by Eliza Taye
Opal’s family crowded around her as she placed the key into the keyhole and turned. The door opened into a bright, airy private room with a nice-size bed with purple sheets, a desk off to the righthand side of the room with a tall full-sized bookshelf to the right of the desk. To the left of the room was a sitting area along with a small kitchenette sporting a fridge and countertop for preparing food. Two doors broke the solid line of the featureless left-hand wall. The first door was propped open revealing a bathroom, while the other closed door, Opal assumed to be her closet.
“This is much better than where I went to college,” observed her dad.
“I know, tell me about it.” Holly inspected the contents of her daughter’s new room, her eyebrows raised. “They must think very highly of their law students.”
“Oh, Mom, Dad, it couldn’t have been that bad when you were in college.” Opal set the bag with her clothes on the bed.
“Uh, yeah, it could be. I didn’t have my own private bathroom,” countered her dad.
“And I didn’t have a fridge or full-sized bookshelf in my room,” added her mom.
“I’m actually excited to go to college now! Maybe I’ll be a lawyer like you, Opal.” Gabrielle beamed brightly at her.
Shaking her head, Opal replied, “No, Gabrielle, you be what you want to be. Don’t follow in my footsteps just because my dorm room is cool.”
“Ah, ha! So, you do admit it,” her dad pointed at her with a big grin.
Opal shook her head with a small smile. “Do you guys want to help me unpack or just keep checking out my room?”
With her family’s help, Opal was unpacked with everything put away in less than an hour. The family stood in the center of the room, satisfied with themselves. Now the only problem that remained was saying their goodbyes.
Her parents swooped in at the same time and gave Opal a huge bearhug. “We’ll miss you so much, Opal,” her mom said.
“Be good and study hard. Don’t let anything get in your way,” advised her dad.
“I won’t. I’ll study and be good like always.” Opal hugged them back just as tight.
When it was Gabrielle’s turn, Opal turned to see her eyes were filled with tears. One fell from her left eye and cascaded down her face as she blinked to hold the others back. “I’m going to miss you more than either of them!” Gabrielle threw herself into Opal’s open arms.
“Aw, Gabby, I’m going to miss you too.” Opal hugged her sister back tightly, smoothing down her hair. “You can call me every day if you want to.”
“Uh, Opal...” began her dad.
“You promise?” Gabrielle asked through tears.
“Opal, it’s going to be hard to stay on top of your studies if you spend an hour a day talking to Gabrielle,” warned her mom.
“It’s okay, Mom. I can do both.” Pulling back from her embrace, Opal stared into Gabrielle’s eyes. “I promise. You can call me every single day if you’d like. Just make sure it’s after 8pm so I’m not in class.”
“Okay!” Gabrielle sniffled once and forced a smile.
“We’d better get going. We don’t want to keep you up too late,” joked her dad.
“Ha, ha, ha, a morning bird joke, so funny.” Opal narrowed her eyes at him.
“That is true, Alan. Now we’ll have a household full of night owls. What should we do to celebrate?”
“Have an all-night, party!” replied Mr. Carneth, attempting to do a short dance.
Opal shook her head at her family. “All right, you guys. Out, out, out.”
“Aw, no slumber party on your first night?” joked her mom.
“No, bye guys.” Opal closed the door on her family, all four of them laughing.
As Opal changed into her pajamas, she wondered how Garrett’s first night in his new home was going.
“The reason I chose to become one of the Undecided was because I never knew what I wanted to do; what I wanted to be. More than coming to the Undecided sector of the city, I was afraid of being stuck in a Life Plan I truly didn’t want. I didn’t want to be miserable for my entire life, April.”
“And so you chose this?” April gestured to the room around him.
Garrett lowered his eyes. “Yes, I know in hindsight it seems pretty stupid, but at least I have the freedom to live out my life on my own terms—or at least that’s what I thought I would have.”
