The Fault in Our Stars Page #20

GUS:

(TO HAZEL)

I don't know what's going on.

VAN HOUTEN:

And yet you seemed so intelligent

in print, Mr. Waters.

(under his breath)

Must be all that cancer in your

brain.

LIDEWIJ:

Peter!

Gus could throw a punch right now. Hazel tries to calm the

situation.

HAZEL:

Can we please, maybe, talk about

Anna for a sec? I mean, I

understand that the story ends mid-

sentence because she dies or she

becomes too sick to continue --

VAN HOUTEN:

I'm not interested in talking about

that book.

HAZEL:

- but that doesn't mean her family

and everyone she loves doesn't have

a future, right?

VAN HOUTEN:

I said I'm not interested --

HAZEL:

(GETTING UPSET)

But you promised!

(CALMS HERSELF)

(MORE)

76.

HAZEL (CONT'D)

Mr. Van Houten, you said you would

tell us what happens and that's why

we're here. We... I need you tell

me. Surely you've thought about it.

I mean, as characters --

VAN HOUTEN:

Nothing happens to them! They're

fictions. They cease to exist the

moment the novel is over.

This is not what Hazel came all this way to hear. She won't

accept it.

HAZEL:

They can't!

(again, has to calm

HERSELF)

I mean, I understand. In a literary

sense. But it's impossible NOT to

imagine some future --

VAN HOUTEN:

I can't do this. Lidewij, get rid

of them, please.

(Lidewij doesn't move, he

turns back to Hazel)

I won't indulge your childish

whims. I refuse to pity you in the

manner in which you're accustomed.

HAZEL:

I don't want your pity --

VAN HOUTEN:

Of course you do. Like all sick

kids, your existence depends on it.

LIDEWIJ:

Peter!

VAN HOUTEN:

(on a roll)

You are fated to live out your days

as the child you were when

diagnosed, the child who believes

there is life after a novel ends.

And we, as adults, we pity this, so

we pay for your treatments, for

your oxygen machines. We give you

food and water though you are

unlikely to live long enough --

LIDEWIJ:

PETER!

VAN HOUTEN:

You are a side effect of an

evolutionary process that cares

little for individual lives.

(MORE)

77.

VAN HOUTEN (CONT'D)

You are a failed experiment in

mutation.

LIDEWIJ:

I RESIGN!

Lidewij has tears in her eyes. Gus has balled his fists. But

not Hazel. Van Houten's words have not phased her one bit.

She rises from the couch.

HAZEL:

Hey listen douchepants. You're not

gonna tell me anything I don't

already know about illness. I need

one thing and one thing only from

you before I walk out of your life

and that's for you to tell me what

happens to your goddman characters!

VAN HOUTEN:

(BEAT)

I cannot tell you.

HAZEL:

Bullshit!

VAN HOUTEN:

I cannot --

Van Houten goes to take a drink but...

HAZEL:

Make something up.

... Hazel smacks it right the f*** out of his hands,

surprising everyone.

After a beat:

VAN HOUTEN:

Lidewij. I'll have a martini

please.

LIDEWIJ:

I have resigned.

VAN HOUTEN:

Oh don't be ridiculous.

No one moves. Van Houten realizes he's alone in this.

VAN HOUTEN:

I'd like you to leave now.

HAZEL:

You're really not gonna tell us?

VAN HOUTEN:

I would like you... to leave.

78.

Hazel is furious. Gus stands next to her, touches her arm is

if to say "come on, enough of this guy." CUT TO:

EXT VAN HOUTEN'S HOUSE - SAME

Gus and Hazel come out of the house, practically shaking. As

they get to the street, Van Houten has one more thing to say.

VAN HOUTEN:

Have you ever stopped to ask why

you care so much about your silly

questions?

A beat.

HAZEL:

Go f*** yourself.

Van Houten doesn't have a response to that. He just shuts the

door. And when he does, that's when Hazel gets emotional.

GUS:

Hey. It's ok. It's ok...

(beat, an idea)

I'll write you a sequel.

(she cries harder)

I will. Better than any sh*t that

drunk could write. With blood and

guts and sacrifice. You'll love it.

Hazel nods, then wipes away tears. She fakes a smile and Gus

gives her a hug. Afterwards:

HAZEL:

I spent your Wish on that a**hole.

GUS:

You did not spend it on him. You

spent it on us.

They embrace once more.

HAZEL:

I wanted...

GUS:

I know... I know. Apparently the

world is not a wish-granting

factory.

This gets a real smile from Hazel. That's when Lidewij comes

outside. Clearly she's been crying too.

LIDEWIJ:

I'm so sorry. Circumstance has made

him cruel. I thought meeting you

would help him, if he would see

that his work has shaped real

lives, but... I'm very sorry.

79.

Hazel says nothing. Gus holds her in a very protective way.

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