I struggled against Dad's vice-tight hold as he let me kick and punch him. Whimpers and grunts of devastation formed in my throat as my tears sprang free.

It wasn't until the lakewater had swallowed my passport that Dad finally let me go.

However, I knew my life would be over if I heeded his word and stayed in the town forever. That prompted me to wade into the lake, fighting against death itself, to search for my passport.

The icy chill of the water seeped into my bones. It took me a while to locate my passport, but it fell apart in the water like mud.

At that moment, it felt like a massive palm had come out of nowhere and crushed me in its mighty grip. All my plans were ruined.

I returned home as a shell of the woman I had been. A man I'd never seen before stood in our yard. Upon seeing my return, Dad hauled me to the hill by the arm. "Your new skin is growing out nicely. Let's see if things won't work out with another man."

Hot, white rage seized me as I thought about the same consequences that had befallen me the last ten times and the scorching sensation of my body being boiled.

There was no accounting for the sudden surge of strength I used to shove Dad away, staggering backward as I signed, "Why are you doing this to me? I'll die if I lose another layer of skin! I'm your biological daughter, for god's sake!

"Why is it that out of everyone in the village, only my fiances would go into the hill and come out completely different people? Are you doing this on purpose?"

Dad stepped forward calmly, then grabbed my hair and forced out roughly, "This is your fate!"

With that, he dragged me by my hair toward the hill behind the town.

We'd just left the town entrance when my best friend, Queenie, rushed over. Tears welled up in my eyes. I looked at her like she was the physical representation of hope.

Worried something might go wrong, Queenie had even brought the mayor.

The mayor had always been fair when dealing with town affairs. He looked somber as he struck Dad's arm with his cane.

"Can't you let the child go? So what if she can't break her curse and stays mute forever? If you keep this up, someday, something terrible may happen to her. You'll be sorry then!"

Queenie quickly pulled me behind her while Dad was caught off guard by the pain in his arm.

"You old fart! You're just using your identity as Beth's Dad as an excuse to pick on her! Why else would the other townsfolk's engagements work out, but not Beth's ten engagements?

"I'd like to hear what lousy excuse you have this time! If I find evidence that your twisted behavior is baseless, I'll have you locked up!"

I held Queenie back as she tried to move toward the hill, biting my lip and shaking my head vehemently. I didn't want her to enter the hill and come out like the others who'd wanted to murder me after. I didn't want to lose the only friend who'd been kind to me.

However, Queenie patted my hand firmly and said in a steely tone, "I'm here to save you today. I won't hurt you, no matter what I see on that hill!"

The mayor placated me as well. "We have to know the reason, at least."

They were right. I also wanted to know what secrets the hill was holding. I slowly released Queenie.

Dad wordlessly led Queenie to the hill, but it didn't take her long to return with a grim scowl. She clutched her lower abdomen and retched, fixing me with a look just as contemptuous as the ones I'd gotten before.

She stormed up to me and kicked me twice. "How could you be so twisted, Elizabeth? I must have been blind to think of you as my best friend!

"A person like you deserves to rot in this town! Don't ever call me again, or I'll kill you myself!"

The mayor and my new suitor were bewildered. They pressed Queenie for answers.

Queenie spat on me, then whispered what she'd seen on the hill in the men's ears.

My new suitor's eyes widened as horror colored his expression. He cursed, "Bitch! Where's your conscience? How could you possibly set me up with a despicable woman like her?

"I'd sooner stay single for the rest of my life than marry her!"

The mayor's expression was thunderous. He stood rooted in place for a while, then summoned all his strength to strike me with his cane. He trembled as he cried, "I don't know what atrocity our town has done to deserve a devil like you living among us!"

I meekly lifted my chin to look at the people who'd been on my side just moments ago. Even my best friend wanted to kill me.

I lay sprawled on the ground. Helplessness washed over me. And yet, there was nothing I could do.

The mayor tossed me into the biggest snake pit in town. A large, cold snake coiled around me until I couldn't move. I could only watch as countless smaller snakes slithered toward me, nipping at my body.

