Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1) by Eliza Taye (mini ebook reader TXT) 📕

He prolonged his packing, part of him hoping his parents would arrive and plead with Dave to let him have the rest of the day with them. With a pang, he realized how much he would miss his parents and just how much they’d miss him. What had he been thinking when he wrote his Life Plan as such? Clearly not of his mom and dad. The guilt he felt at the pain he’d made them feel crept up inside him, threatening to overwhelm him.

“Garrett, are you done yet? I’m going to inspect your suitcase before you leave, so don’t think about hiding anything. I will find it.”

At Dave’s words, Garrett thought to get the last remaining trecins he owned and stuffed them into his sock. He considered swallowing them but realized they’d hurt too much going through his gut and out the other end. Reasoning that Dave wouldn’t make him remove his socks, he felt it was the safest bet.

Opening the door to his room, Garrett stepped outside, closing the door for the last time, and showed Dave his suitcase.

After several minutes of close inspection, Dave deemed it acceptable and beckoned Garrett to follow him out of the house.

At the door to the personal transporter, Garrett turned and looked at this house one last time. He may not have known a lot about being an Undecided, but he knew the only times he would be allowed into the Decided sector from here on out would be for work purposes only. No visitations to friends or family were allowed from those in the Undecided sector.

Sighing heavily, he got into the personal transporter and Dave drove off.

Garrett watched the familiar places of home flash by him as they drove. He tried to remind himself that these places were no longer his home. He’d be lucky if he ever got to see them again. He gulped when they passed by Opal’s house, his academy, and then the last transporter line before reaching the Undecided sector.

When they reached the Undecided sector, they received a lot of stares. Garrett hadn’t paid much attention before, but no other personal transporters were in the Undecided sector, and of course, the public transporters didn’t run all the way down there.

Cringing and sinking further down into his seat, Garrett attempted to hide himself amongst the cushions of the transporter and away from the disgusted eyes of the Undecideds. They glared at him with such hatred, he wondered how he’d ever fit in with them. They must hate him for wasting his chance at a life of his own choosing when all of them had missed or lost their chance.

“Here we are,” announced Dave, turning off the engine.

Garrett stared up at the crumbling decrepit building in front of him. “This is where I’m supposed to live?”

“Yep.” Dave exited the car and went around to open the door for Garrett. “Once you are assigned a job and know the amount of trecins you’ll be paid, you may be in a position to move, but I’m not going to lie, kid. This is what the majority of the places around here look like. You chose this, now deal with it.”

Dave pressed a key into Garrett’s hand and stated, “You have apartment number 3B.”

Garrett just stood there frozen in confusion.

“Have a nice life, kid,” said Dave sarcastically as he climbed back into the personal transporter and sped away.

Chapter 20

Garrett stared down at the key in his hand. At least the key was in good shape. The curved edges were well worn and the color had peeled away in some places, but compared to the building before him, it was pristine.

Swallowing hard, Garrett walked toward the apartment complex in front of him. The green shutters were hanging off the sides of the windows. On the lower floor, several of the windows appeared to have been busted in and were repaired with slats of wood. The entire building was made of red brick that had worn away over the years and was chipped on the edges of the building. It rose to five stories with the first floor appearing the worst. No light emitted from the first floor, but it did on the upper floors, making him think no one lived on the lower ones.

Grasping the handle to the front door, Garrett twisted the knob, but it wouldn’t open. The door had warped so much that it’d stuck in the frame. He had to set down his suitcase and jiggle the handle while supporting and shoving the door to the side to get it to open.

Once inside the building, he found a rickety staircase much worse than the one in Darrington Library awaiting him. Stepping tentatively on the first stair, Garrett tested it with his weight and it creaked awfully loud. Hesitating, Garrett stepped back onto the solid wood floors. As his foot connected with the floor, it emitted a creaking whine in protest. Swallowing hard again, he took the steps one at a time, testing each one as he went. They each creaked in anger at him, but none gave way. On the second set of stairs to the third floor, he noticed a few of the steps were already broken and he had to skip them to make it to the top.

At the top, he noticed ten apartments on the floor, labeled from A to J. 3B was the first one to the right of the staircase. Retrieving the key from his pocket, Garrett placed it into the keyhole and twisted. The door unlocked and he pushed it open with greater ease than the front door, but not by much. Taking out his interwave, he used the light from it to find the light switch on the wall. It took several flickers for the light to reach its full intensity, but when it did, Garrett scrunched his