It was a muggy summer day in 1986. The academy was empty, many students had gone to their parents and friends to have fun and see their loved ones, but as for Albert, he, like those few here, was forced to eke out his miserable existence in the stuffy, damp walls of the academy. Again.

Last year, his father contracted pneumonia, which forced Albert to stay here and spend half the summer playing tennis with one of the graduates and reading alone by the pool. This summer, his sister got very ill with a cold, then his mother got sick, then his father, and for three weeks in a row Albert received calls from them with apologies and advice not to go home right now.

Albert left the library, handing over the book he had read over the past few days, walked through the empty hall, approached the stairs, and suddenly stopped when he saw another student.