They Both Die at the End

Rufus bikes toward Mateo’s house thinking: “He better not be a serial killer or so help me…Nah, he’s chill” (85). Rufus sees that, clearly, Mateo spends a lot of time on his own, lost in his own thoughts. He worries that Mateo might be too awkward to be a “solid partner-in-crime” for his End Day, but if that is the case then they will part ways. 

The perspective, again, shifts in this chapter to a third-person point of view that follows Malcolm, one of Rufus’ two best friends. Malcolm and Tagoe have been arrested and they are seated in the back of a police car, en route to the police station. Earlier at Pluto when the police came to arrest Rufus, Malcolm “came up with a genius, life-ruining idea” to keep the cops away from Rufus, which was to get himself arrested by arguing with the officers and resisting arrest, so that Rufus could escape out the back door (86). Malcolm feels that even if he “can’t give his friend [Rufus] an extra day,” he “can find him extra time to live” (87). Malcolm is not upset that he will be tagged as a juvenile delinquent after this incident; he is just happy he was able to help Rufus. Malcolm stares out the police car window, wishing he would see Rufus pass by on his bike. 

There is a knock at Mateo’s door and, for a moment, he worries that it is not Rufus. He worries it could be a “gang of thieves” or someone who will harm him (89). However, when Mateo looks through the peephole, he recognizes Rufus from his profile picture and slowly opens the door. Rufus senses his hesitation and says “I’m on your turf dude […] If anyone should be suspicious it’s me. This better not be some fake sheltered-kid act, yo” (90). Mateo assures him that it is no act; he is on edge even more than usual because it is his End Day. Reluctantly, Mateo leaves the apartment with Rufus and together they step outside.

Mateo asks Rufus where they are going, as Rufus unchains his bike from a railing. Rufus says they do not need to have a plan; they just need to “go with the flow” (92). Mateo expresses concern that maybe it is a bad idea for Mateo and Rufus, two Deckers, to spend their last day together, because it may double their chances of dying sooner like “a Decker hot zone” (93). Rufus reminds him that, regardless of whether they spend their End Days together, they will both die at the end of that day. Mateo tells him that he wants to say goodbye to his dad and his best friend, Lidia, before his End Day is through. Rufus says that is fine, because he already has his funeral and there is nothing that he is “gunning” to do (94).

They cross the street, making their way to the 110th Street subway station, when Mateo notices a dead bird in the road. Mateo tells Rufus that he needs to get the dead bird out of the street. He tells Rufus a story from his childhood, when he was in third grade and he saw a baby bird fall out of its nest. Mateo tried to save the bird, but it died anyway. To this day, he still hates the idea of that baby bird dying in the rain. Rufus listens to Mateo’s story and, when he is finished, goes and gets a newspaper so that Mateo can use it to collect the dead bird. They bury it in a nearby community garden. 

After helping Mateo bury the dead bird, Rufus feels that Mateo “is too good” and that he is “mad shocked to meet someone so…pure?” (99). He decides he cannot tell Mateo about beating up Peck earlier that evening. Rufus asks who they will be seeing first, and Mateo replies his dad. They take the subway two stops downtown where the hospital is located. On the subway platform, when the train pulls in, they notice one cars is filled with a group of college students having an impromptu party: “Before the doors even open, I see one of those train takeovers going down, the ones where college kids host parties on trains to celebrate not getting the alert Mateo and I got” (101). Rufus wants to join, and leaps into the subway car thinking that Mateo is behind him. Mateo, however, jumps into an empty car in front of the party, and he looks back at Rufus and shakes his head.

After a few moments in the party subway car, Rufus grabs his bike and heads to the empty car where Mateo is waiting. Rufus sits beside Mateo and asks why he did not join the party car. Mateo says they have “no business on that car” because they have nothing to celebrate—in fact, they should be mourning their last day alive. Rufus realizes that Mateo’s inclination to play it safe is going to affect how they spend their End Day: “It’s possible Mateo not being a daredevil will keep us alive longer, but I’m not banking on it being a memorable End Day” (106).

