2. Dear Diary,
Augustus Waters is an interesting person. He seems to be able to flirt
nonstop and asked me to go with him to his house to watch a movie.
I’d only known him for barely a few hours. As we waited for my mom
to arrive, he took out a freaking cigarette out of his pocket even
though he has had cancer and yet he still gave money to a company in
exchange for more cancer. He chooses his behavior based on
metaphorical resonances apparently. He told me that ‘you put the
killing thing right between your teeth, but you don’t give it the power
to do its killing’. He intrigues me. I chose to go with him to his house.
I’m back now. I like Augustus Waters. I really, really, really like him. I
was fascinated by how his story ended always with someone else. I like
his voice. Also, I’ve always liked people with two names because you
get to make up your mind what you call them: Gus or Augustus? I’m
always Hazel, though. We talked quite a bit over at his house and
exchanged books to read. I gave him An Imperial Affliction by Peter
Van Houten and he lent me The Price of Dawn.
3. Dear Diary,
Back from shopping with Kaitlyn. I’ve also bought the next two
sequels to The Price of Dawn, which is actually not bad. I
wonder how Gus is doing with An Imperial Affliction. I start
reading it again, for what seems like the millionth time. Later, I
call him up and we have a discussion about The Price of Dawn
and An Imperial Affliction. He is quite into the book but he’s not
admitting it. I told him that I finished the book and I’ve also
started reading the sequel.
4. Dear Diary,
Augustus got ahold of Peter Van Houten’s email address! Or
rather his assistant’s, Lidewij Vliegenthart, email address. He
had already written an email to him and got a reply back within
four hours. I wrote to him at once. I asked him about what
happens to the main character’s, Anna, mother in An Imperial
Affliction. Does she get married to the Dutch Tulip Man? Does
the Dutch Tulip Man actually love them or is he a fraud? What
happens to Anna’s friends? I wanted to know everything that
happened after the book ended.
5. Dear Diary,
Peter Van Houten replied to my email stating that my faith was
misplaced. He could not answer my questions in fear of
constituting a sequel to An Imperial Affliction, nor can he call me
to tell me. He did not want me to spread the information among
other fans. He did say, however, that he would tell me face-to-
face if I happened to be in Amsterdam at the time. I know that I
have to go to Amsterdam to meet him. It’s just one of the things
that you need to know in life. I have to find out what happens. I
doubt that my doctor will agree, though.
6. Dear Diary,
Augustus is using his wish from the Genies’ Foundation to take
us both to Amsterdam! I had no idea he wanted to know what
happens in An Imperial Affliction too! My mom has to come
with us, of course, to keep me safe. We are scheduled to go to
Amsterdam on May 4th and my mom and I are to bring one
suitcase together. We had a small squabble over who gets most
of the room earlier.
7. Dear Diary,
Interestingly enough, Augustus has never been on a plane
before. Needless to say, he was really excited when our plane
took off. He had a window seat and enthusiastically glanced out
the window. Later, after Augustus got over his excitement, he
started rereading An Imperial Affliction while I read Howl, a long
poem by Allen Ginsberg. He asked if the poem was any good
and I told him that I thought it was great.
After I read it to him, he said the most unexpected thing. He told
me he was in love with me.
8. Dear Diary,
I couldn’t sleep that night. The BiPAP still helped me continue to
breathe but I barely slept at all. In the morning, I was becoming
a nervous wreck. I was nervous to see Augustus, I was nervous
that my outfit wasn’t good, and I was of course, nervous about
seeing Peter Van Houten.
It turns out that Peter Van Houten is an alcoholic and refuses to
answer my questions. The only thing I could get out of him is
what happens to Anna’s hamster, who gets adopted by Anna’s
friend Christine. Augustus promised me he’d write an epilogue
but… I’m just so upset. I wasted Augustus’ Wish on that horrid
man.
