Cabin Nine [[Revised Edition] Under FURTHER Revision]

Jack Gets Pink Hair and I Get Surprise Conversion Therapy

It takes us six months to get certified. Plus another month for a child to be placed with us.

Jack and I decided to be foster parents. It's a well-known fact that there's a lack of good foster parents in the system. Though neither of us had to deal with that, I came very close. We want to be good parents to those who need it, even if it's not for long.

The kid is a fifteen year old girl whose hair is coloured bright pink and growing back in brown. Her name is Clara but she insists on being called Raven. The social worker tells us that she was in an abusive home and we're her sixth foster family.

We get along swell. She goes directly to her room and stays in there until she smells food and comes out. She's fairly quiet at dinner until Jack says, "Do you want to redye your hair? It's starting to grow back in your original colour."

She looks confused. "Why?"

"I don't know. It looks good with the pink. Just thought maybe you'd want to touch it up a little. If not, that's cool too."

"Oh. Okay. Yeah, that sounds good. Um... when?"

Jack shrugs. "Whenever. You start school on Monday, right? We could do it before then."

She nods. "Sounds good."

"Is this going to be like the Halloween disaster of 2013?" I ask.

Jack laughs and chokes on his food. Once he's able to breathe again, he says, "Definitely not. I've gotten better since then but not good enough to dye it myself. Raven, if it's cool with you, I think we should go to a salon or something. I know a woman who works at Ulta and she's really good at hairdressing stuff. She could come here if you don't want to be so out in public."

And that's when she gets defensive. "Why wouldn't I want to be out in public?"

"I didn't mean anything by it. Just thought maybe you have anxiety. Tyler said most of the kids in his class have anxiety, I just wanted to be sure you weren't uncomfortable."

"Oh." is all she says.

I decide it's my time to chime in. "I used to have anxiety in high school before my parents got me medication. It was actually for Jack because that was the first time my parents kicked me out and I was living with him, but I've been taking that same one since then and it's helped a lot. If you have any problems like that, we can help you get medication if that's what you want."

She just nods.

Jack takes her to get her hair done on Saturday. She comes back with shorter hair that's dyed a vivid blue. Jack has some new bright pink streaks in his and he's very proud of them. He gets to show them off at work and to our church.

Raven doesn't care for church but we convince her to go just this once. It's too early to leave her in the house alone but we don't tell her that. Instead, we tell her that she doesn't have to believe in God, we just want her to maybe find some friends that she'd see often. We go to a lot of church parties and stuff, so Jack suggested she make some acquaintances so she's not alone at the events.

Luckily, she agreed. I think we've shown her that we're okay. So far, she seems to trust us. We haven't pressed too far or asked her about any of her issues. She has an appointment with her therapist every Thursday. It's an hour's drive away but if it helps her, we'll do it.

Actually, after a few weeks, it inspires me to try therapy. It seems to help Raven and I've certainly got my own problems to deal with. I've been doing pretty well but I'd like to get rid of the nightmares. They've started to wake Jack up and I don't want to let him know anything's wrong. He won't question my desire to start therapy. Not after Jen and Aaron's handling of my situation.

So I do start. I do all of this research and end up settling with one that Susie recommended. I only go to three sessions before I catch on.

At first, I'm furious. I mean, I almost run over a mailbox on the way home. Thank God Jack and Raven are away. I don't want them to see me like this. I destroy the house and straighten my thoughts out while I clean it up. Once it's done, I call Susie to ask why she recommended that therapist. She tells me she has no idea who I'm talking about.

It takes some time but we find out that Aaron had gone through her phone and texted me as her in the siblings group chat.

He hired someone to give me conversion therapy without my knowledge. I trusted Susie as a credible source but she didn't think a password was necessary on her phone so now I don't know if anything she's said was really her.

I stay away from the group chat for two months and find a real therapist on my own.

That's it. That's the last straw. Jennifer and Aaron Ybarra are dead to me.