Aimee and Peck walk home from Pluto. Aimee is furious at Peck, and calls him a “monster” for calling the police on Rufus at his own funeral (107). Aimee tells Peck that he needs to give her some time alone because she is so angry. Even though they are broken up, she had still wanted Rufus “in the picture,” and she is sad that she already has a limited time left with him and now has even less (107). Peck asks if this means that Aimee is breaking up with him, and Aimee does not respond. Peck says that she keeps putting Rufus before him, and he cannot believe she is not more upset with Rufus for almost killing him. Peck walks away and Aimee “lets him” (108). 

As they exit the subway station, Mateo ponders why he rejected joining the party subway car with Rufus, and he worries that he is “failing to break out” of his shell, even on his End Day (109). Mateo told Rufus that partying is not something that interests him, but he wonders if that was a lie: “But I wasn’t honest with Rufus, because, on a deep level, I do believe that partying on the train is my kind of scene. It’s just that the fear of disappointing others or making a fool of myself always wins” (109). When they arrive at the hospital, Rufus chains his bike to a gate and they both head inside.

Mateo asks the hospital’s front desk receptionist to see his father in the Intensive Care Unit. Visiting hours are over, but the receptionist makes an exception because it is Mateo’s End Day. They head to Mateo’s father’s room on the fifth floor of the hospital. Mateo heads in while Rufus waits outside the room. Mateo’s father has been in a coma for around two weeks after having an embolic stroke: “He’s very still, as machines are breathing for him. I’m close to breaking down because my dad might wake up to a world without me, and I won’t be around to comfort him” (113).

Mateo slides his hand under his father’s and thinks about how he wishes his father were awake, so he could say goodbye. Mateo tells the night nurse anecdotes about his father, from before he was in a coma. Rufus enters the room, and Mateo continues telling personal stories about his father, how he had to propose to his mother twice before she agreed. When he finishes the story, Mateo asks the night nurse and Rufus for 10 minutes alone with his father. They exit the room. Mateo takes his father’s hand and says that he wants to tell him more about his life. However, Mateo stops short because “the truth can be complicated” and instead hums a melody by Leonard Cohen, from the song “Take This Waltz” which his father loved.

Rufus sits outside of the hospital room as Mateo has his final moments with his father. When 10 minutes pass, Rufus gets up and goes inside the hospital room where Mateo is hunched over his father’s bed, his face flushed. Rufus asks how Mateo is doing, and Mateo replies fine, though Rufus knows this is a lie—Mateo is devastated to say goodbye to his father. Trying to stall leaving, Mateo says that he wants to tidy the room before he goes, to make sure there are clean cups for his father when he wakes up. Rufus reminds Mateo that his father would not want him to spend his End Day in a hospital, and so they should leave. Mateo kisses his father on the forehead and walks backward, alongside Rufus, out of the room.

As they walk away from the hospital, Mateo stops at the corner of the block and considers returning to his father’s hospital bedside: “It’s not too late to run back to Dad’s room and just live out my day there” (122). Rufus asks Mateo again if he is okay, and Mateo nods. They cross the street and encounter a homeless man digging through trash. When Mateo and Rufus get closer, the homeless man asks them for a dollar. Mateo wants to give him money, but Rufus hesitates. Mateo digs through his pockets and finds $18, and Rufus contributes $20 of his own, which they present it to the homeless man. The man is suspicious—he cannot believe they are giving him nearly $40. The homeless man gives Mateo a tight hug. Mateo and Rufus continue on their way, and Rufus tells Mateo he made a good call by giving the homeless man that money, and hopefully karma will reward Mateo for his kind deed. Mateo says that he is not trying to “rack up I’m-a-Good-Person points,” but instead just trying make a small difference in that man’s life (126). 

