by Eliza Taye
His mom released a loud sob upon hearing the confirmation. “I’m so sorry, Garrett. I wish there was something that could be done to fix this.”
“It can’t be fixed, Raya. He made his decision.”
Garrett looked at his dad, expecting to see an angry face, but all he saw was pity and disappointment evident in his strong features. “Yes, I did, but I didn’t realize how awful it would be. The Undecided have a terrible lot in life.”
“Yes, they do,” agreed his father. “Speaking of which, isn’t it past the Undecided curfew? How will you get back to the other side of town?”
“Benjamin!” chided Mrs. Gibbons, her eyes narrowing at her husband.
Garrett grimaced. “I snuck here right before the enforcers stationed themselves at the exit to the Undecided sector.”
“Don’t you worry about that, Garrett. Your father and I will hide you here until tomorrow. You can leave straight for work in the morning from here. They won’t catch you.” Garrett’s mother patted his arm lovingly. “We’ve left your room exactly how it was. Your bed is made and everything. The only thing missing is you.”
“And your clothes,” stated Mr. Gibbons matter-of-factly. “You’ll have to borrow some of mine for tomorrow. If you show up for work in the same clothes, someone might get suspicious.”
“Very well…it is decided then.” Garrett’s mother stroked his hair. “It’s so good to have you back here. I know it’s only been a week, but it feels like forever. With so much changing, it’s good to see you again, love.”
Garrett frowned, looking at his mother. “What do you mean so much changing? Other than me moving to the Undecided sector…what else has changed?”
Mrs. Gibbons blinked at her son. “You don’t know? Opal hasn’t told you?”
“Told me what?” asked Garrett, staring in confusion at his mother.
“Opal’s mother lost her teaching job the day before yesterday and she hasn’t received another job offer since then. She wasn’t the only teacher at the academy to lose hers either.”
Garrett’s eyes widened. “What? That should be impossible.”
“Yeah, as impossible as someone’s one-lined Life Plan to become one of the Undecided getting approved,” mentioned his father, cradling a teacup in his hand.
As he watched his father sip his tea, Garrett started pondering the fact that Opal’s mother had lost her job within one day of April’s mother getting a chance at her dream job. Both shouldn’t have occurred, yet they did. Also, they were complete opposites of what would be expected to happen. If anything, a Decided should have had something joyous happen to them and an Undecided something terrible. Things just didn’t happen that way.
Garrett furrowed his brow further. Something was wrong.
Chapter 27
Garrett dropped the books on the table in the center of the upstairs room. April crowded closer to him, looking at the books he’d assembled.
“Something is going wrong and we need to figure this out,” he explained.
It was the day after he’d gone to visit his parents. His workday was over and like usual, he was visiting April in the Darrington Library. Except, today, he was on a mission. Both he and April were determined to figure out why Zayna’s old Life Plan was coming to fruition and Holly’s was falling apart.
“There has to be something in these books that can help us,” he reasoned.
“I agree.” April slid the top book off one of the piles. “I’ll start with this one and you can start on the other pile.”
“Good idea.” Garrett began tackling his pile, opening the top book to the first page, and inspecting the table of contents. “What should we be looking for?”
“Well, first, I’d start with looking for documentation that this has happened before. The Life Plan system has always been how our world works. So, in the thousands of years that it’s been this way, something like this must have occurred. If it has, it has to have been documented because it’d have been an anomaly.” April scanned through the book as she explained.
Nodding, Garrett agreed, “Yeah, that makes sense.”
For over an hour, Garrett and April silently scanned through the books they’d assembled, but they couldn’t find one instance describing an incident where an Undecided had been offered the chance to live part of their Life Plan post-declaration or a Decided’s Plan being interrupted.
“This is useless,” complained Garrett, leaning back in his chair.
April didn’t pause for a second while responding, “We can’t give up, Garrett, we need to keep searching.”
“But we’ve already searched through over five books each.”
“Yes, and there are still ten more a piece for us to go through.”
Garrett examined the piles of books in front of him. Each held old records, but so far, none of them had mentioned anything out of the ordinary. It just outlined regular old boring details no one would care to read about.
Leaning forward and pulling another book from the pile, Garrett began to read, when he stopped and asked April, “Why are you so determined to figure out what’s going on? Isn’t this a good thing for your mom?”
April paused her reading to look at Garrett. “Yes, this is a good thing for my mom…except that it could go wrong at any time. What happens if one day she goes in for work and they tell her they don’t need her anymore or they won’t train her to be a nurse anymore? That would crush her, Garrett.” April returned to scanning the book. “If I can save her from that, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
Garrett reasoned that her explanation made sense. Seeing April’s determination, he resumed with a new vigor, thinking of Mrs. Carneth and how she deserved to have her job back.
They resumed going through the books, wordlessly searching though they became ever frustrated at the lack of information regarding Life Plans going awry. Page after turned page, they didn’t give up and kept trying to find a semblance of an explanation for the deviations.
