Rags To Riches

Lies

     For five whole minutes, I just sat on the floor of the storm cellar in shock. This couldn't mean what I thought it meant, right?
     The Queen herself had not written to me. I was not a princess. This couldn't be happening.
     A thought came to me. If I actually was a princess, then what about my parents? My brothers and sister? What were they?
     What if I was... adopted? My heart was beating faster than normal. How was this possible?
Just then, I heard the unmistakable creak of the doors to the storm cellar, and my mom's voice. "Lilah, are you down there?"
Oh crap, I thought. What could I use as an excuse for being down here? "Yes" I called up, thinking fast.
I hid the letter under my shirt and walked up the stairs. "I'm right here. I thought we left a broom down here last time we dusted, but apparently not."
     Mom nodded, and I let out an internal sigh of relief. "If you need a broom, there's always that old one in the barn" she said, laughing.
     I laughed too, but after she walked away I went immediately to Spirit. He was waiting for his breakfast, as usual.
     After feeding him, I just stood by his head petting him. Spirit always made me feel better.
     Well, until dad walked in. He paused to look at me. "You ok, Lilah?"
     "Yea, I'm fine dad. I'm just a little tired. I had trouble falling asleep last night." Lie number two. How long could I keep this a secret?
     Later that day, I decided to turn on the news. Maybe it would show something about finding a new princess. Liam walked in.
     "Since when do you watch the news?" he asked, and I sighed.
     "I don't know... I'm just bored." That was lie number three. I wasn't bored. But I definitely couldn't tell Liam that the Queen had written me a letter.
     "Well, if you're that bored, go clean out the barn." With that he walked out, leaving me wondering how many more lies I would have to tell that day.
Obviously three wasn't enough for the world, because Ethan walked in right then.
"Lilah will you give me a lesson on Spirit?" Oh, great, was everyone trying to bug me today?
"No, sorry. Spirit... hurt his ankle the other day when I was lunging him the other day." Well, there was lie number four.
I hated lying so much, but I couldn't just shout to the world that the Queen had written to me. Besides, I wasn't even sure that letter was real.