Chapter 23 is written from the perspective of Delilah Grey. With hair dyed to look like the aurora borealis (pink, purple, green, and blue), Delilah Grey is a young editorial assistant at the magazine Infinite Weekly, where she has been working since graduating college last spring. At 2:52 a.m., Delilah received a notification from Death-Cast that she is going to die that day, but she does not believe it. In fact, she believes it is her ex-boyfriend, Victor, playing a prank on her. Only the night before, Delilah called off her engagement with Victor and broke up: “Delilah is moving on with her day because just as she didn’t second-guess her decision to call of the engagement, she will not second-guess that bullshit call” (128).

Delilah turns on her TV to rewatch the premier of a show called Hipster House, for her latest assignment at Infinite Weekly. However, before she can turn on Hipster House, she notices a breaking news story that Howie Maldonado, the 25-year-old actor who plays the villain in the popular Scorpius Hawthorne films, has received the Death-Cast notice that day. Delilah reacts quickly to the news: “Delilah jumps out of bed, her heart pounding. She isn’t waiting around for this developing story. Delilah will be the writer who reports the story” (129). 

Mateo approaches an ATM and takes out $400, the maximum withdrawal amount, while Rufus waits behind. Mateo slips the money into an envelope, which he will give to Lidia. Because it is too early to go to Lidia’s apartment, Rufus suggests they go to the Cannon Café, his favorite 24-hour diner, where they can have breakfast.

Inside, the diner is empty and smells of “scrambled eggs and French toast” (132). They sit at the back of the restaurant, in a two-person booth near the bathroom. Rufus slides a menu to Mateo, and points out that they have a “Decker discount” where Deckers are entitled to a free meal, anything on the menu. When their waitress, named Rae, approaches to take their order, Rufus asks what Rae would recommend, as one of the last times he will be able to eat at the Cannon Café. She recommends the grilled chicken salad. Mateo orders whatever is Rufus’ usual order, which turns out to be French toast. Rufus tells Rae that it is both their End Days, which takes her by surprise, because they are both so young. While they wait for their food, Mateo reveals that he does not plan on telling Lidia that it is his End Day, because he worries that she will not be able to handle the loss of yet another person in her life. She is a single mom, to a daughter named Penny, and recently lost her boyfriend. Rufus does not agree with this idea, because he thinks Mateo should take his opportunity to say goodbye.

Rae brings their food, and the boys begin to eat. Rufus admits that he had wanted to travel the world, taking pictures of his journey. Mateo suggests that they go to the World Travel Arena, a virtual reality experience for Deckers that allows them to travel the world in a single day. When they finish their food, they pay the bill, but Mateo hesitates before leaving because, as he sees it, “leaving means dying” (139). Rufus corrects him, and says “Nah. Leaving means living before you die” (139). Mateo and Rufus thank Rae as the exit the diner. 

As they leave the diner, Rufus thinks about how he wishes he was able to spend his End Day with Tagoe and Malcolm: “I can’t front, Mateo is cool and neurotic and fine company, but it would’ve been really dope to have one last sit-down at Cannon’s with the Plutos, talking about all the good and bad things that have gone down” (140). Rufus wonders why they have not texted him since he fled from the foster home. Rufus unchains his bike and tells Mateo to hop on the pegs on the back wheel of the bike, so that they can ride to Lidia’s together. Mateo refuses: “No. This bike is going to be the death of us” (141). Rufus reassures him that it will be fine, but Mateo insists because he just has a “bad feeling” (141). Reluctantly, Rufus agrees to walk and they set off by foot toward Lidia’s apartment. 

On the way to Lidia’s apartment, Mateo gives Rufus some history on Lidia: Her daughter, Penny, was born just one week after her boyfriend Christian died in a car accident, and this experience scarred Lidia deeply. Since then, Lidia dropped out of high school to take care of Penny, and she currently lives in a small apartment with her grandmother. Mateo feels like Lidia’s life is challenging enough as it is, and he does not want to add to her stress with the news that it is his End Day. Mateo calls Lidia, who groggily answers the phone. He says that, because he was in the area visiting his dad at the hospital, he wonders if he could come over for a bit. She says yes, and so Mateo and Rufus continue on to the projects where Lidia, her grandmother, and Penny live.

