Just as expected, another round of rejections came in the mail. I shouldn't have been surprised by this, but it still hurt—a dull, persistent ache in my chest that added to the fact I was already mentally down. I sat on the edge of the bed, the blue light of the phone screen reflecting in my eyes as I scrolled through the polite, soul-crushing "no's." I didn't understand why it was so hard for me to find work. Was independence really this frivolous to obtain? Was the world outside this gate specifically designed to keep people like me on the bottom?
Instead of dwelling on the feeling of failure, I decided to go out. Since I couldn't leave the estate grounds, I might as well explore the gilded cage I was trapped in.
The estate was everything I had imagined and more. As I walked further aw
