Every day, Caroline sat at her bedroom window and watched the other children playing in the street. She was sad and lonely and wished that some day she could play with them.
There was one young boy in particular. She saw him every day. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Caroline's heart ached. She dreamed of talking to him or holding his hand. She imagined him taking her in his arms and kissing her on the lips, just once.
One evening, when her aunt came upstairs with her dinner plate, Caroline worked up the courage to ask her a question.
"Why can't I leave the house?" asked Caroline.
"Because you are sick" Her aunt replied.
"But I don't feel sick," Caroline said.
"Well you are sick, so shut your mouth," her aunt growled and with that, she walked out and slammed the door behind her.
That evening, her uncle came upstairs to talk to her.
"I hear you've been asking questions again," he said angrily.
"I'm sorry, Uncle," Caroline whispered.
"Can't you see yourself?" her uncle roared. "Look at your hands! Look at your mouth! Look at your eyes! Don't you understand that it makes me sick every time I have to look at you? Do you understand the sacrifices your poor aunt and I have made to keep you hidden here all these years? Why do you think that is? Don't you realize? If anyone ever caught sight of you, they would hand you over to the church and have you burned! I would have done it myself if your mother hadn't begged me not to.""If you keep asking questions, I will have to beat you again," her uncle said gravely. Do not test me, child."
The next day, her aunt and ucle moved her to a different bedroom. The window looked out onto the back of the house. Now she couldn't see the other children playing.
That night, when her uncle brought up her dinner plate, he placed it on the table and sat down beside her.
"Listen to me, child," he said. "The reason we keep you locked up in here is because you are ugly. You are hideous and deformed. The rest of society does not tolerate monstrous freaks of nature like you. You are a monster. A disgusting and misshapen mutant beast. For years and years, all of those who have been born like you have been taken down to the church and burned at the stake."
"But why... Why am I so ugly?" Caroline whimpered. "I don't feel ugly..."
Caroline looked down at her hands and burst into tears."Maybe it would have been better if I had never been born," she cried.
"Maybe," said her uncle and Without another word, he left the room and slammed the door behind him.
That night, while her aunt and uncle were asleep, Caroline used a safety pin to slip the lock on her bedroom door. She crept out of her room and tip-toed down the stairs. She opened the front door as quietly as she could and slipped out. She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get away.
It was a cold and rainy night and all Caroline was wearing was a flimsy nightdress. She was shivering and the gravel road hurt her bare feet as she walked down the road. She stayed in the shadows, trying to keep out of sight.
Just then, she noticed two men standing in the road up ahead. They were wearing uniforms. When they saw her, they shouted, "Who are you? Stop!"
Caroline took off running. She could hear their footsteps following her. She darted between two houses and ran across the back gardens. Her nightdress got snagged on a tree branch. She couldn't free herself, so she struggled out of the nightdress and kept running.She was naked now and it was terribly cold, but she knew she had to keep going. She ran and ran as lights went on in the houses and people started shouting.
Coming around a corner, she found herself face to face with a man. When he saw her, his eyes grew wide and he shouted, "Monster! Monster!"She ran in the opposite direction, pushing through bushes that scratched her skin, until she found herself on the street again. She was so tired, she couldn't run anymore and collapsed in a heap on the ground.
People came running and they gathered around her, their faces twisted in anger and disgust. They started kicking and punching her, shouting, "Who are you? Where did you come from? Where have you been hiding"
Eventually, a priest fought his way through the angry crowd. "Take her to the church!" he ordered. "Tonight, we will rid ourselves this monster!"
The people dragged Caroline to the church and tied her to a stone cross that hung over the altar. They stacked wood under her feet. The priest started chanting and the people started praying. The priest took a burning torch from the wall and held it to the stack of wood, which erupted into flames.
Caroline screamed in terror. She begged them to have mercy on her and spare her life, but none of them listened to her pleas.
The fire grew rapidly and smoke began to swirl around her. She twisted and turned, desperately trying to get away from the heat and the flames, but it was no use. The fire kept creeping steadily upwards. As the young girl's nude body was engulfed in flames, the priest turned and addressed his congregation.
"Gaze upon the twisted face of this monster!" he cried. "Look on her misshapen body. Look at those hands! Only four fingers and a thumb! Look that that hideous face! Only two eyes! Only one nose! Look at that disgusting mouth! With red lips instead of green! And her teeth a sickening white!"