At the apartment, Rufus waits outside and Mateo runs up the stairs to the third floor: “I walk in, and it smells like milk and clean clothes […] And inside the playpen is Penny, who doesn’t have her Colombian mother’s light brown skin tone, but it’s very pale like Christian was, except right now she’s red from screaming” (147). Lidia greets Mateo by tossing him a baby bottle, and telling him he should give it to Penny, who is crying. Penny accepts the bottle and stops crying.

Lidia offers Mateo breakfast, but he says no thanks. Lidia asks how Mateo’s dad is doing, and Mateo informs her that he is stable. Mateo burps Penny, and asks Lidia if there is anything else he can do to help. Lidia says that he can help her tidy up Penny’s toys, and so Mateo watches Penny as he collects her toys from around the room and puts them back in the toy chest. Before leaving, Mateo tells her that Christian must be “crazy proud” of her, and that she is a good person to devote herself so selflessly to Penny (152). Mateo helps Lidia with a few more chores around the house before silently leaving the envelope of cash on the kitchen counter. As he heads out the door of Lidia’s apartment, he blocks her number, feeling nauseous and dizzy. 

As Rufus waits for Mateo to come down from Lidia’s apartment, he goes through the apps on his phone and wonders why Tagoe and Malcolm still have not texted him. Mateo comes racing out of Lidia’s apartment building, and Rufus notices it looks as though he is fighting back tears. Rufus asks what is wrong, but Mateo says he is fine. When Rufus insists that Mateo say whatever is on his mind, Mateo explodes with anger, which quickly transforms into sadness. Rufus says that he understands Mateo’s frustration, and that ultimately it is Mateo’s last day on earth to live as he pleases, but Rufus can help him make the most of his End Day: “It’s your last day, live it however the hell you want. If you want help living it, I got you” (156).

Mateo softens and apologizes for yelling, but he worries that he will regret not having said goodbye to Lidia. Rufus understands, as he wishes he had the opportunity to say goodbye to his best friends, Tagoe and Malcolm, but for some reason they are not responding to Rufus’ texts. Mateo suggests that Rufus stay connected by posting to social media. Instagram is Rufus’ preferred form of social media, and so he has Mateo take his picture: “The photo is surprisingly dope though. Mateo caught me looking sad and proud all at once, like my parents looked the day [my sister] Olivia graduated high school” (159). Rufus uploads the picture, hoping that Tagoe and Malcolm will remember him as he was and not the guy who assaulted Peck. 

Chapter 28 is told from the perspective of Aimee’s current boyfriend Peck, which marks the first time the reader hears from this character directly. Peck is angry with Aimee for wanting to see Rufus, even if it is his End Day. Peck cannot forgive Rufus for assaulting him, and he deliberates what he wants to do: “Peck used to operate by a code with people like Rufus. A code that goes into play when someone tries to walk all over you. Peck has a lot to sleep on. But things aren’t looking good for Rufus if he’s still around when Peck wakes up” (161). 

Rufus’ and Mateo’s phones both vibrate with the same notification, which tells them that a Make-A-Moment location is nearby. Rufus has never heard of Make-A-Moment, and so Mateo explains: “It’s sort of like the Make-A-Wish Foundation […] They have these low-grade virtual reality stations designed to give you the same thrills as crazy experiences like skydiving and racecar driving and other extreme risks Deckers can’t safely experience on their End Day” (162). Rufus suddenly gets a FaceTime from Aimee, who is happy to see that he is still alive. She tells Rufus what happened after he fled the foster home: As he made his escape, Tagoe and Malcolm were both arrested for “mouthing off” to the police officers, and Peck told them that they helped Rufus with the assault (165). Rufus is furious because Tagoe and Malcolm did not do anything, and do not deserve to be arrested. Mateo overhears this conversation, which is the first time Rufus heard anything about an assault or the police.

