breathing of deep sleep.”

Garrett grabbed his chest. “Ah, April! Don’t scare me like that.”

“It was worth it to see the look on your face.” April began closing everything up as she spoke, leading Garrett outside the building. “It was too priceless and I couldn’t resist.”

While April locked the outer door of the library, Garrett countered, “Well, it may have been funny to you, but to me it was horrifying.”

“Ha, ha…okay, I’m sorry.” April still couldn’t contain her smile.

Garrett watched her mirthful face and couldn’t help chuckling a bit himself as they began walking down the pathway. The more time he spent with April, the more he liked her. She wasn’t like any girl he’d ever known. She had a difficult life, but she didn’t let that tear her down. She insisted on being a shining light in the darkness for others and went out of her way to help someone she barely knew. He wondered if she was starting to feel the same way about him. Why else would she bring him supplies yesterday and attend