I heard there's a man. A powerful man, a man who knows everything, who can cure everything. But legend says this man is impossible to find. However, if you go to the most beautiful waterfall and biggest lake in the center of the world and bathe in the water, you'll be pure of all your sins if it decides you're worthy. Then you must climb the mountain of the waterfall, and beg to be healed. And if he finds your heart is pure enough, he will appear and cure you.

I have a disease, and in my castle, this disease leads to death if anyone were to find out. It started from when I was a young child and knew no better. My mother was bathing me and I looked up at her. She smiled but once she saw my face, her smile turned into a frown. I remember her asking me what was wrong. I didn't want to tell her because I was embarrassed. When she told me it was okay, I nodded and told her what was wrong.

"Mommy, I don't like these parts." I said.

"What do you mean my child?" She said, her hand on my shoulder.

"I was born wrong."

"What dear? You were born perfectly."

"No, I want to be a boy!" I yelled.

My mother immediately covered my mouth and told me to hush. She looked around to make sure nobody else heard and she whispered to me. "My child, you cannot speak like that. You don't feel this way. You're just mistaken."

But me, a child, confused, protested. "I want to be like my brothers."

"No my child, you do not. You're just confused. Mistaken. You cannot speak like this to anyone."

"Why mommy?"

"Because they will take you away from me and hurt you."

At that age, I didn't understand what she meant. Why would they hurt me? But as I got older, I understood. But the feeling never went away either. And around puberty, I was met with another problem. I fancied women... Nobody knows how ashamed I felt. How much this hurts me inside to be sick. I wished to be normal. A lady who is in love with men and only men.

Whenever I have thoughts of a girl and begin getting aroused, I try thinking about a man. But I get met with disgust and my arousal goes away. Then I lie awake at night, wishing to be different, wishing the thought of a man didn't displease me.

My name is Ashley Margarette Weston, and I am a 15-year-old. I have a mother; Charlotte Brooke Weston, a dad, Tyler Clayton Weston, three brothers; Tyler Junior Andrew Weston, Brandon Riley Weston, and Rodney Edgar Weston, and one sister, Lilly Edith Weston. We live on a farm far away from the castle. My mother's the only one who knows about my disease. So hush.

I hear our rooster singing on the fence. That means school starts in two hours. It looks like this was another sleepless night. I put on my clothes and shoes and head down the latter. Mom is getting breakfast ready. Dad and my three brothers have already left to do their chores.

"Do you still have those thoughts, Ashley?" My mom looks at me with sorrow in her eyes.

"Yes, mother." I say, looking down at my feet.

"I heard you up in that bed all night, tossing and turning. It's a good thing your father and brothers sleep like logs. You'll end up waking them one of these nights, and you know how that'll go."

"Yes, mother. I know."

"Everything will be alright. While I'm in town I'll see if the library has anything or knows anyone to get rid of this."

"There is a man, in the center of the land."

"Not this again Ashley, it's just a legend."

"What if it's our only hope of me being normal?"

"Let's look elsewhere first. Eat your breakfast."

I scarf down my eggs and beans. They were delicious as always. I help mom clean up and then we head out to town, grabbing one of our horses from the stall. Lilly sits in front of mom and I sit behind her as we ride into the castle. The sunset was always the most beautiful. I watch it as we ride through the fields and get onto the main road. All the different colors filled the sky and I drift off to daydreaming.

I thought about being a little boy, playing football with the other boys, kicking the ball around. Then I thought about this girl named Gwen in my class. I thought about kissing her, and even... getting a boner because of it. Then I thought about what it would be like to be a mighty knight. I wanted so badly to be one of those men, riding a horse and protecting the people. I wanted the muscles, and people to look up to me. I wanted facial hair. And finally, I thought about what it would be like, helping my dad on the farm every morning instead of going to school. I wanted it all, but it was wrong...

"Now Ashley, I hope you're not letting your mind wander off." My mother says, glancing back at me, wondering why I'm not talking about something this morning and how beautiful it is outside like I do most mornings.

"Of course not." I reply back. "It's a beautiful morning."

"Mhm." She expresses as our horse trots towards the entrance of the Castle.

