The White Lily

Chapter 1

 I was born blind. I once belonged to a family that used their eyes for everything they did like weaving, sculpting, writing, etc. The day I was thrown out of the house is the first memory that I ever had. I was 4 or 6 years old at the time...

"Mama! Mama! Please let me stay!" I cried at my mother as she grabbed my arm and started to drag me towards the door.

"I don't need a child like you in my household. A blind girl is no use to anyone!" Mama yelled at me. I only knew the smell of the house, I only know the sounds, but I never knew what it looked like. Mama didn't want a child who couldn't see, she didn't want anything to do with me.

She tightened her grip on my arm and threw me out the door into what smelled and felt like dirt, "Go live with the slums! Your name is no longer Emma Howling, let those weaklings name you something that doesn't include this prestigious family!" Mama yelled at me when I heard the door slam....

That was my first memory. An old lady had been walking by to go back to the Slum Section. She had taken me in her arms and started to carry me home, she didn't sell me off like others would, she didn't try and force me to work, she didn't do anything my mother had told me. Instead, she took care of me, I learned to find her sweet cinnamon scent in a crowd, she taught me how to listen closely even when in a group of people. She became a mother to me, I call her Grams. Grams gave me a new name of course because my family disowned me and had taken my birth name.

"Iris! That is what we shall call you! Iris Ivy Jones," Grams said as she hugged me one day, "You can take my last name cause' you're like my family Iris. You're my little bundle of hope deary, I don't care if you're blind. You can still see through your heart deary." Grams said and then we left to go back to the streets to beg for money and food.

That was 11 years ago I am now 17 years of age. Today is the big celebration, The White Lily Ceremony! Oh, it's the biggest event that the City of Dahlia has, all three sections are invited to join even the Slums Section.

That's right Dahlia had three sections. The White Lilies castle in the middle of the Feild of Lilies, from what I have heard from Grams the castle is more like two stone towers surrounded by a tall stone wall. Grams had once gone inside of the wall to help a former Lily with a problem, she said that the grounds were full of green grass, gardens, and streams that ran through the whole place.

I jump out of the way of an oncoming cart, I am heading towards the Ceremony. I want to enter as a contestant and try and become a White Lily but if that doesn't happen I will still have Grams with me. All I have to do is say my name and where I live and they write this down and give me a tag, Grams is with me. She will be there to help me find my way around until it is my turn, she will be a guide until my time comes.

I'm not aiming to win this, but just being in it will make me happy. I might not be able to see but I can still hear Grams laugh and that always makes me smile.