Rufus also asks Aimee if she is still with Peck, given what he did that night; Aimee responds by saying that it is complicated, which Rufus takes to mean they are still together. Angered by this news, Rufus quickly ends the call, despite Aimee’s protests. When Rufus turns around to collect Mateo and head to their next destination, Mateo is nowhere to be found.

Chapter 30 is told from Aimee’s perspective, which marks the first time the reader hears from this character directly. Aimee has been trying to call Rufus back after he abruptly ended their call, but he is not picking up. Aimee checks Instagram and comments on Rufus’ posts with pleas for him to call her. 

Having overhead Rufus’ conversation with Aimee about Tagoe and Malcolm being arrested and the assault of Peck, Mateo runs away from Rufus in fear: “I don’t know what Rufus was involved in that led to his friends being arrested. Maybe he was hoping to use me as some alibi. But now I’m gone” (169). Mateo stops outside a daycare center to regain his breath, and Rufus catches up to him on his bike. Mateo tells Rufus that he cannot believe he did not mention he was running from the police. Rufus pleads with Mateo that they go somewhere so that Rufus can tell him the full story. Mateo agrees, but he is suspicious of Rufus.

Mateo and Rufus head into Central Park to have their conversation, near a series of bronze sculptures of characters from Alice in Wonderland. Mateo, despite being a native New Yorker, has never seen this part of Central Park, and he is in awe by the statues. Rufus is shocked that Mateo seems like a tourist in his own city. Once they are settled, Rufus begins explaining what happened that led to the police chasing him: That he attacked his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend late the night before, but that he is not a monster—it was just a “glitch” in his personality, because he was feeling “unwanted, frustrated, [and] lost” (173). Mateo accepts this explanation: “I believe him. He’s not monstrous. Monsters don’t’ come to your home to help you live; they trap you in your bed and eat you alive” (173). Rufus says one of the worst things about that morning was having to leave his friends as the police were chasing him. He feels as though he abandoned them the same way his family inadvertently abandoned him when they died, four months ago. 

Rufus thinks how lucky he is to have a Last Friend like Mateo, as rain clouds move in overhead. Rufus tells Mateo the story of what happened with his family: They got the Death-Cast alert on May 10th. The Death-Cast herald first spoke with Rufus’ mother, then his father, and finally with Rufus’ older sister Olivia. Rufus would be the only member of his family left alive, at the end of that day. Rufus tells Mateo how close he and Olivia were, how they had planned on attending the same university, and how Olivia was the first person that he came out to as bisexual.

Mateo does not press for the details of his family’s death, but Rufus offers them up anyway: The family decided to go to a favorite spot of theirs one last time, a cabin in Albany where they would always go for Olivia’s birthday. On the drive there, the roads were slippery and the family’s car flipped off the road and into the Hudson River, where Rufus’ mother, father, and sister all drowned. Rufus stops his story short, as he begins to get emotional: “Mateo knows how this ends, but there’s more to it. I stop because he has the basics and I’m crying a little and need to keep my shit together so he doesn’t freak out” (178). Mateo puts a comforting hand on Rufus’ shoulder, and reassures him that he is “not going anywhere” (178). They collect themselves and decide to head to Make-A-Moment.

Inside, the Make-A-Moment station reminds Mateo of a travel agency: “The wall behind the counter is half sunset orange, half midnight blue, and there are framed photos of people doing different activities, like rock climbing and surfing” (180). A representative, Deirdre Clayton, greets them and gives them a brochure of experiences that they can choose from. There are hot air balloon rides, swimming with sharks, skydiving, racecar driving, a parkour course, zip-lining, horseback riding, windsurfing, among many other. Mateo and Rufus choose skydiving, and Deirdre hands them a six-page waiver that they need to complete before heading to the virtual reality theatre.

