"I lit up like a christmas tree"

30 2 0
                                    

He flashed his crooked smile , then said , "I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel grace . The lining of my chest , my left hip , my liver , everywhere. "
Everywhere.
That word hung in the air for a while. We both know what it meant . I got up, dragging my body and the cart across the carpet that was older than Augustus would ever be , and knelt at the base of the chair and put my head in his lap and hugged him in the waist.
"It's not fair,"I said. "It's just so goddamned unfair."
"The world,"he said ,"is not a wish-granting factory," and then he broke down, just for one moment, his sob roaring impotent like a clap of thunder unaccompanied by lightning, the terrible ferocity that amateurs in the field of suffering might mistake for weakness. Then he pulled me to him and, his face inches from mine, resolved,"I'll fight it. I'll fight it for you. Don't worry about me, Hazel grace. I'm okay. I'll find a way to hang around and annoy you for a long time .

Dad told me that he was sorry about Gus and took me home . The nights forthcoming were restless and I felt almost breathless. Dad rushed me to the Hospital in the middle of the night where I was put on a iv and a special breathing tube . I stayed there for a couple of days , which was almost routine at this point but staying away from Augustus seemed worse than cancer.

I got news from the nurse informing me that I would be staying there for another week. If I was able to get out of bed then I would have punched some things .I was drifting to sleep when I heard the doctor tell my parents " the cancer is spreading and due to the fluid buildup in her lungs , the medicine is just too weak to fight it . I've consulted specialists and they have made the conclusion . Unfortunately she is terminal and has a week to live , at most . I'm so sorry "
My dad cried while my mother just held him , starting towards emptiness.

I woke up to my mother stroking my hair . I raised my hand and she called for the nurse to remove the tubes. I went home that day and slept in my parents bed , they clung on to me the whole night but I didn't mind . I wasn't scared to die, I was scared of hurting my parents, I was scared of the possibility that I would never meet Augustus again. I million things scared me but nothing as much as the thought that my love for Augustus wouldn't be known .

The idyllic endingWhere stories live. Discover now