Running With Scissors: A Memoir

Augusten is almost 15 and is still involved with Neil, who is now 34. Augusten, Neil, Hope, Dr. Finch, Dierdre, and Dorothy are all staying at a motel together in Rhode Island. Dierdre is under intense treatment from Dr. Finch after yet another psychotic episode, and Augusten and Neil are keeping watch while the others sleep. On an old chocolate bar wrapper, Bookman writes a note to Augusten indicating that Augusten is merely a “sex object.” Augusten takes it as a joke, but Neil does in fact view him this way. Neil writes another note complimenting Augusten’s eyes, who thinks about how having his mother’s eyes might mean he also inherited a tendency to have a mental health condition. He worries that his mother will never get better and notices that since seeing Dr. Finch she seems to be getting worse. Dr. Finch arrogantly believes that the cause of her problems is that she’s harboring a secret love for him. As Augusten sits awake thinking about his mother, Neil badgers him for attention.

A few days later, Dierdre meets Winnie, a waitress at the motel diner. Winnie suspects that something is wrong with the relationship between Dierdre and Dr.