In the Prologue, Martin introduces his world inside a care center, where Barney the Dinosaur plays on TV. Children surround Martin; like him, they “lie motionless on the floor or slumped in seats” (ix). Martin is 25 years old, yet he introduces himself as a “ghost boy,” stuck inside a hollow shell of a body and unable to communicate with those around him. He brings up a woman named Virna who believes that there is an “active hidden consciousness hidden” (x) inside him, which allows him to consider the notion that his circumstances might change.

Chapter 1, “Counting Time,” captures Martin’s seemingly infinite time inside the care center that he attends during the day. He has learned countless pieces of information, stored inside his mind without any particular context or relevance, such as the fact that “Iceland is a country of extreme darkness and light or that after lions come hyenas, then vultures” (2). In Chapter 2, “The Deep,” Martin gives an overview of how his body descended into his illness. Until the age of 12, Martin had exhibited no signs of neurological or physiological impairments. He had a love for Legos and electronics, and a natural curiosity to understand how things worked.