“CONGRATULATIONS, YOU WON”

THE LAST DOOR

Ava woke up earlier than usual, staring at the ceiling of the small apartment while the sound of the city slowly came alive outside. She had barely slept because she had spent most of the night preparing for the interview that was scheduled for later that morning. She knew she should probably wait for the company to contact her officially, but she had already decided that she was going to show up anyway. It was probably a foolish decision, and maybe even a little embarrassing, but after months of rejection emails and unanswered applications, she was tired of waiting for opportunities to find her. She wanted to find one for herself.

Opening her wardrobe, Ava reached for the only formal dress she owned. It was the one her father had sent her for her high school graduation. He had not been there to see her walk across the stage, but the package had arrived a few days before the ceremony with the dress carefully folded inside and a short handwritten note wishing her success. She had kept both the dress and the note ever since.

Standing in front of the mirror, she adjusted the fabric and looked at her reflection. The dress was simple, nothing compared to what some of the employees in corporate buildings probably wore, but it was the best she had. More importantly, it reminded her that even when people were absent, their love could still leave something behind.

She took a deep breath and gave herself a small nod. She needed to make the best impression she could.

Her mother had already left for the hospital. The message she left on the kitchen counter explained that she had been called in early and had several things to handle before the end of her shift. There was no hug goodbye, no encouraging words, and no familiar voice telling her that she would do great. Ava knew her mother would have said those things if she had the chance, but lately life had been moving too quickly for moments like that.

After searching through the apartment, Ava found a few dollars tucked away in an old purse. It was enough for transportation, and she decided not to think about what would happen afterward. She grabbed her résumé, locked the door behind her, and headed toward the bus stop.

The city had always fascinated her. Every time she visited, she felt as though she was stepping into a world filled with endless possibilities. The towering buildings, the busy streets, and the people rushing toward their own goals reminded her that every successful person had once started somewhere. Somewhere, there had been a first day, a first opportunity, and a moment when someone finally decided to give them a chance.

As the bus moved through the city, Ava watched airplanes crossing the sky above the buildings and felt the familiar pull of the dream she had carried since childhood. She wanted to understand those machines. She wanted to be part of the process that turned impossible ideas into reality.

The company was only a few miles from the bus station, so she decided to walk the rest of the way. The night before, she had researched Halston Aerospace Solutions and studied everything she could find about them. She had adjusted her résumé to highlight the skills she gained from every job she had done, even the ones that seemed unrelated to engineering. Working in customer service had taught her patience. Cleaning offices had taught her attention to detail. Taking whatever work she could find had taught her responsibility and discipline.

She knew those things were not the same as experience in aerospace engineering. She knew she was competing against people with degrees, internships, and qualifications she did not have. But she also knew that if she never tried, she would never know what could have happened.

Standing outside the glass doors of Halston Aerospace Solutions, Ava tightened her grip on her résumé and looked up at the building in front of her. She had no idea what would happen inside. She only knew one thing. She had to try.

“Why not try?” she whispered before walking through the doors.

As Ava opened the glass doors, a cool breeze from the company’s air conditioning brushed against her face, and for a brief moment, she forgot that she was only there for an interview. The atmosphere inside felt completely different from anywhere she had worked before. The polished floors, the modern design, the large screens displaying aircraft models, and the quiet confidence of the employees moving through the building made her feel as though she had stepped into the future she had spent years imagining.

For a few seconds, Ava simply stood there, taking everything in.

She was inside an aerospace company.

Not watching a documentary about aircraft. Not reading about engineering in a library. Not sketching designs in the margins of her notebooks. She was actually standing in a place where people created the machines she had admired since childhood.

Her eyes moved toward the display near the reception area where detailed models of aircraft were arranged behind glass. She walked closer without even realizing it, studying the shapes and structures with the same curiosity she had carried as a little girl in her father’s garage. Every curve, every wing design, every small detail represented countless hours of research, calculations, and imagination. A small smile appeared on her face as she looked at the aircraft models behind the glass. She could almost imagine herself years from now walking through the same halls, carrying a laptop filled with her own designs and working alongside people who shared the same passion for creating things that once seemed impossible. It was the kind of place she had dreamed about since childhood, a place where curiosity was not something to hide but something to build upon.

“Ahem.”

The sound pulled Ava back to reality, and she quickly realized she had been standing near the aircraft displays longer than she intended. She turned around to see the receptionist looking at her with a polite smile, a small amusement in her expression as though she understood exactly why someone might get distracted in a place like this.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked.

Ava adjusted the strap of her bag and stepped toward the desk. “Yes, sorry. My name is Ava Charles Davies. I’m here about the interview for the assistant position.”

The receptionist typed her name into the computer and scanned the screen. “You’re early.”

“I wanted to make sure I arrived on time,” Ava replied.

The woman nodded approvingly. “That’s a good habit. Please take a seat. Someone will come for you shortly.”

“Thank you.”

Ava walked toward the waiting area and carefully placed her résumé folder on her lap. She tried to appear calm, but inside she was overwhelmed by everything around her. The employees moving through the building looked like they belonged in this world. They spoke confidently about projects, designs, and deadlines, carrying themselves with the kind of certainty Ava had always admired.

She listened quietly, trying to absorb every detail.

This was the environment she had dreamed about since she was a child. The kind of place where ideas became real, where people took complicated theories and transformed them into machines that could travel beyond the limits of ordinary life. She imagined herself sitting at one of those desks someday, working on designs of her own and contributing to something meaningful.

For a moment, she allowed herself to believe it was possible.

Then she looked down at the folder in her hands and remembered why she was there.

She wasn’t an engineer. She wasn’t a student at Westbridge Institute of Technology yet. She was a nineteen-year-old girl with a high school diploma, a collection of unrelated jobs on her résumé, and a dream that seemed much bigger than her current reality.

But she had also learned something from every difficult moment she had faced. She knew how to work hard. She knew how to adapt. She knew how to keep going even when the odds were against her. And maybe, just maybe, that would be enough for someone to see potential in her.

A few minutes later, a man in a dark suit walked into the waiting area holding a tablet.

“Ava Charles Davies?”

She stood immediately.

“Yes.”

He glanced at the screen before giving a small nod. “The interview room is ready. Please follow me.”

She knew walking into this building had been a risk. She knew she might leave with another rejection.

But she also knew she would rather try and fail than spend the rest of her life wondering what could have happened if she had walked through those doors.

Ava took one deep breath, picked up her résumé, and followed him down the hallway toward the opportunity she had been hoping for.