by Eliza Taye
“Garrett, do you know what this means? Why would you have done this? Why would you choose to be one of them?”
His mother’s words disgusted Garrett. “One of them? What do you mean by that, Mom? There’s nothing wrong with the people of the Undecided sector, just that they got the rotten part of life because of the Life Plan system.”
Mr. Gibbons’ eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about, son?”
Opal put her hands on her hips. “Yeah, Garrett, what do you know of the people of the Undecided sector. You’ve never been there your entire life.”
Garrett sheepishly peered over at Opal.
Her brow unfurrowing and raising in astonishment, Opal muttered, “That girl before, she was an Undecided, wasn’t she?”
“A girl? What girl?” Mrs. Gibbons’ gaze sped back and forth so quickly between him and Opal, he started to wonder if she’d get whiplash. “Is this why you chose this? Because of a girl?”
“Mom, no, she had nothing to do with it. I made this decision myself.”
“But why,” his mother cried, tears welling in her eyes, her hands shaking in Garrett’s.
“Yes, son, explain to us why you did this.”
At that moment, Opal’s family arrived to congratulate her.
“Well done, Opal.” Her father grinned at her, gave her a pat on the back, and then leaned in whispering, “I think we should give the Gibbons some alone time. You can speak with them and Garrett later.”
Without waiting for a retort, Opal’s father ushered her away from the increasing sight of Mrs. Gibbons’ franticness and Mr. Gibbons’ rising fury.
“Garrett, an explanation of not knowing what to put in your Life Plan is not a good enough explanation!” shouted his father. “You could have made one up, why I’d have been less disgusted with you if you’d copied someone else’s. This is beyond a disgrace. This is worse than your Plan being rejected!”
“Keep your voice down, Benjamin,” Mrs. Gibbons chided.
“My voice down?” His father yelled louder. “The whole city knows what he has done! It doesn’t matter if I shout about it now or not!”
Garrett averted his gaze from his father, pretending the blades of grass beneath his feet were the most fascinating thing at the moment.
“Benjamin, please.” Mrs. Gibbons’ eyes scanned the crowd, watching the people glancing their way and then covering their mouths to obviously talk about Garrett and her husband. “You’re garnering extra attention that we don’t need right now.”
Returning to Garrett, his mother said, “Garrett, please, honey, explain to me why you chose this. You’re our only child. We wanted so much better for you.”
“Garrett Gibbons,” interrupted a baritone voice.
The entire Gibbons family stopped, turning toward the man who stood a whole head taller than Garrett, who was the tallest of the family.
“Yes?” Garrett answered.
“You are to come with me. It’s time for you to go to the Undecided sector.”
Mrs. Gibbons’ eyes widened. She grabbed her son, clutching his arm tightly. “No, we have the entire rest of the afternoon with him.”
The man’s gray eyes never changed. “Sorry, ma’am, that’s for the Declarers who don’t have their Plans rejected.”
The man reached for Garrett’s arm, but his mother swatted it away.
“My son’s Life Plan wasn’t rejected,” plainly stated his father. “He chose to become one of the Undecided.”
The man hesitated for a few moments, pausing to think. “That is true, sir. However, when a person is to be taken to the Undecided sector for a denied Life Plan, it occurs immediately after the ceremony.”
“As my husband just said, our son’s Life Plan wasn’t rejected, it was approved,” spat Mrs. Gibbons, still clinging to Garrett for dear life.
“I understand that, ma’am, but he is still going to the Undecided sector. The unusual situation of his Life Plan approval has no precedent, but the law clearly states that after the Declaration Day Ceremony, any persons requiring relocation to the Undecided sector are to be removed posthaste.”
“And what of those who are moving from the Undecided sector to the Decided sector. Is that to occur immediately as well?” questioned Garrett.
“No, that occurs the day after Declaration.”
“Figures,” muttered Garrett. “Always unequal treatment.”
The man’s hand clamped down onto Garrett’s forearm with slightly more force than was necessary. “You may consider it unequal treatment, but it is because there are typically several more Declarers coming from the Undecided sector than there are Declarers going to the Undecided sector. It takes additional time to process and find housing for them.”
As if he needed to, the man added, “Besides, you better get used to unequal treatment as that will now be your new lot in life.”
Garrett’s mother trembled, her lower lip quaking as she released a sob, “No.”
Before either his mother or father could protest, the man led Garrett away from them.
Deep within, Garrett felt the need to look back at his parents, even though the rational part of his mind told him he’d regret it if he did. Still, he turned back, his mother’s distraught red eyes met his and they tore at his heart. Finally, his dad’s angry face melted into one of concern and heartache as Garrett was pulled away from them.
When Garrett finally turned away and faced in the direction he was being led, his mother let out a wail he felt down to his core. Her agonizing cries could be heard from far and wide.
Garrett was ushered into a personal transporter and taken to his parent’s house. On the way there, he discovered the man’s name was Dave and he was an enforcer. He learned there was a whole department of the government responsible for enforcing the division between the Decided and Undecided sectors of the city. Garrett had never heard of them before, but he also realized he hadn’t purposely sought to either. However, when he thought back to it, their gray uniforms did stand out in the city and he had seen some walking around before, just never in the Undecided sector. It seemed like their whole existence was to keep Undecideds from slumming the Decided sector.
“Do you still have a key to the home?” wondered Dave.
“Yes, I do.”
“Hand it over,” he demanded.
Garrett did as he was told and followed the man across the yard and into his own home. Well, what used to be his home, he thought.
“Show me to your room.”
Once again, Garrett did as he was told, going to his room and turning on the light.