“Well, you don’t, Garrett, that’s for sure. You don’t have the option to live the life you want. We are assigned the worst jobs, have the worst housing, and the worst lives. Did I ever tell you my mother was born a Decided?”
Garrett raised his gaze to April’s in shock. “No, you didn’t.”
“Well, she was. My mother’s Life Plan was rejected due to a few technicalities, so she’s had to live her whole life here. I’ve seen pictures of her when she was young before my grandparents died and she was beautiful. Now, a piece of her beauty wastes away day by day. How could you doom yourself to such a fate?”
“I don’t know, April. I thought I knew, but I don’t.” Garrett hung his head again.
“It’s not going to be easy for you, you know. A lot of people around here are going to hate you for choosing to be here. They’ll look at you in spite for what you’ve done to yourself.”
“Yeah, I’ve already seen that on the ride here.”
April considered admonishing him some more, but she realized he’d had enough. What he needed right now was a friend, not someone telling him he needed to fix something in the past that could never be rewritten. “I’m sorry, Garrett, but you do have one friend over here. You have me.”
Glancing up without raising his head, Garrett saw April’s determined face staring at him in earnest. “It won’t be easy, but it’ll help to have a friend here.”
Still too ashamed to raise his head, Garrett muttered, “Thank you, April.”
“Have you received your work assignment yet?”
Garrett shook his head. “No, how am I supposed to know?”
“You’ll receive it on your interwave. Details of where you need to be, when, and what the hourly wage is will be sent to your interwave.”
“Are there any choices amongst the jobs sent?”
April shook her head. “No, Garrett. There are no choices during your first year as a Declarer. After your Declarer year is over, you might get lucky like I did and take an open position in our sector, but most people work daily assigned jobs. You’ll be sent one job and you’ll have to take it if you want to eat. Nothing is given away for free to us. We have to earn every moment of our lives. If we don’t work, we don’t eat. If we don’t work, we lose our homes. Some Decideds venture to our neck of the woods to help those who are less fortunate, but those individuals are few and far in-between. Mostly, we help each other with what little we have.”
“But I doubt anyone besides you will help me.”
April grimaced, but she knew Garrett’s words were true. The people of the Undecided sector would not be quick to help a Decided, let alone a Decided who threw it all away to become one of them. “It doesn’t matter, Garrett. I will be there to help you whenever I can. Besides, once people get to know you, they’ll begin to help you too.”
“You really think so?” Garrett finally lifted his head.
“Yes,” April nodded. “People around here don’t hold grudges for too long. It’s too much wasted energy.”
“I guess so,” Garrett agreed. Trying to pipe up, he added, “I’d offer you something to drink, but I don’t have anything inside my fridge.”
April chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. Drop by the library tomorrow after work and I’ll show you where to buy groceries. The one nice thing about living over here is that we get paid daily for our work, so you’ll have trecins tomorrow to buy food.”
Garrett’s grumbling stomach flipped happily at that, making a loud rumbling sound. April’s gaze flicked to his stomach and Garrett realized she must have heard it growling. “Sorry, I haven’t eaten since bre
akfast.”
“I’m sorry, Garrett. I wish I could have brought you food too, but I didn’t think of it and I don’t have any more trecins to spend today.”
“That’s all right, April. The sheets you brought me will allow me to sleep tonight and the towels will help me be clean for tomorrow.”
April nodded, wincing slightly. “You’re welcome, but might I suggest you wait to take a shower until after work. There’s a high chance you’ll be assigned a dirty job and you’ll want to clean up after that.”
Garrett replied with a grateful nod. “Thanks, I’ll remember that.”
Missing the energetic and hopeful guy who had come into her library only days ago, April encouraged, “Cheer up, Garrett. Things may seem bleak right now, but you never know how things will turn out. Eventually, you’ll find your way to survive here.”
“Thanks, April.” Standing, Garrett walked her the few feet to the door.
“You’re welcome.” Pointing to his interwave, she asked, “May I?”