The skydiving virtual reality theater is a large room with huge vents and safety mats. Mateo and Rufus put on matching aviator suits and harnesses, and an operator of the attraction turns on the high-powered vents to create a wind tunnel. Mateo and Rufus lower their virtual reality goggles and begin the ride: “I’m weightless as I hug my arms to my chest, like I’m speeding down a tunnel slide instead of free-falling through cloud after cloud, which I suppose I’m not actually doing either” (185). When the experience is over, Rufus says that he was not impressed, saying that “it was interesting, but low causalities are the one thing this place has going for it, and that sort of risk-free fun isn’t really fun at all” (186). Mateo agrees. 

Chapter 34 is told from Lidia’s perspective. Lidia figures out that it is Mateo’s End Day, as she put together the clues of his visit: “Mateo coming over super early; the kind but out-of-the-blue words he’d said about her being an awesome mother; the envelope with four hundred dollars on her kitchen counter; blocking her number, which she’d taught him how to do to” (187). Lidia is distraught and logs onto Mateo’s Facebook page, looking at old photos of him and thinking of their memories together. Lidia wonders how Mateo is spending his End Day, and hopes that he finds whatever it is that he is searching for. 

Mateo and Rufus come across several abandoned pay phones underneath a highway near the Queensboro Bridge. Rufus suggests that they take a closer look, and so they crawl through an opening in a chain-link fence and head into the ditch. Close-up, they observe the graffiti that says “I miss you, Lena. Call me back” in all capital letters, and they talk about how new technology is rendering so many things obsolete: Movie rental stores, DVD players, landlines and answering machines, newspapers, physical books, libraries, etc. Rufus comments that everyone and everything they love is going away, and humans think it will never happen to them—they falsely believe they are indestructible. Mateo responds by saying: “We never act […] Only react once we realize the clock is ticking” (194). He points to himself, as an example of that fact. 

Chapter 36 is told from Tagoe’s perspective. From his cell at the police station, Tagoe thinks about how he will be “haunted” by the look on Rufus’ face when he received the alert from Death-Cast. Tagoe removes his glasses and his vision blurs. He suppresses a neck tic, which he does often because he gets tics frequently and he feels that “his neck jerking around every other minute is not only uncomfortable, but it also makes him look unapproachable” (196). Tagoe asks Malcolm what he would do if he were to get the Death-Cast alert, and Malcolm says probably the same thing as Rufus. Tagoe’s father committed suicide and his mother abandoned him; he tells Malcolm that, if he got the alert, he would not look for his mother, and he would not try and find out more information about how his father died. Like Rufus, his only focus would be the people who care about him and who want to be in his life. 

Chapter 37 is told from Kendrick O’Connell’s perspective, a minor character who the reader has no context for at the opening of the chapter. Kendrick has a history of being “unlucky”: His parents divorced at nine years old after his father was caught cheating with another woman, and soon after he was beat up at school and had his brand-new sneakers stolen. Kendrick recalls how after he was beat up, another kid—a stranger to Kendrick, but it was Mateo—was kind enough to offer him a tissue and the sneakers off his feet. That was the pivotal moment where Kendrick vowed he would do anything to ensure that he never had his “ass kicked again,” and so when a classmate named Damien Rivas approached him to join his gang and learn how to fight, Kendrick agreed (199). Now Kendrick is known as the Knockout King, even though their gang has since disbanded. Peck, it is revealed, is a fellow member of Damien and Kendrick’s gang, who set aside gang life and tried to “live his life right” when he got together with Aimee (200).

