Part One

The Tribulations of the Future

I have a request, my dear; please take good care of your sister. She will be in great need one day.

— my grandmother

Teresa had been lying in her bed for well over sixteen hours by now. Her arm was numb from the weight of her head as she opened her tired eyes and glanced over the alarm clock.

The lecture had already started. Right now, her students were probably wondering why their professor wasn’t there.

Fuck it, she thought.

She stretched an arm over to her bedside cabinet and accidentally knocked over the vial containing her tranquilizers. The pills scattered among the heaps of unwashed clothes that were littering the floor.

Without looking, Teresa fumbled around by her bed. After a while, her fingertips touched two of the pills that had rolled into a brassiere cup. She slid both them into her mouth, turned around, and slept on.