It had only been a day, but my skin had grown purplish from the snake bites. I was covered in countless pock marks, as if I'd been pricked all over by needles.

No one came to save me. I didn't know how many days I'd been in here, only that my body was festering away. Not even the snakes deigned to touch me.

Practically on the brink of death, I blacked out. I was jolted awake when a tub of gasoline was dumped over me.

I slowly opened my eyes to find that I'd been tied to a stake in the middle of the town square. A pile of wood surrounded me.

The mayor had gathered all the townsfolk, crying out his intention to purge the evil that was me.

"A person like Elizabeth Seymour isn't worthy of living in this world! It is our town's greatest shame to have someone like her amongst us!

"Everyone! Only when Elizabeth has perished and been forever silenced will our town have everlasting peace!"

He raised a torch and pulled his arm back, ready to hurl it at me.

My childhood friend, Cameron Frask, stopped him in time. "Mayor, what are you saying? We're only mute because we're cursed to be! How is that Beth's fault?

"She's been the town angel since she was a child! You can't burn her at the stake without a good reason, sir! That's beneath us!"

Cameron's argument elicited a curious, displeased murmur from the townsfolk, but it didn't curb the mayor's intention to kill me.

In a moment of panic, Cameron hauled Dad out of the crowd. "Mr. Seymour, say something! Beth's about to be burned for no reason!"

Dad simply leveled a frosty look on me and said evenly, "She deserves to die."

My heart was too numb to feel anything toward Dad's statement, but Cameron and the townsfolk were stunned by it. Their words caught in their throats. They weren't sure what to say.

As the crowd fell quiet, someone roared from a distance. Her voice grew louder as she drew near. "How dare anyone pick on my precious granddaughter?"

It was my grandmother, who'd been out of the picture for a decade. She hurried forward and undid my bindings.

She'd come to save me, no questions asked. As I took in her wizened face, now more wrinkled than it had been ten years ago, tears streamed uncontrollably down my cheeks.

Grandma looked heartbroken as she carried me to the town clinic to get my wounds treated. Then, grabbing the crowbar beside her, she braced it on her shoulder with fury and purpose.

"I'll get them to talk and apologize. No one will lay a hand on you as long as I'm here, Beth!"

Before she left, I quickly grabbed her hand and signed the whole story about the hill.

She grew even more furious when she understood it and proclaimed with newfound determination, "I don't believe in superstitions or paranormal nonsense! I won't go to the hill, but I'll make them apologize for what they've done to you!"

Grandma had never been like the other women, and her words reassured me plenty.

My eyelids grew heavier. I dozed off with my guard down.

However, as soon as I fell asleep, someone kicked open the clinic doors. Townsfolk had gathered at the door in an angry mob. They were brandishing tools in their hands.

"I'll send you to meet your maker today, you filthy scum! I can't believe our town has produced a devil like you!"

"We're doing this for the greater good! Killing you will be a feat worth celebrating!"

Cameron's eyes were bloodshot. "The thought that we've been friends for so many years makes me sick!"

I backed away fearfully, curling into a ball as I prayed that Grandma would show up and rescue me.

Alas, I never expected the townsfolk to have rallied under Grandma's orders. Gone was her affection for me as she dragged me out of the clinic by my hair while gritting her teeth. "The Seymours will not claim a devil like you as one of us! I'll kill you and restore the town's peace!"

I was once again bound to the stake. I watched from the raised platform as everyone held up their torches, eager to kill me, and knew they'd all gone to the hill.

Suddenly, fierce resentment washed over me. Why should I endure this? Why should I be burned to death for no apparent reason, even after I'd spent my whole life being a good person?

Just as the flames were about to lick their way up my body, I broke free of the ropes that bound me to the stake and burst through the fire. I couldn't care less about the flames on my body as I signed furiously, "Take me to the hill, or I'll haunt all of you after my death!"

The crowd exchanged terrified looks. Grandma tossed her torch aside, bristling, and told Dad to bring me to the hill.

However, I'd only just taken a step past the hill's entrance when I collapsed on the ground like I'd lost my wits.