Part 1 Summary
Mateo Torrez receives his call from Death-Cast shortly after midnight. He puts off picking up the call, knowing that the signature gong-like ringtone indicates he will die soon. However, he is briefly relieved when, upon finally picking up the phone, the “Herald“ on the other end refers to him as Timothy. His hopes are then dashed when the Herald apologetically explains that Timothy was the name of her last contact and that Mateo is indeed still slated to die. He is now a “decker,” or someone who has less than twenty-four hours to live.
Mateo feels driven to leave his house and do something interesting with his End Day. However, he reflects that he is not typically the kind of person who takes risks or puts himself out there. He has always been afraid of death, and this has led him to live a relatively isolated and uneventful life. The two people closest to him are his father and his best friend, Lidia. His father is currently in the hospital in a coma, and Mateo doubts his father will miraculously wake up before he dies. However, Mateo still wants to visit his father and hold his hand one last time. Mateo’s mother died in childbirth, so his father is the only family he really has.
Lidia has a one-year-old daughter named Penny, and Mateo is Penny’s godfather. He laments that since Penny is so young, she likely will not remember him outside of photos and the stories that Lidia will tell her. He still wants to make sure to visit them before the end of the day as well, though he plans to keep his decker status a secret so as not to upset Penny and Lidia
Rufus Emeterio receives his Death-Cast call while he is in the middle of beating up Patrick “Peck“ Gavin. Peck is currently dating Rufus’s ex-girlfriend Aimee, and Rufus is beating him up because Peck spread rumors that Rufus was a worthless boyfriend. One of Rufus’s friends, Tagoe, picks up the phone and hands it off to Rufus, who is struggling to contain his emotions in front of his friends and Peck. When the call ends, Rufus destroys Peck’s phone and then sets off back to his foster home—affectionately nicknamed Pluto—with his friends.
Mateo’s quest to leave his house is continuously interrupted as he finds new household chores and things to distract him. Knowing that his father will have to return to their shared apartment after Mateo dies, he does not want to leave it a mess. He grabs a favorite childhood photograph and folds it up in his wallet, intending to leave it for his father when he visits him in the hospital.
On their way back to Pluto, Rufus and his friends pull up next to a church. Rufus mentions that this church is where he and Aimee went on one of their first outings, and she played the piano for him. He calls Aimee, who up until this point has been refusing to talk to him. When she doesn’t pick up the phone, he sends her a text message telling her about the Death-Cast call, which does elicit a response. She expresses her concern and tells him to be safe until she can get to him.
Mateo, desperate to find someone to push him out of his comfort zone on his last day, downloads an app called Last Friend, which is designed to connect deckers so that they do not have to spend their final day alone. Although initially hopeful, he is inundated with people looking to buy drugs, get cheap deals...
(This entire section contains 972 words.)
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on his personal belongings, or have sexual encounters he is not comfortable with.
Rufus and his friends make it back to Pluto, where a living funeral is to be held for Rufus. However, when Aimee arrives, she is not alone: she has brought Peck along with her, and she is furious with Rufus for assaulting him. However, she calms down quickly after Rufus explains that he was feeling worthless after their breakup and that Peck made him feel even worse by spreading false rumors about why Aimee left Rufus. He also reminds her that he has less than twenty-four hours to live.
During his funeral, Rufus’s friends and foster parents each deliver a eulogy, which leaves Rufus feeling highly emotional. He reflects on how much each of the people in his life has meant to him, especially after the death of his birth family left him feeling so hopeless and adrift. He looks forward to sharing a final hug with his friends and family.
However, before the funeral can properly conclude, police sirens sound outside. Everyone quickly realizes that Peck has called the cops, and he explains that just because Rufus is now a decker does not give him a free pass for the assault. The rest of the group is disgusted by Peck’s actions, and they help Rufus sneak out the back so that he can spend the rest of his day free.
Mateo grows increasingly restless as he reflects on all the books that he will never read and all of the things he will never get to do. While playing a video game, his character dies a violent death, and he quickly logs out, deciding to give Last Friend another chance.
Rufus, now on the run and alone, pulls into an alleyway and sees an advertisement for Last Friend. He downloads the app and matches with Mateo. They exchange messages, with Mateo wondering whether Rufus—who seems to have accepted his impending death—will be good for him. For his part, Rufus questions whether Mateo has the courage to live his End Day to the fullest. They agree to meet up at Mateo’s apartment.