A bang followed by a shudder through the library shattered both their concentration.
Garrett looked toward April with a shocked expression. “What was that?”
April checked the time, it was almost 8pm. “I don’t know. Hardly anyone comes to this library and it’s almost closing time. No one should be coming in here now.”
“Garrett?” called Opal’s voice from downstairs.
Garrett flashed a look at April before jumping from his seat and bounding down the stairs, April hot at his heels. The quavering in Opal’s voice worried him. He had to find out why she was upset.
“Opal?” asked Garrett, his brown eyes wide in worry. “What’s wrong?”
Opal was shaking, her eyes wide as she nervously tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “It’s Brian Lavarr. He’s…he’s…dead.”
Garrett’s blood turned to ice. Frozen, he stood there on the last step, gripping the railing for support. “How? How can that be? Wasn’t he only 19?”
Opal nodded; her eyes still widened in fear. “Yes, he’s been living his Life Plan for the last two years, but today…today, he just…he drowned.”
Garrett slumped to the bottom step, cradling his head in his hands.
“Who is Brian Lavarr?” wondered April, stepping around Garrett to stand off to the side of the staircase.
“He’s my ex-girlfriend’s older brother. He used to go to our academy with us. He was one of the most popular boys in academy. Smart and athletic.” Garrett glanced at April then focused his gaze across the foyer at Opal. “How could he die? Didn’t his Life Plan include becoming an architect?”
“Yes, it did. He was studying at the same college I’m going to. Apparently, he went to the river to go swimming with some friends and a current dragged him under. No one was able to save him.”
April glanced from Opal to Garrett. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought someone couldn’t die until they’d fulfilled their Life Plan.”
“You’re right, April. It’s supposed
to be impossible to die before your Life Plan has been accomplished,” affirmed Opal.
Garrett, still frozen in shock, ran his fingers through his hair trying to think. Brian Lavarr was dead. Holly Carneth had lost her teaching job and had yet to find a new one. Zayna Selendery had recently obtained a position training to become a nurse. All three things should have been impossible occurrences.
“Garrett, what are you thinking?” wondered Opal, recognizing the pondering face of her friend.
Garrett shook his head, wide-eyed, smoothing his hair down. “I don’t know. This just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I agree. First my mom’s job and now this.” Opal took a step further into the library.
“What happened to your mother’s job?” wondered April, fixing her caramel eyes on Opal.
“She lost her teaching job.”
April’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? And my mother just received an apprenticeship to become a nurse.”
This time, Opal frowned. “That makes it three different impossibilities.”
Garrett reached into his pocket but didn’t find his interwave there. Turning around, he charged up the stairs without a word.
“Garrett, where are you going?” questioned Opal.
Without waiting for a response, April fled up the stairs after him, followed by Opal.
When they reached the room where April and he had been reading through the various books, they found Garrett rifling through the books, searching for something.
“Garrett, what are you looking for?” April watched him search with a maniacal fervor.
“Ah-ha found it!” Garrett grasped his interwave in his hands. Before saying anything else, he called a number and raised the interwave to his ear. After a few moments, someone answered on the other line. “Hi, Simon, Garrett Gibbons here.”
Simon sighed. “Yes, Garrett, I know it’s you. Your name comes up when you call. What do you want? And no favors again since you were late delivering on your end of the bargain last time.”
“Fine, I understand that,” hastily replied Garrett. “I assume you’ve heard about Brian Lavarr.”
“Yes…and?”
April and Opal glanced at each other. April had no idea who Simon was, but Opal guessed it was Simon Smunkle. She had no idea why Garrett would call him.
“And I know you’ve probably already looked into this with your genius brain. Do you know how it happened?”
Simon didn’t respond for a few seconds. Garrett was about to speak again, but Simon finally replied, “Say I did look into it, and let’s just say I did know what was wrong…why would I tell you?”
Garrett sighed. “Come on, Simon. There’s got to be something going wrong here. Opal’s mother lost her job and hasn’t found a new teaching one yet. And one of my friends in the Undecided sector had a family member just get offered their dream job.”
“Ah, that’s right, you’re living in the Undecided sector now, aren’t you? How’s that going for you?”
Garrett gritted his teeth. Insulting Simon wouldn’t help him get the answers he needed any faster, but he also didn’t like Simon’s mocking tone. “It’s a challenge.”
“Ha, ha, I bet it is.” Clicking from a keyboard came from the other end of the line.
“Simon…so are you going to tell me or not?”
“Hmm, I’m still trying to figure out what’s in it for me if I tell you. I’ve already informed you that I won’t be taking any favors and quite honestly, with you being one of the Undecided now, it’s not like you’d have anything to offer me anyway.”
