2.17- Different Marriage

Victor doesn't think of his parents very often, and he hasn't dreamed of them in years—since his mother died, his brain mixes random, ancient memories into it, so every dawn brings there, comes feeling.

As he tries to wriggle his way back to the correct time zone and reality, he is completely disoriented. But that night, lying alone in Paraiso's bed, he dreamed of his mother and father, their quarrels fresh in his mind as if they had happened all over again.

He dreams of the worst of the night—his mother threatening suicide, and a thirteen-year-old girl—and Victor runs out of his room to find her, with racing heart and chest pain.

They were in the kitchen, mother tear-stained, father determined and ruthless. His mother held a butcher knife with which she sliced the grapes when they were ripe and fresh off the vine.

"I hate you so much," she sobbed, raising the knife even higher. Victor didn't realize he was making a sound, but he must have, because his mother turned to face him, her