Summary

Part 1 opens with Mateo Torrez receiving the Death-Cast notification that he will die today. His head overrun with thoughts, he picks up the phone to hear a woman asking if he is Timothy. Relief washes over Mateo, as he believes the Death-Cast herald has the wrong person, but his hopes are quickly dashed when she corrects herself. The herald informs him that sometime in the next 24 hours he will meet an “untimely death” (6). She asks him to go online to fill out any final requests, and when she confuses his name a second time, Mateo hangs up the phone. Mateo reflects upon the people that he will miss and laments the “wasted opportunities” of his life. He reveals that he is a loner who has never taken many chances, and wishes that he would be able to see Future Mateo, a character unlike...