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

what else to do, Opal stood and decided to go home. The transporters would start reducing their lines soon and she didn’t want to have to walk all the way back. Thinking of Alvin, she wondered if she truly had been conned by him.

Brushing off her bottom from where she’d been sitting on the ground, Opal raised her head to start walking back. She began mentally mapping her way back through the winding pathways Alvin had shown her when she saw the outlines of two people approaching in the distance.

Deciding she’d wait for them to approach, she stood there patiently, her hands clasped in front of her. As they grew nearer, she recognized Garrett’s outline and the girl who’d approached him right after the Declaration Day Ceremony. They were walking and laughing together. Opal waited, resuming her nervous tap of her finger.

“Opal?” Garrett’s eyes grew wide as he saw her.

At first, Opal didn’t know what to say, but before she could say anything, Garrett gave his grocery bag to the girl and threw himself at Opal, wrapping her in a huge bear hug.

“Opal, I can’t believe you found me.” Garrett released her and then winced slightly. “I wasn’t even sure you wanted to see me after what I did yesterday.”

“Of course I wanted to see you, Garrett! We never got to finish our conversation and I’ve been worried about you ever since.”

“You were?” Garrett stared at her with wide eyes.

“Yes,” replied Opal emphatically. Turning to the girl holding Garrett’s groceries, she said, “I’m Opal. We didn’t get to officially meet yesterday.”

“No, we didn’t. I’m sorry. That was rude of me when I intervened like that,” April winced in apology before adding, “I’m April.”

“Nice to meet you, April.” Opal smiled toward her and then refocused on Garrett. “Can we finish what we started yesterday?”

April returned Garrett’s groceries to him. “I should be heading back home. It’s getting late. I’ll see you around, Garrett. You’re always welcome to drop by the library whenever you’re done with work.”

“Um, okay, thanks, April,” replied Garrett, confused.

“It was nice meeting you, Opal.” April nodded with a smile at Opal and then turned to leave.

“Garrett, can we go inside? I’ve been waiting out here to talk to you for some time.”

Garrett gulped at the thought of Opal seeing where he lived. He had a feeling she might just burst into tears at the sight of it, but what else could he do? “Sure, let me…um…. can you hold this?” Garrett plopped his groceries into her arms and then fought with the front door to get it open.

Opal watched as he struggled with the door before it finally opened and then led her up the two flights of stairs to his unit. Once again, he had to fight with a door to gain entry, and then he flipped on the light in the apartment, placing the bag of groceries on the table.

Opal scanned the apartment, taking in the narrow bed, dresser, tiny bathroom, small kitchenette, and a table with a single chair. The entire place was a dump and obviously, Garrett hadn’t had a chance to do anything with the place since he’d moved in yesterday. Opal inhaled a breath that was hitched with a hiccup. Based on the dilapidated exterior of the building, she shouldn’t have expected the interior to be much better, but to see the confirmation of her assumption was upsetting.

Garrett lowered his face, closing the door behind him. “Say something, Opal, I know you want to.”

Opal remained quiet, not sure what she wanted to say. A million negative thoughts flew through her mind, none of which felt appropriate to say aloud.

“Opal,” repeated Garrett, “please…your silence is worse than anything.”

“How can they make you live like this? I mean anyone in the Undecided sector. This is hardly better than squalor. I mean, look…the ceiling looks like it’s ready to fall down.”

Garrett glanced upward. He hadn’t examined the ceiling before, but he noticed she was right. With all the hard walking and noise his upstairs neighbors made, they were sure to fall through the floor someday. He’d have to be careful and sleep with one eye open to escape the debris and a falling person.

Noticing the chair in the corner, Opal walked over and sat down. “Garrett, please tell me what you were thinking when you decided to become one of the Undecided.”

For a few moments, Garrett just hung his head until he sank onto the edge of his bed. “I tried, Opal. I really tried to write my Life Plan the day before Submission Day. I even worked for hours with April coming up with ideas for my Life Plan. At first, I thought maybe I could do it…maybe I could finally write my Life Plan. But then…but then when I sat down to write, I realized whatever I wrote would be a lie. I wouldn’t desire to live the life I designed. So I felt that no matter what I did, I’d either be miserable or placed into the Undecided regardless.”

“So, you purposely chose it?” wondered Opal in astonishment.

Garrett nodded, not wanting to openly admit it. “I wrote it into my Plan. It was only one line: I wish to become one of the Undecided.”

Opal slowly shook her head. “That can’t be right, Garrett. If you only wrote one line to your Life Plan, then it should have been rejected not approved.”

“I agree with you. I thought the same thing myself when I heard the words ‘approved.’”

Opal shook her head again, more forceful this time as if she could shake away all the problems. “Wait, wait…why were you feeling so confident yesterday? You knew you’d become one of the Undecided and you were fine with it?”

Garrett grimaced and started tracing the lines on the wood at the foot of his bed. “Not fine with