The Fault in Our Paper Towns

I do not own these characters or these worlds.

I walked into the abandoned minimall. "Is anyone here?" I ask. I hear the shuffling of footsteps, one after the other. I breathe loudly, feeling another person's presence. I can tell they're trembling despite my loss of sight, maybe they were or are on the run, or maybe they're just hiding out.

I hear nothing but the sound of wind crashing against the broken glass windows that had now covered with -I assumed- big sheets of wood. The atmosphere was spooky, haunted. I try again in the hopes that someone was here and could lead me out of this place. "Hello? Anyone here? I won't hurt you." The sound of more footsteps shuffling, I hear a yelp, the person must've tripped.

"Are you alright? I would help you but I don't know where you are, not that I would be able to see where you are anyway." There had been a few minutes of complete and utter silence, no sound, just the repeated noise of the wind howling.

"I'm fine. Thank you." The voice said.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you can come over to me. I'm Isaac."

"Margo" she replies simply. Her voice was raspy, soft and quiet.

I hear her steps getting louder, her mysterious energy reaching closer and closer. I hold out my hand, hoping she may hold onto it and lead me to her.

I feel her hand eventually grasp mine, I feel a strange throbbing pain where my glass eye was located but I decided to ignore it. She pulls me towards her ensuring I didn't trip on the lengths of wood lying across the ground, piled up as if this place were a garbage tip. Her breaths were uneven, and heavy. I took notice that my hand had started sweating, I had felt nervous, like never before, I could tell she would've been pretty, it shows in her voice.

We walked for a few minutes before coming to a stop and she said, "Okay we can sit down here. -" She pauses "welcome to my humble abode" she gives out a small laugh and I could tell she was smiling from here.

"Do you live here?" I ask quietly, after I asked I hope she hadn't heard it, it was kind of a stupid question considering it sounded like she lived here by her previous comment. Unfortunately she heard me and she replied with "Yes, for a few months now."

How come you live in an abandoned mini-mall? Surely you have a nice home with parents and friends?" I ask.

"Nope, my turn for a question." She said. "Who are you and tell me your story, then in return I will tell you mine."

I wait a second and decide to go along with what she had said. "Well, I am Isaac, I am 19 years old, I live in Indiana and I had a touch of cancer around about two years ago, therefore the reason I am blind." I could feel her feeling sorry for me; even if I was miles and miles away I would be able to feel it. But I continued. "I had an operation removing the sight from my left eye, then I had another operation for my other eye to completely get rid of the cancer, which then left me completely blind. My best friend Augustus Waters had passed away, he had "lit up like a Christmas tree" in his scans and it just got worse until the cancer swallowed him whole. His girlfriend, Hazel, also had cancer, fluid just built up in her lungs and her body couldn't take it, her ability to breathe suffered greatly and she just couldn't survive any longer, she was also a great friend had passed around about 10 months ago. For all three of us we had been I guess you could say stalked by cancer and it had taken Gus and Hazel and left me here without two of the most important people in my life. It's been hard without them, but I know they are now together in heaven. Oh and did I mention my girlfriend, Monica, broke up with me just a few short weeks before my operation. I was going to be blind and she was the one who couldn't handle it." Silence filled the air; I could tell she didn't know what to say back to me. Fair enough I mean I wouldn't know either.