Garrett handed her his interwave and watched as she input her interwave number.
“Now you have the interwave number of your one friend here.” April considered patting him on the shoulder in reassurance, but then considered it’d be too weird. “Bye, Garrett.”
“Bye, April.” He closed the door behind her and was once again left alone in his tiny apartment. But at least, unlike before, he’d have something other than a mattress to sleep on and the ability to clean his face after he woke up in the morning.
Chapter 22
Garrett awoke with a jolt as loud creaking sounds emanated from above him. Glaring at the ceiling he scowled as this was the fourth time that night his upstairs neighbors had awoken him. Bleary, red-rimmed eyes stared back at him as he checked the time on his interwave; it was 3:07 am.
Grumbling, Garrett rolled over nearly falling off the narrow bed. Swinging his arms to right himself, he threw his arm over his exposed ear, hoping it’d drown out the noise, but the noise only seemed to intensify. It sounded like an old ship being tossed around in a terrible thunderstorm. The floors must have been made from the worst wood to begin with and over time deteriorated further.
Then a thud sounded from the apartment next door to him. He couldn’t tell what the person beside him was doing, but it sounded as if they were throwing a ball against the wall over and over. Fury at his lack of sleep, Garrett threw off the sheet and stomped over to the wall, banging against it with his fist. Pausing to see if the noise would stop, he sighed in relief and then climbed back into bed. Not a moment afterward, the thudding resumed, even louder than before.
“Ah!” Garrett screamed, leaping to his feet and pounding on the wall again.
By the third time he did it, he’d learned that it only made things worse, not better. Between the stomping and creaking above him and the thudding sound from the wall to his left, Garrett gave up on sleep and just sat in bed, cradling his head and trying not to scream.
Just as he was about to reach his breaking point, a ping sounded from his interwave. Grabbing it off the chest beside his bed, he read the message:
Daily Job Assignment:
Gardener at the Grady’s Home
5554 Wexler Street
Wage: 5t/hr
Start Time: 5am
Expected Duration of Job: 5 hours
Garrett blinked at the screen sure he had misread the wage. Five trecins an hour? They couldn’t be serious! That wouldn’t even buy him one meal. Garrett rubbed his hand down his face in exasperation. Reaching down into his sock, he pulled out the few trecins he was able to sneak out of his home, grateful that he’d thought to do so. Spreading them across his palm, he counted out 15 trecins. With a sigh of relief, he realized he’d have enough money to at least catch a transporter to the job site. He knew where Wexler Street was, and he wouldn’t make it there on time if he walked the entire way.
Garrett stood and stretched his stiff muscles. The lack of sleep was not faring him well. He’d hoped to get more sleep before his first-ever day of work. Checking the time again, he saw it was 3:43 am. His job didn’t start for another hour and seventeen minutes, but he worried that if he didn’t get started now he wouldn’t give himself enough time in the event he got lost.
Remembering April’s advice the previous night, he forwent a shower and simply changed into some clean clothes and washed his face. While he got ready, he made a mental note of each thing he would need to purchase for his apartment. Hopefully, he’d be able to save enough money to rent a better place soon, preferably with better floors and walls, but until then, he at least needed a curtain for the bathroom, food, and a spare set of sheets.
By the time he’d left the apartment, only an hour remained before his job was slated to begin. Walking down Warren street, he wondered what would happen if he were late to work? He couldn’t be fired since it wasn’t an official job so what would the penalty be? He’d have to remember to ask April after work. Also, if the job was only supposed to take five hours, was he supposed to go home at the end or would he be sent to work elsewhere? Banishment to the Undecided sector really should have come with a manual.
As he continued down the street, he realized he had no idea where he was going. On the way to his apartment complex yesterday, he’d hunkered down to avoid the glares of the people disgusted with what he’d done. Now, he was kicking himself for not paying attention to the path they’d taken to his apartment. Nothing around him looked familiar. If he couldn’t find a marker to get his bearings, he’d never find his way out of the sector. Perhaps if he could stumble upon the Darrington Library, then he would know how to get outside the sector.