"Good morning Mrs. Weston. I see you have your girls with you." One of the guards said.

"Oh yes, I'm taking miss Ashley to school and Lilly will be spending the day with me."

"How are those farms doing this time of year?"

"Oh, they're doing just lovely, give it a while longer and soon we will need to harvest."

"The King will be pleased to hear this. Have a pleasant morning."

"Thank you."

We started to ride off when I yelled, "Stupid!"

The large swords crossed our pathway and we stopped. "What'd you say to us young lady?" A guard said.

"What? Nothing." I said, scared.

"Who are you calling stupid?" He responds.

"Oh, I'm very sorry about that, my daughters been working on a school project all night. She must've just figured it out." My mom says.

"Watch her mouth next time." He says.

"I will. Thank you." She says, as the swords raised and we passed through.

"What were you thinking?" My mom asked.

"My sins." I responded.

"You have to watch what you say."

"I know, I know. Can we just go to school?" I asked, holding back tears.

She nodded and didn't say another word as we strolled through the town. Everyone smiled at us as we went by. We weren't supposed to ride our horse through town, but it was a perk we earned because Brandon is the local blacksmith, and he often did deals with the public in return for their silence and goods. We went past him as he waved at us. Mom nodded and I smiled, waving back excitedly. He's the only one out of my brothers who doesn't work on the farm with our dad.

The school bells rang, telling everyone it was about to start. Mom let me off the horse and told me to run and make sure I wasn't late. I did as I was told and got to the door before it was closed. Mrs. Yvonne wasn't happy that I was running, but rushed me to sit down. Gwen, a girl I fancied waved at me to sit next to her. I blushed and did so.

My heart raced whenever I saw her, but I had to ignore the feeling. I looked over to a boy called Jeremiah, I knew the only way to get rid of my nervousness is by thinking about kissing him. He was the most handsome boy in the class, all the girls loved him. But yet, I still couldn't bring myself to enjoy the thought of his lips upon mine.

Mrs. Yvonne started writing on the board our English lessons. We were learning how to properly write a letter and expanding our vocabulary. Our lesson for today was to write the King a letter, telling him how much we liked him and enjoyed the way he ruled.

My teacher didn't like mine. She said I was incompetent in writing anything remotely readable. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't care much for writing. Math was what I was good at, and carpentry. But I got in trouble for participating with the boys. Earned me seven whoopings across my ass. But it was worth it if you ask me.

The day was quite boring, Mrs. Yvonne could never teach anything interesting. She was like a dull knife trying to cut into a good ol' steak. I always drifted off in her class, I end up getting three whoopings almost every day. My ass will either become steal or a nice tender donkey if I'm not careful.

"Ashley!" Mrs. Yvonne yells.

"Yes, Miss?" I ask.

"Get your head back in here! You ain't here to look at the trees."

"Yes, Miss." I say, turning my attention back into class.

I watch as Mrs. Yvonne walks. I imagined her legs looked real nice underneath that dress. I started twiddling my thumbs as I watched her. I looked over at one of the boys. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. His mouth wide open, staring at her chest, hands in his lap as his pants got tighter. I smiled at him, I knew exactly what was going through his head.

He looked over at me, his facial expressions became mean as he used his hands to better cover his pants. I looked back at Mrs. Yvonne and my thoughts started going again. I knew I had to distract myself, I started looking at her face, at her teeth. She had the most crooked teeth the eyes will ever meet. Even though it was rude of me, looking at her teeth did the trick.

It was almost lunchtime when I noticed Gwen's hand intertwined with mine. Her hand held mine tight. I looked at her as she shyly smiled. My heart raced and I wasn't sure what to do. I kept staring into her eyes. I'm sure I was misinterpreting the whole thing, but damn did that girl have me wrapped around her sweet finger.

The feeling didn't last long when my love turned into fright as a girl sitting beside Gwen yelled loudly that we were holding hands. Gwen let go of my hand quickly as the teacher stormed over. The girl beside Gwen explained how we were holding hands, each finger between the other. Our teacher said that kind of hand-holding was forbidden when it was two girls or two boys. She said if we had done that in public, we would've been hung for the sin of homosexuality.

