Rags To Riches

The Letter

     The next morning, I woke up as usual, at 5:30, and slipped on a pair of jeans, a red tank top, and my sneakers. Then I quickly brushed through my thick hair and threw it up in a ponytail, before heading to the kitchen.
As I ate breakfast, I let my mind wander, back to when I was little and all I could do was feed Mouse. In kindergarten I would tell my friends about Carrot and the other animals, but no one believed me.

"I have a kitty. His name is Mouse." Everyone laughed, even the teacher.
"Sure you do, Lilah" the kids would tease.
"I do! I have an owl too. His name is Carrot." The kids laughed even harder.
"Lilah, don't tell tales" the teacher told me sternly.

Mom brought me back to the real world. "Are you ok Lilah?"
I nodded, and pushed away those memories. But those memories had reminded me that today was Saturday, which meant only one more day left in the weekend.
I hurried to finish breakfast so I could get my chores done. I wanted to ride Spirit today, knowing I wouldn't have as much time to during the week.
As I took out the trash, I noticed the mailman driving away. I checked our mailbox. Nothing but bills and ads. Wait, there was a letter in there.
The letter had some weird stamp on it, and was addressed to... me? I reread the envelope a few times to make sure I was seeing right. It was from the Royal Palace!
"This has got to be a mistake" I said to myself as I walked back inside. I decided not to tell my family about it for now. But I desperately wanted to open it.
I couldn't go in my room, Emma was still sleeping. What about... the storm cellar! It should be relatively clean since we cleaned it not too long ago.
Twice a month, my family, all six of us, go down and dust the storm cellar, because no one wants to be hiding down there with a bunch of spiders during a tornado.
Dropping the rest of the mail on the dining room table, I went back out to the doors to the storm cellar. I heaved them open and hurried inside, grabbing the lantern that hung nearby.
Down in the storm cellar, I carefully ripped open the envelope. Slowly, I pulled out the letter.

Dear Lilah,
I apologize for not delivering this letter myself, but queens can't do everything, you know. Now, before I tell you this, you might want to sit down. Years ago, I had a beautiful baby daughter. I loved her very dearly, and I knew she would be a perfect princess. One day we were out at sea, traveling home from another kingdom, where my daughter's marriage had just been arranged. She was to be married to a prince from that kingdom. But alas, a storm sank our ship, and my daughter, who had been put on a lifeboat, sailed off. I have not seen her since. You might be wondering why I told you this story. Well, after years of searching, we finally found my princess. So I wrote this letter to her. I hope that she will consider coming back to the Palace and becoming princess.
Sincerely,
Queen Amber