Hazel's P.O.V
I believe we have a choice in this world about how to tell sad stories. On the one hand, you can sugar coat it. The way they do in movies and romance novels... where beautiful learn beautiful lessons... and nothing is too messed up that can't be fixed with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song. I like that way as much as the next girl, believe me. It's just not the truth. This is the truth.
Sorry.
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Hazel's P.O.V
A week after Gus had gotten discharged from the hospital, he called me on my phone as I was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Thinking to myself about one of the less bull-shitty conventions in the cancer genre, which is known as "The Last Good Day". Meaning, when the victim of cancer finds his or herself unexpectedly with a few hours when the pain of it all is just for a minute bearable. The only downside to this moment of relaxation is not knowing when your last good day is your actual "Last Good Day". At that pleasant moment in time, it's just another decent day.
I stood up from my bed and noticed my phone buzz on my desk. I picked it up and smiled at the name of the caller. I answered right away.
"Hello Agustus..." I said calmly with a small amount of humor in my voice. Gus chuckled a bit.
"Good evening, Hazel Grace..." Gus replied in the same manner as I giggled along with him. I smiled to myself listening to his voice. He sounded much stronger than he did the first couple days when he was discharged from the hospital.
"Quick question for you, did you ever write that eulogy I asked you to prepare?"
Gus had asked me and Isaac to speak at his funeral after he found out that his entire body was now a storage unit for cancer cells big and small. I looked over at my desk to see an envelope with Gus's name on it.
"I may have..." I said to him.
"Do you think you could find your way down to the Literal Heart of Jesus in the next few minutes?" He asked hoping I would say yes. I thought for a minute.
"Maybe, is everything okay?" I asked him with slight confusion and humor in my voice once again.
"I love you, Hazel Grace~" Gus said this with a teasing but sweet tone in his voice as he hung up the phone quickly. I blushed and smiled then noticed he had hung up the phone and I stared at in with even more confusion, but I knew I couldn't keep him waiting.
Fast forward through the argument I had to go through with my parents. I had finally walked into the building I used to dread going into. But then, after Gus and I crossed paths, it was like I couldn't stay away from that building. Yes, I know that sounds like mushy shit you'd hear in a Nicholas Sparks movie but like I said, this is the truth. I walked up to where Gus was sitting in his wheel chair as he was trying to direct Isaac how to get to the podium.
"A little more to your left, buddy. Step up, reach out, there you go." Gus smiled at his now blind best friend.
Isaac was a special one to say the least. Mind you, he was much like Gus in a way but a little less... out there as him. I finally had the chance to connect with him after his girlfriend, Monica, shattered his heart into a trillion pieces right before he was about to loose his eyesight. Talk about bad timing. Then again, as I told Isaac, people don't really know the promises their making until they make them. Isaac was crushed. But that's okay. As my once favorite author stated in my once favorite book; "Pain is meant to be felt".
