After seeing April talk with her mother Zayna and the joy she’d had over part of her Life Plan becoming a reality, he knew he had to see his mom again. She’d been so devastated over what had happened a week ago on Declaration Day and he hadn’t been able to properly talk to her since then or say goodbye.
Feeling like an odd outsider, Garrett walked to the front door and pressed the doorbell. Shuffling sounded on the other side of the door and then it opened, spilling light onto the path.
“Garrett!” exclaimed his father, yanking him inside the house and then enveloping him in a tight hug once he relocked the door.
“Garrett?” came his mother’s troubled voice, then it rang clear as she repeated his name with more confidence. “Garrett!”
Mr. Gibbons stepped back as Garrett’s mother hugged him so tight, he was sure his internal organs would rupture. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she cried.
Pulling him back out at arm’s length, she ran her gaze from his head to his toes and back up again. “Are you eating well? Where are you staying? What sort of jobs have they been assigning you? Have you been getting enough sleep?”
“My goodness, Raya, give him a chance to respond,” complained his father, gesturing for them to sit on the couches in the living room.
Garrett shifted over to the couch, albeit a little awkwardly as his mother refused to let go of his arm. She sat beside him, scooting so close their sides pressed together.
“Yes, I’m eating, sleeping, and working.” Garrett didn’t specify how well he was doing them since he knew it wouldn’t be up to his mother’s satisfaction. “They’ve been giving me typical jobs of the Undecided.”
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