Looking up and down the street, few others walked the dark streets besides the scattered homeless individuals. Not wanting to disturb them, Garrett moved on down the street hoping he’d find someone else headed to work like he was. Crossing one deserted street to the next, Garrett wondered if he’d ever find anyone. He hated how the Undecided sector didn’t have visible addresses like those on his side of town. He sorely missed his sciorb. If Dave had let him keep it, he could have looked up directions to the entrance of the Decided sector.
Garrett stopped walking, standing frozen in place.
He couldn’t call it that anymore—his side of town. The Undecided sector was his side of town now. He’d have to get used to that. It’d be that way for the rest of his life.
“Hey, you can’t stand hogging the entire pathway like that!” complained an annoyed voice.
Garrett spun around to see no one at eye level. Staring down, he saw a kid around five to six years old with dirt smudged on his face and in his blond hair staring up at him. “Oh, sorry.”
“Why are you just standing there anyway? Don’t you have somewhere to be?” The kid scowled at him, puckering his lips in disdain.
“Yeah, well…um, I’m looking for the entrance to the Decided sector.”
The kid looked him up and down with suspicion. “You aren’t from around here, are you?” he asked.
Garrett pursed his lips but said nothing.
Making an O with his mouth, the kid answered his own question. “Ah, you must be that Decided kid who decided to become one of us.”
“Do you know where the entrance is or not?”
“I know, I know, no need to get all upset.” The kid held his hands up. “You continue down this pathway, cross eight streets, and then take a left. Go down five more streets, then take a right and it’ll be four more streets down. You got that?”
Garrett stared down at the scruffy kid who had his hands on his hips, his dull brown eyes appraising Garrett as if he were an imbecile. “Yeah, I got it.”
“Really?” The kid raised his eyebrows. “Say it back to me.”
Rolling his eyes, Garrett hurriedly replied, “Down eight streets, left and down five streets, then right and four more streets.”
The kid began grinning and nodding. “All right, I guess you’re not as much of a fool as we all thought
after all. See ya.”
The kid stepped into the narrow street to pass Garrett on the pathway and skipped along on his way. Puzzled by the kid and the way he treated him as if he were the adult, Garrett just shook it off and started following the directions to the exit of the Undecided sector.
The walk took him longer than he’d have liked, but by the time he was near the exit, several other people had begun walking that direction too. In a small crowd, he joined them as they made their way to the nearest transport station. Some people passed the station by, gazing longingly at it and Garrett realized they must have not had enough trecins to pay for a ride.
When he boarded the transporter and input his destination, the transporter asked for fifteen trecins. With a wince, Garrett paid for the ride, thinking that it’d be three hours’ worth of work to earn back. Not to mention, it was all the money he currently had. No wonder some of the people didn’t take the transporter. He’d have to be careful how often he used it from now on.
As the city sped by, Garrett’s gratefulness at his idea to smuggle trecins out of his home grew. If he’d had to walk from his apartment complex to the Grady’s home, he wouldn’t have made it on time even if he’d been told the night before what his job was.
Garrett’s confidence grew as he recognized the part of the city that used to be his home pass by. He knew exactly where he needed to go after exiting the transporter. Wexler street was where the upper, upper-middle-class of Galaxcion lived. It wasn’t uncommon for the two and three-story houses to have immaculately curated lawns and gardens beside the driveways for their two personal transporters.
Garrett’s family had been solidly in the middle class. He and Opal used to like walking down Wexler street gazing at the houses and wondering what it’d be like to live in one of those. Now, Garrett was going to find out just how much work was involved in upkeeping those elaborate lawns and gardens.
By the time he’d arrived at 5554 Wexler Street, the brighter light of day had already begun to shine over the horizon. The clock on his interwave read 4:56 am; he’d made it with a bit of time to spare.
