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HE MUST'VE ONLY slept for half an hour, tops, when the door to Steve's doghouse was opened and the sun violently woke him by daring to shine in his face. „I hope you learned your lesson," Mary Brown stood above him, a frown on her wrinkled face. „Now rise and shine, everyone's waiting just for you."
He didn't get to eat breakfast that day. He was barely given enough time to change before Mike escorted him over to the main house where the others were already seated in their circle. Eddie waved at him, a friendly smile on his face, but Billy, who sat with his arms crossed, just looked away.
Over the course of the night, Steve's left eye had become so bruised up that he could hardly see anything on that side. It hurt like crazy, but he was adamant about not letting Billy know. He just sat down next to Eddie, returning his smile briefly before he turned his attention to Mrs Brown, who sat within the circle with her legs crossed.
„I hope you all had restful night," she put on one of her awfully artificial smiles. „Yesterday was a day that I can only describe as two steps forward, one step back," she glared at Steve, who shrunk in his seat. „Yesterday evening," she raised her voice — it was shrill and unpleasant in Steve's ears. „One of our male campers kissed another."
Cue whispering, shocked faces and the hint of faint smiles. Steve looked around and felt like everyone was staring at him, except Billy, whose gaze had wandered outside the window.
„Now, I understand how hard it is to fight the urges," she shrugged, „But this is a conversion camp, ladies and gentlemen, and homosexual activity cannot prevail in this heteronormative environment," she adjusted her reading glasses, letting her eyes wander around so that the warning expression on her face reached everyone. „Next time I catch one of you, it's going to have consequences much more grave than a night in a doghouse. Is that clear?"
The group nodded in unison. „Clear, Mrs Brown."
Mary Brown clapped her hands, her smile, albeit still artificial, growing wider. „Great. Now, for today's program — we're still concerned with step one! All but Nancy Drew here now admitted to being a homosexual, but that isn't all there is. To really understand your perverse feelings, you need to identify your root!"
She stood up and gestured toward Mike, who rolled in an overhead projector, putting on a slide. He turned off the lights and the pale blue wall at the other end of the room projected the word Roots, complete with some drawings Steve found hard to decipher.
„Now, you might ask yourself, what is a root?" Before she decided to run a conversion camp, she must've been a teacher — her tone of voice, her whole manner just gave it away. Steve grimaced when she started to look around for volunteers to answer her question.
Mary pointed at Nancy when no one raised their hand. „Nancy, dear, would you be so kind and answer my question?"
Nancy rolled her eyes, which in turn caused Mrs Brown to narrow hers. The brunette girl played with her fingers. „A root can be anything; it can be something someone said, or did, or it can be some form of media we consumed or some... thing we witnessed," it sounded as if she read it aloud from somewhere, but she wasn't. Not that Steve could see, at least. „It's the catalyst for our homosexuality."