Mateo tells Rufus that, as their next stop, he wants to visit the Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, where his mom is buried. They take the A train from Columbus Circle to Broadway Junction. When seated on the subway, suddenly, the lights in the car flicker off, and Mateo begins to panic. Mateo’s heart is pounding, but Rufus tries to calm him by maintaining the conversation about travel; he asks Mateo what are the places where he would have wanted to go. The conversation continues, but Mateo starts drifting off to sleep. He apologizes to Rufus: “Sorry. You’re not boring me. I like talking to you. I, uh, I’m really tired. Exhausted, but I know I shouldn’t sleep because I don’t have time for naps” (206). Rufus tells him to close his eyes and rest for a bit, and that he will wake Mateo up when they reach the cemetery’s stop. Mateo closes his eyes, feeling secure that Rufus is nearby.

Rufus takes a photo of Mateo sleeping to “immortalize this dreamy look on his face” (207). Soon, the lights in the subway car snap back on, as the train moves forward. Rufus realizes that it seems creepy that he is taking pictures of Mateo in his sleep, but he does not care—preserving the moment is the important thing. He observes Mateo’s eyes twitching in his sleep, and he can tell he is having a nightmare. Rufus sits beside him, and holds his arm to reassure him that everything is alright. 

Rufus shakes Mateo awake, and asks if he was having a bad dream. Mateo says yes, he was dreaming about being on the kiddy slopes skiing, which suddenly became a very steep hill with a boulder close behind Mateo. Down another hill, he saw a huge version of one of the Lego sanctuaries he used to build as a kid, but his skis flew off before he could reach it. He kept falling through the air as headless birds circled overhead. Rufus grins and tells Mateo that he has no need to fear flying off a snowy mountain today. Mateo notes to himself that that dream was probably the last one he will ever have.

Delilah pleads with her boss, a senior editor there at Infinite Weekly, to let her do the final interview with Howie Maldonado interview. Her boss says no, that Delilah is too new to do an interview that important. Delilah refuses to back down, and reminds her boss that she knows everything there is to know about Howie Maldonado and the Scorpius Hawthorne franchise—she is the perfect person to do the interview, or at least assist her boss with the interview. Delilah rattles off facts and trivia about Howie Maldonado: He won two awards for Best Villain; he played fencing competitively as a child; he is an only child; he speaks two languages, English and French. Finally, Delilah’s boss relents and agrees that Delilah can join her during the interview, and she tasks Delilah with finding a copy of Howie’s book before they meet, so she can get a signed copy for her son. 

Mateo and Rufus walk into Evergreens Cemetery. As they enter the premises, they begin talking about their beliefs on the afterlife. Rufus believes in two afterlifes. His theory is that, when Deckers receive the notice from Death-Cast, they are already dead—what they choose to do on their End Day is the first afterlife. The next and final afterlife is what follows. Mateo says that he hopes reincarnation is real: “I’m already finding that this one day to get everything right isn’t enough. This one life wasn’t enough” (216). When Mateo and Rufus reach the site of Mateo’s mother’s grave, a man is digging another plot right alongside hers for Mateo. Mateo is in shock to see his own grave, and he begins to tremble. Rufus demands that the gravedigger step aside and give them 10 minutes to themselves. The gravedigger reluctantly agrees and walks off. Mateo then asks Rufus for some time alone with his mother.

Kneeling in front of her grave, Mateo thinks about how “everything has come full circle” between his mother and him. She died on the day he was born, and now they will be buried alongside one another. Mateo addresses his mother: “Hey, Mom. You excited to meet me? […] I’m really sorry you had to die so I could live, I really am. I hope you don’t send some border patrol to keep me out when I finally die” (220). Mateo also asks his mother if he will find love in the afterlife because he couldn’t in his present life. He also asks her to look after him today. When he is done addressing his mother, Mateo gets inside the open grave and sits with his back against one side of the pit. Rufus appears, and asks if he can join him inside. They squeeze in together, and Rufus says that he will not have a grave of his own—he is going to be cremated, and the Plutos are going to scatter his ashes at Althea Park. Mateo says he loves Althea Park, and he went there often when he was younger with his dad. The rain begins to come down harder and so they exit the grave and leave the cemetery.