Gwen apologized, but the teacher thought this would be a great time to explain today's events. Two boys were being hung today for such acts. A man caught the two touching each other in his shop. He nearly wanted to burn the whole structure down, she said. The teacher told us we needed to watch what happened to sinners when they act upon their thoughts. I looked down at my hands. I couldn't understand why people had so much hate for us 'sick' people.

She rung the bell shortly after our talk and let us free for lunch. She each gave us seven cents to get some bread and milk. I always pocketed a cent or two instead of getting milk. When I got five, I exchanged it for a nickel out of my mom's drawer. When I got two nickels, I exchanged it for a dime and so on.

Over the years I've managed to gather up fifteen gold dollars, four dimes, a nickel, and three cents. Four years got me this far and some work on the farm. I don't know what I was saving up for, but I sure do know I'll have the money for it when I realize what it is.

I walked with Gwen to one of the shops. She got some bread and milk as she was told.

"Aren't you going to get anything Ash?" She said.

"No, I'm not really hungry this afternoon." I said.

"Then why did you take the money from Yvonne?"

"I think I want to buy a book. Let's go to the bookstore."

"Well, alright."

We walked over to Leo's Library where I saw my mother. She was talking to one of the ladies at the desk. I didn't want to interrupt their conversation, but I got closer so that I could hear. Lilly was in moms arms and Gwen was looking at the different books, trying to show me ones she thought was interesting. But I was more focused on what was going on with the lady and my mom.

"Where would the books be for diseases?" My mom asked the lady.

"Oh, I don't know. It depends on what yer looking for. Ezekeliah has written books on just about all the diseases he's encountered. Did you know, before he came here, he traveled the world? He's been to at least eight castles. Learned from the best."

"Any of them tell you how to cure the disease?"

"All of em if there is one. As I said, it just depends on what yer looking for. Do ye want books on the plague? Chicken pocks, Lyme disease, what are ye dealing with?"

"Diseases that affect the brain. Make you think you're something you're not."

"Look, ma'am, don't ask me about books unless ye got a description. I don't do blunt."

"I know this friend of mine, she thinks she's a boy. She may even like girls."

"Oh my god, that's disgusting! This friend of yours, what's her name."

"I'm not allowed to tell."

"Now you shouldn't be protecting this girl. She should be sent to the King. Begging for her life before she drags you down with 'er."

"She wants help, she doesn't want to die." My mom said, confused.

"Well, you're looking in the wrong place, we have nothing on disgusting, worthless beings like that. Talk to Ezekeliah, I heard he might be doing some research on the disease. Not sure if he will be of any help though."

I started to cry, tears were running down my face. Gwen was trying to ask me what was wrong. But I didn't want to be noticed. Unfortunately, Lilly noticed me and pointed, yelling Ashley, over and over. Mom saw me with tears running down my face. I ran out, dropping my change. I kept running, I just wanted everything to stop. I wanted to stop feeling bad about who I was, I wanted to be normal. I wished I was normal.

I hid behind the building where they keep the prisoners. The two boys were the only ones in the cells. I could hear them talking. I sat there listening to them talk about how much they loved each other for what seemed forever. I lost track of time listening to their love. I didn't see how people could hate us. We were just like them. Just a little different. We needed help, those boys needed help, they didn't need to be punished to death.

The King's bell rang and everybody was ordered to go to the town hall. The King waited a moment for everybody to gather around. I hid behind a barrel, watching from afar. He gazed at the entire crowd as his royals walked up behind him. The Queen put her hand on his and he kissed it gently. He told her to sit in a chair and she did. His son and daughters followed out after, taking their seats. The King smiled before speaking.

"What such lovely people I see here today. I want you all to see the events about to take place today, and I want you to know these sins are not okay in my Kingdom. This is a disease, a plague, one that infects the brain. The only way to cure it of this Kingdom is to kill it from the source before it infects the rest of you.