“You may collect your clothes, interwave, and any toiletries you own. Sciorbs and other such technology must remain in the home. You are not allowed to take such belongings purchased by you in the Decided sector to the Undecided sector.”
Shocked, Garrett asked, “Can I take a suitcase to put my belongings in?”
“Of course you can. What do you take us for?” Dave scowled and stepped toward the door. “I’ll be in the hall when you’re ready.”
Garrett pulled his suitcase from under the bed and started loading it with his clothes. He never considered that he wouldn’t be able to take his belongings with him. What was the deal with the sciorb? He had so much on his sciorb! Why couldn’t he take it with him?
Thinking back to the sciorbs in the Darrington Library, he wondered if anyone in the Undecided sector had access to their own personal sciorbs. For not the first time that day, Garrett wondered if he’d made a terrible mistake.
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 b
efore 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 face in disgust.
A studio apartment with shabby scarred wooden floors with stains here and there greeted his eyes. A narrow bed nestled in the corner with a chest beside it and an open doorway into the bathroom on the opposite side of the chest. To the left of the front door was a tiny kitchenette with a small countertop, stove, and a fridge half the size of his one at home. It literally looked as if someone had taken a knife and cut his fridge in half horizontally. To the right of the front door sat a small area with a table and a single chair. In all, his entire apartment could have fit inside his bedroom at home.
Garrett trudged over to the bed and sat down on the mattress. There were no sheets of any kind on the bed and he hated Dave for not allowing him to bring any of his sheets along. Like the floor, the mattress was stained as well. The entire place appeared like it could use a good cleaning, not to mention a remodel. Glancing around his new home, Garrett sighed in defeat, lowering his head into his hands.
What in the world had he done?
“Opal, I can’t believe you’ll be moving into the dormitory at the Academy of Higher Learning School of Law tonight! This is all so sudden,” exclaimed her mother.
“I know,” Opal smiled wide. “I can’t believe in a few days I’ll be starting my lessons in law.”
After the Declaration Ceremony, she and her parents had gone out to eat and then home to help her pack and gather her things. All the while, Opal tried to let her happiness and excitement shine through, but Garrett’s face kept popping into her mind. She couldn’t push away the thoughts of him. The worry she had for her best friend threatened to overtake the happiness of her big day.
Gabrielle smiled wide at her big sister, but then her smile started to fade. Pulling Opal over to the corner of the living room out of earshot of their parents, Gabrielle whispered, “You’re worried about Garrett, aren’t you?”
Opal smiled wanly at her sister. “How did you know?”
Shrugging, Gabrielle explained, “You had that forced smile face. Whenever you force a smile, your dimples don’t show, that’s how I know you’re faking it.”
Impressed, Opal hugged Gabrielle, playfully nudging her shoulder. “I’m gonna miss you, Gabby.”
“Me too.” Gabrielle smiled, then returned to being serious. “What do you think happened to him? Where do you think he went?”
A knock at the front door prevented Opal from answering.
Mr. Carneth hurried to the door, opening it without checking to see who was outside first.
“Mrs. Steinworth?” Opal gawked at her teacher standing in the doorway.
“Opal,” Mrs. Steinworth smiled sweetly and stretched out her hands.
Looking down, Opal saw Mrs. Steinworth was handing her a gift perfectly wrapped in silver wrapping paper with a blue bow. “I wanted to give you something as a congratulations and wish you good luck again.”
Receiving the gift, Opal examined it for a few moments before asking, “May I open it now?”
“By all means,” Mrs. Steinworth gestured at the gift.
“Would you like anything to eat or drink, Mrs. Steinworth?” offered Mrs. Carneth as she gestured for Mrs. Steinworth to come inside and sit.
“A cup of tea would be wonderful, thank you,
Mrs. Carneth.” Tucking a stray piece of graying blonde hair behind her ear, Mrs. Steinworth patiently awaited Opal’s opening of her gift.
Delicately, Opal pulled off the bow and unwrapped the gift to reveal a box the size of her palm inside. Prying open the lid to the box, it revealed a silver stylus with her name engraved on the side of it. “Mrs. Steinworth, this is a wonderful gift! Thank you very much.”
A warm and satisfied smile spread across Mrs. Steinworth’s face. “I’m very glad you like it, Opal. I figured you would be taking a lot of notes in the classes for your law degree and knowing you, it would be more economical to take them with your sciorb than using paper.”
Opal blushed in embarrassment. She’d gone through five notebooks in the three classes she’d had with Mrs. Steinworth over the years. She always took notes on every single detail whether it may or may not be important, believing it was better to be safe than sorry.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Steinworth accepted the drink from Opal’s mom, sipping the tea. “Oh, that is delicious.”
Twisting the stylus between her fingers, Opal examined it closely. It was perfectly balanced and lightweight enough to lend hours of notetaking.
Staring down into her cup of tea, then raising her sapphire blue eyes, Mrs. Steinworth admitted, “Well, if I’m entirely honest, I didn’t come here just to give you the gift.”
Opal’s mother joined her father on the couch and the Carneth family stared at Mrs. Steinworth, waiting for her to elaborate.
“Why else did you come?” Opal wondered.
“Well…well…I,” Mrs. Steinworth stared down into her tea again, not raising her eyes until she’d finished her sentence. “I was wondering if you had known about Mr. Gibbons’ decision to write such a Life Plan?”
Opal’s heart sank. After receiving the gift, for a momentary lapse, she was able to put her worry for Garrett into the recesses of her mind, but now they resurfaced like hot lava spewing from a previously dormant volcano. “No, I had no idea.”
“Then you were as shocked as I was,” surmised Mrs. Steinworth, cradling her teacup in her hands.