Status: Please tell me what you think :)
The Stars Shine For You
Chapter 1
This is a story. Not just an ordinary story, but an extraordinary one. This is the story of me, Augustus Waters, and how one perfect girl changed my life.
I walk up the steps of the church. I haven’t been to a support group in a while so I’m not sure what to expect, last time I went was when I had a touch of osteosarcoma, but that’s gone now, along with part of my leg.
I’m not here for me though, I am here today at the request of my friend Isaac. You could say I’m moral support. He’s facing a challenging time right now because he’s soon to get surgery on his last remaining eye in a few weeks, and he will be blind after that.
I walk into the room and sit down on an empty plastic elementary school chair next to Isaac. I brush a hand through my short mahogany hair and look up to see a girl, not too much younger than me, pouring lemonade into a Dixie cup. I continued to stare at her as she sat down opposite of Isaac. She had a pageboy haircut, and even though it looked unbrushed it framed her face perfectly. Her cheeks were a little bit puffy like a chipmunk, “probably a side effect from treatment” I think to myself as I continue to stare.
After staring at her for a few minutes she begins to stare back. I didn’t expect this of course. I awkwardly smile and glance away from her. When I look back she flicked her eyebrow as if to say she won the staring contest we were subconsciously having.
I can’t stop staring at this amazing girl sitting two seats away from me, and the only thing to break my contact is Patrick, the support group leader, directing his attention to me. I realised it was my turn to ‘tell my story’ so I smiled a little and stood up, ready to present myself.
“My name is Augustus Waters” I say, my voice a little too low, partly from nerves, but mostly to appear mysterious and manly to the girl two seats away from me. Failed attempt.
“I’m seventeen. I had a little touch of osteosarcoma a year and a half ago, but I’m just here today at Isaac’s request.”
“And how are you feeling?” Patrick asks.
“Oh, I’m grand.” I say smugly, smiling with the corner of my mouth. “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.”
Next it’s the mysterious girl’s turn to speak. “My name is Hazel. I’m sixteen. Thyroid with mets in my lungs. I’m okay.”
Hazel. Hazel. I run the name over in my head, absorbing every sound, every letter.
An hour passes and I comfortably sit there, listening to everyone’s introductions and stories until Patrick asks me a slightly unusual question.
“Augustus, perhaps you’d like to share your fears with the group.” He said
“My fears?” I ask, slightly confused.
“Yes.”
Without a moment’s pause I reply. “I fear oblivion. I fear it like the proverbial blind man who’s afraid of the dark.”
“Too soon” I hear Isaac say, and I look over to see him cracking a smile.
“Was that insensitive?” I ask, “I can be pretty blind to other people’s feelings.”
Isaac starts laughing by Patrick looks unimpressed, raising a finger at me and saying “Augustus, please. Let’s return to you and your struggles. You said you fear oblivion?”
“I did.” I reply.
Looking a bit lost, Patrick says “Would, uh, would anyone like to speak to that?”
I see a hand raise out of the corner of my eye and look over to see Hazel with her hand right in the air.
“Hazel!” Patrick exclaims, beckoning her to open up to the group.
“There will come a time,” she begins “when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone every existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it Is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was a time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be a time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.”
I stare at her in awe at her beautifully spoken verse, she captured my attention perfectly. The room was silent for a few seconds and I couldn’t help but place a huge smile on my face.
“Goddamn” I say quietly. “Aren’t you something else.”
I walk up the steps of the church. I haven’t been to a support group in a while so I’m not sure what to expect, last time I went was when I had a touch of osteosarcoma, but that’s gone now, along with part of my leg.
I’m not here for me though, I am here today at the request of my friend Isaac. You could say I’m moral support. He’s facing a challenging time right now because he’s soon to get surgery on his last remaining eye in a few weeks, and he will be blind after that.
I walk into the room and sit down on an empty plastic elementary school chair next to Isaac. I brush a hand through my short mahogany hair and look up to see a girl, not too much younger than me, pouring lemonade into a Dixie cup. I continued to stare at her as she sat down opposite of Isaac. She had a pageboy haircut, and even though it looked unbrushed it framed her face perfectly. Her cheeks were a little bit puffy like a chipmunk, “probably a side effect from treatment” I think to myself as I continue to stare.
After staring at her for a few minutes she begins to stare back. I didn’t expect this of course. I awkwardly smile and glance away from her. When I look back she flicked her eyebrow as if to say she won the staring contest we were subconsciously having.
I can’t stop staring at this amazing girl sitting two seats away from me, and the only thing to break my contact is Patrick, the support group leader, directing his attention to me. I realised it was my turn to ‘tell my story’ so I smiled a little and stood up, ready to present myself.
“My name is Augustus Waters” I say, my voice a little too low, partly from nerves, but mostly to appear mysterious and manly to the girl two seats away from me. Failed attempt.
“I’m seventeen. I had a little touch of osteosarcoma a year and a half ago, but I’m just here today at Isaac’s request.”
“And how are you feeling?” Patrick asks.
“Oh, I’m grand.” I say smugly, smiling with the corner of my mouth. “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.”
Next it’s the mysterious girl’s turn to speak. “My name is Hazel. I’m sixteen. Thyroid with mets in my lungs. I’m okay.”
Hazel. Hazel. I run the name over in my head, absorbing every sound, every letter.
An hour passes and I comfortably sit there, listening to everyone’s introductions and stories until Patrick asks me a slightly unusual question.
“Augustus, perhaps you’d like to share your fears with the group.” He said
“My fears?” I ask, slightly confused.
“Yes.”
Without a moment’s pause I reply. “I fear oblivion. I fear it like the proverbial blind man who’s afraid of the dark.”
“Too soon” I hear Isaac say, and I look over to see him cracking a smile.
“Was that insensitive?” I ask, “I can be pretty blind to other people’s feelings.”
Isaac starts laughing by Patrick looks unimpressed, raising a finger at me and saying “Augustus, please. Let’s return to you and your struggles. You said you fear oblivion?”
“I did.” I reply.
Looking a bit lost, Patrick says “Would, uh, would anyone like to speak to that?”
I see a hand raise out of the corner of my eye and look over to see Hazel with her hand right in the air.
“Hazel!” Patrick exclaims, beckoning her to open up to the group.
“There will come a time,” she begins “when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone every existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it Is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was a time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be a time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.”
I stare at her in awe at her beautifully spoken verse, she captured my attention perfectly. The room was silent for a few seconds and I couldn’t help but place a huge smile on my face.
“Goddamn” I say quietly. “Aren’t you something else.”