Some of you may be wondering what I'm talking about. Well, if you haven't already heard, Jose found two homosexuals in his shoe shop, doing the unspeakable to one another." He said, pausing as the crowd of people gasped in disgust. "I know, I know. But that is why we are here to watch them be burned for these acts. So that this disease doesn't continue. We ask that if you encounter anyone who may be like these boys or the witch turning these young men into what they are, to report them immediately before it's too late." The King stops talking and refers his attention to the Knights bringing out the boys.

They tie them to a stake in the middle of the town hall and ask if there is anything they want to say to the crowd of people.

With tears down their face, the first boy looks at the other and says, "We love each other, and there is nothing wrong with love. What we are doing is not wrong. But killing us for being different is sickening." The crowd boo's him and calls him a sick freak.

Things are thrown at both the boys and the Knight asks the other boy if he has anything to say. He nods.

"I hope one day you can open your minds to new love. And I hope to those who love someone forbidden, you don't give up and hide. Don't forget me or my boyfriend. Fight for what's right. We are Rowan and Riley, and we do not deserve to die." He says.

The Kings son gets up and yells, "Kill them! Kill them both!" And the stakes get lit up in flames. The boys scream a bloody scream. I sit down behind the barrel and cry. One of the mothers of the boys screams out.

"This is unfair treatment! My son wasn't sick! Homosexuality doesn't spread!" She was taken away before her words could be heard any further.

"Believing homosexuality is okay is the first sign of the witches sickness. Hopefully, we can treat her before it continues to manifest!" The King yells out. "I don't like killing, but this has to be done for the safety of the Kingdom and for our survival!"

The crowd chants at the boy's painful death. I cover my ears, trying to block out the sounds of the screams, the sounds of the crowd. I can't understand, I just can't understand how people would act like this. I felt sick to my stomach, there was nothing wrong with me. I wanted to be cured! I wished I was cured!

I started screaming, but I didn't realize it. One of the crowd members grabbed me from the behind the barrel. Everyone is silent as I'm pushed in front of the crowd. Everyone's attention is on me now. I could feel their eyes staring at me, it was like a burn you couldn't cool.

"Why are you screaming? Why are you crying, little girl?" The King says in a curious tone.

"This is unfair treatment. They're just sick. There has to be another way to cure them!" I yelled.

"There is no other way girl!" He snaps. "What's your name?"

My teacher comes out of the crowd and yells, "Ashley! Her name is Ashley Weston!"

"Ashley, do you think homosexuality is okay?" He asked.

"I... I don't know." I said, petrified.

"Well, if you don't know, then you have no right to speak up. What? Are you sick?"

"N...no Sir. I just don't think we should be burning these people. They haven't hurt us, what if that was your son?"

"Haven't hurt us? Haven't hurt us! They have! By blinding us with their disgusting lifestyle. They're sick, and they deserve to die before they infect the rest of us. The witches got them.

Do you know what will happen if this disease spreads? Nobody will have children. What happens when no one has children? You cease to exist. Do you want that to happen for the human race? Do you want us all to disappear? If my son happened to be plagued with this disease, I would do what's best for my Kingdom and kill him."

"I don't what the human race to vanish, I... I just don't understand. How... How does homosexuality spread, Sir? How could you say you would kill your own son without fully understanding the disease?" I asked.

The King doesn't answer. He looks at Ezekeliah who can't answer either. The people look puzzled at the silence and then the King dodges the question. "She must be sick Ezekeliah, no healthy person would act this way. No healthy person would create a scene like this, disrespecting the King unless they were sick. Guards, take her away. Hopefully, the doctor can cure you!" He yelled.

"I'm not sick!" I yelled, but it didn't matter. Nobody would listen to me after that.

The guards grabbed me and threw me in a cell next to the mother. Behind her tears, she smiled. She had heard what I said.

For the rest of the night, I was alone. Nobody was allowed to see me, and Ezekeliah told us he would start treatment in the morning. It was cold on this floor, and lonely. But the only words I could manage to occupy myself with was repeating that I wasn't sick under my breath. As if that changed anything. I was sick. And soon everyone will think it too.

For the first time ever, I fell asleep and wasn't awoken by the thought of women. Instead, the only dreams I had were the ones of my own painful death and the ones begging the mysterious man to cure me. At last, these dreams won't change anything.