Getting impatient with the lack of results, Opal snatched the interwave from Garrett’s ear and placed it to her own. “Simon, it’s Opal Carneth here. I want to know what’s going on and you’re going to tell me.”
“Opal?” asked Simon, his voice laced with mock confusion.
“Yes, Opal Carneth…the girl you had a crush on for two years. Yes, I know you liked me. Tell you what, I’ll go on a date with you if you’ll help us out right now.”
Garrett gawked at Opal, both shocked and impressed by her.
“What makes you think I’d still be interested in going on a date with you?”
Opal considered her response, but answered quickly, “Because you didn’t say no right away. If you weren’t still interested, you would have immediately responded no.”
Simon went quiet again on the other line. “Fine, I’ll make a deal with you then, not Garrett. He’s no longer trustworthy with deals for me anymore.”
“That’s okay with me,” agreed Opal.
Garrett took the interwave back from Opal, covering the microphone portion. “Are you serious about this, Opal? You know he’s technically a criminal mastermind.”
“Yes, a criminal mastermind who had his Life Plan to become a sciorb programmer approved. Now let me talk to him again before we lose our chance at discovering what’s going wrong.” Opal snatched the interwave back and said, “We’ll meet tomorrow at Blue Moon Café at 11am.”
“Good, that fits into my plans,” agreed Simon.
“Okay, so now tell me what you’ve discovered about Brian’s death.”
The rolling of desk chair wheels emitted through the speaker as Opal placed the interwave on the table and turned on the speaker. “As soon as I found out about Brian’s death, I thought the same as you and Garrett did…something must be going wrong with the Life Plan system. The Life Plan rules are very clear. You will live long enough to fulfill everything on your Life Plan. According to what Brian always bragged about around academy, he wanted to become an architect and design one of the most famous buildings in Taeopia. He wanted to get married but have no kids. He also wanted to win an award for work in architecture and retire at age 60. Except for attending the Academy of Higher Learning, nothing on his Life Plan had been fulfilled yet.”
“Which means something must have gone wrong,” added Opal.
“Precisely. So that’s when I started digging further. I tried to see if this has ever happened before. I checked everywhere on the dataweb and even hacked into some non-disclosed government records. All above-board, of course, Opal. I’m a changed young man, after all.”
Opal just shook her head in disbelief, grateful Simon couldn’t see it. “Yes, I’m sure. And what did you uncover from those records?”
“Nothing. This has never happened before…like ever. In the whole history of our world, this has never happened.”
A shiver went down Opal’s spine as she listened to his words. With a glance at April and Garrett, she saw they wore the same fearful expressions. “So that means…”
“So that means that whatever is happening isn’t good,” finished Garrett.
“That would be an accurate assumption,” harrumphed Simon. “I’d be a little more specific on that if I were you.”
“What do you mean?” Opal looked down at the interwave.
“Based on the fact that Brian wasn’t the only one affected, I would assume this is just the beginning. With Garrett’s friend in the Undecided sector getting a job they shouldn’t have and your mom losing hers, Opal, I’d say this isn’t going to stop anytime soon.”
“Which means,” began April, her voice shaking.
“Which means the Life Plan system is falling apart,” breathed Garrett.
Garrett and April locked eyes and she knew he spoke the truth. Somehow, their entire world was falling apart.
Review Request Page
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Acknowledgments
Life Designed has been a novel over eight years in the making. I first thought of it years ago when I was frustrated with how the plans we make in lif
e rarely seem to play out the way we expect. Since then, the story sat in limbo halfway finished until I decided with all the chaos the year 2020 has brought to the world to finally finish it. Along the way, I’ve received help and support and I’d like to thank those who’ve been a part of my journey. First, to my editor Frankie, thank you for editing the novel and catching all my little (and not so little) errors. Your suggestions for enhancing the story helped me tie up loose ends. To my beta readers, thank you for helping me smooth out the characterization of Garrett and for giving suggestions on how to improve the storyline. To my cover designer, Rebeca, I can’t believe you designed such a fitting cover when I had no idea of a general design to guide you. It fits the story perfectly. Lastly, I wish to also thank God for giving me a passion for both reading and writing.
About the Author
Eliza Taye has always had an insatiable desire for stories of any kind, whether they be books, audiobooks, video games, films, or plays. If it has a story element to it, she enjoys it. After obtaining a marine science degree, she became inspired to write sci-fi in addition to the fantasy stories she wrote growing up. Two material things Eliza could never live without: books and music. She never leaves the house without at least one book and a way to listen to music. Music fuels her passion for storytelling, allowing her to daydream that she’s defeating bad guys, exploring unknown worlds, or wielding swords of destiny, when in reality, she’s just writing about it. She writes sci-fi, fantasy, and action adventure novels for young adults.
Eliza loves to hear from her readers! You can visit her at elizataye.com, email her at [email protected], or connect with her on Goodreads and Twitter.
More Books by Eliza Taye
Life Plan Series