Adamo watched a boy in the back scurry away and rolled his eyes good-naturedly at the girl’s sharp comment. He turned his attention carefully on the sarcastic, angry sounding one, carefully ignoring the one who stood. “Of course not!” He started to laugh, slapping his thighs. “Who believes in that type of mojo? No! I’m here to welcome you to the Sade Heaven Correctional Summer Camp for Struggling Youths. But my fellow counselors and myself like to call it… the Save Haven. Why? Well, a few friends and I came together and made a camp for children like yourselves, but not for the reason you think. We want to help. We want to help you realize your true identities, including gender, sexuality, and body.”
It was way too good to be true—Joanne wished things could be that easy, for once in her life. "Ha, as if," she answered miserably, determined not to let her guard down. "I wish. What is this, some kind of cruel joke? Lure us in before giving us shock therapy and beating us to the ground when we least expect it?"
Ryan took a very deep breath of relief. Oh thank fuck… another day being gay! I’M GOING TO FLIRT WITH SO MANY GUYS MAYBE I’LL ACTUALLY GET A DATE INSTEAD OF ALWAYS BEING ALONE HAHAHAHHA! He then felt tears well up in his eyes.
“I understand why you’re being so skeptical,” the man hummed softly, smiling. “I really do. But you’ll just have to believe me when we get there. But may I ask you, why do you think we get such high rates? Why do you think we’re so popular?”
Valeria blinked and sat back down. She willed herself not to cry, and then she stood back up. "Uh, are we allowed to, ya know, uh," She struggled to find the right words.
“I understand why you’re being so skeptical,” the man hummed softly, smiling. “I really do. But you’ll just have to believe me when we get there. But may I ask you, why do you think we get such high rates? Why do you think we’re so popular?”
Joanne clenched her jaw, confidence wavering slightly. "Because too many Christian parents want their kids to be 'cured'," she replied firmly. "And because their kids have no say in any of it."
“Exactly,” The man said softly, his eyes softening gently. “That’s why we’re here for you. A lot of our counselors know what it’s like to be so disrespected with their state of mind, having it just be pushed off as a ‘phase’ or ‘something you heard from school’. But we know it’s different. But you can look me dead in the eye, and I can confidently tell you that we are a Safe Haven.”
Ryan used his finger to fling the tears off his face, knowing he could finally be free from his very unhealthily religious parents whise only moral is God. Now he could finally run around in his rainbow cape, confidently stating how much he loves guys without being punished or worse, discriminated for doing so. Gay freedom….
A tear slid down Valeria's cheek. Finally, away from her backstabbing friends. Away from her hating family. Away from the world, which her old friends had deemed 'fucking hell'
(Shit I didn’t see that, thanks Emi!)
(gtg for now, possibly will be back soon)
(Yeah YEET I’m going to sleep, I have school and shit.)
(hahahahahaha from afar
I’m prolly gonna stay awake idk)
(yeah I'm definitely not sleeping tonight XD)
Joanne's eyes narrowed at the bold statement. She fell silent, wrapping her arms around her stomach, dizzying thoughts causing her head to spin. There was no way……. This couldn't be real. Right? She'd have to be an idiot to fall for it all…
In the end, she merely nodded at the counsellor and leaned back into her seat, letting out a breath she'd forgotten she was holding.
Mummy dearest would have a heart attack if she could hear this. Court thought to herself as the words registered and sunk in. She had nothing to worry about, she could be fine, be happy here. Too good to be true, but the alternative was far scarier. She pulled an old flip phone from her bag and opened it, typing away quickly and grinning. Wait 'till Andy gets a load of this.
Mendax looked if they were about to say something but quickly shut their mouth. They didn't trust this man and his words, at all. If I may, it sounds like a bunch of bullshit wrapped in lies and dunked in deception. They thought, looking at the man while also trying not to. Their anxiety quickly stopped them from doing that, preferring to sink lower into their seat and hide their face.
Ryan still sat their, sceptical. He still couldn’t believe something told off as conversion therapy was actually a place where Ryan could fully express himself without discrimination or ounshiment for his ‘sinning’ actions, well according to his parents that is. Could Ryan actually be free from the torture of his parents for an entire summer? It seems as if a lie was haunting him, this couldn’t be real, could it? The question remained on his mind, not fully getting answered with genuine belief.
No. No. It could not be true. This man was lying, he had to be. This was the very definition of "too good to be true". Bailey looked around at the other kids. They looked just as distrusting as she did. They had all been hurt before. Maybe . . . maybe the man was telling the truth. He seemed nice enough, genuine enough. And he was wearing flannel, so that was a definite sign. Her hands shook in her lap, and her throat hurt from the tears that threatened to spill over. She raised her hand. "You-" her voice was too quiet to be heard, so she started over. "You realize how this sounds, right? You realize it sounds way too good to be true, right? Especially to a bunch of kids who-who. . . . " She trailed off, not wanting to mention her parents and not wanting to cry in front of these strangers.
Punishment*//
(Oof I can’t edit it, the title thing is blocking the word.)
