Cabin Nine [[Revised Edition] Under FURTHER Revision]

Non-Non-Fiction

It was always the plan to write. I mean, it was my one strong suit in high school. After that, I didn't really have time. With all the kids, I didn't have much time.

So here I am, eleven years later, just having finished a book.

Jack reads it and only gets four chapters in before saying, "Tyler, this is us. This is just your life."

I nod. "Yeah. Makes for a good fiction novel, doesn't it?"

He looks conflicted. "I mean... yeah. I guess, but isn't it a bit personal? You won't regret making this a book for everyone to see, will you?"

"I don't think so. Jessica and I already talked about it and she thinks it's a good idea."

Jack sighs. "That therapist of yours is going to replace me."

"Well, she's a she, for one, so I don't see that happening."

He smiles. "It's great. Are you meeting with-"

"I've actually already started that part. There's cover design and advertisements all at the ready. Just wanted to get your opinion before all of that happened. Please don't be mad, I just-"

Jack cuts me off by kissing me like it's the end of the world. I haven't felt that kind of heat in a long time.

When we finally have to come up for air, Jack just smiles and says, "It's your dream. You're going to be a published author."

And I am.

Within two years, I'm kind of famous. Not J.K. Rowling famous, more somewhere between Rick Riordan and Michael Grant. At any rate, my book quickly becomes a national bestseller and I'm being hounded by many fans about if the story will continue.

Jack and I talked and he thinks it's best to keep it as a teen fiction book just in case it would get my parents in trouble. Plus, I included several activities he participated in that were probably illegal. Jack was an idiot in high school.

However.

It only takes two years for someone to dig into my life and find out that it's actually an autobiography.

I expect backlash but the reading community comes together and acts as a support group. It really affects my life as a teacher. After holding the position for eleven years, they learn the truth about where I come from and people treat me differently.

My teacher friends make an effort to be extra soft around me like I haven't already gotten over my childhood trauma. I probably wouldn't if I didn't have Jack.

Students relate the most. Without reading the book, the principal encouraged the entire student body to read it simply because I wrote it. It spurs a lot of students to relate similar experiences and I end up with three new unofficial foster kids. All were kicked out for being LGBT+ and had nowhere to go. Jack and I don't really talk about it. I just show up with a new kid three times and he chuckles and leaves me be.

So that's how we end up having seven children live with us, three of which aren't even ours.

It's so weird to think that our oldest is twenty-nine years old. Jack and I are now thirty-seven and yet I have the mindset of a sixteen year old with no experience with the world. I thought I would get wiser with age but I just got crankier.