A teenage girl burst through the door and collapsed onto the hotel bed sobbing. "Hazel, what's wrong? Where's Gus?" "He left. He said he never wanted to see me ever again." Mrs. Lancaster stood bewildered. Though Hazel had never indulged her the specifics of their conversations, she had known that Augustus was smitten with her. He had even used his wish on her! She attempted to find a reasonable explanation, "Are you sure he wasn't just joking around?" Hazel lifted her head off the bedspread exasperated, "Yes, Mom, he booked the earliest flight possible back to America and is leaving in an hour. Mrs. Lancaster, now out of explanations, worked her way over to her daughter and began consoling her.
The lean, muscular boy settled uncomfortably in the aisle seat. Many thoughts were going through Augustus Waters' head, but the most prominent was the feeling of regret and guilt. 'I did the right thing, it's better for her to hate me than to see me die.' he thought to himself. If it was the right thing to do why did it feel so wrong? He leaned over the others in his row to look out the airplane window, but he didn't feel the same amazement he had felt on the ride to Amsterdam. He longed for Hazel's bright intelligent eyes and warm inviting smile as he allowed his eyes to slowly droop close.
Gus was jolted awake by his fellow passenger in the middle seat. He groaned as his decision came rushing back to him. He missed Hazel Grace more than he thought possible.
Weeks had passed by since the desertion in Amsterdam. Hazel had tried to fill the hole in her heart with support group and 'America's Next Top Model' but nothing had worked. She ached with regret, thinking that there was something should've done but she knew she had done everything right.
Mrs. Lancaster hollered at the teen to come out of her room as if she had bad news to tell, and that, she did. "Hazel, Augustus' cancer came back, and he didn't survive it this time." Hazel immediately went into denial, "This can't be happening, you're lying to me!" Mrs. Lancaster's voice was hoarse as she said, "I wish I was." Hazel broke down, sobs racking through her body. Though, she had never thought it possible, she cried harder than when he left her in Amsterdam.
At the memorial service, it seemed like hundreds of people were there and, at that time, she saw the full extent of all the lives he had touched. Mrs. Waters waved over to the kitchen, "He left something for you." She pushed a small, folded piece of paper across the island. Unraveling it she read, 'I was the grenade, I hope you'll understand, I was only trying to minimize causalities.'