The Gilded Cage

Sunday... 9:30 AM... The place was packed, voices overlapped, throwing insults at my ears launched by their angry owners... I was trying to pass through with difficulty. Crowds of people were shoving violently. Someone kicked me, another pushed me, another shoved my back, and another slapped my cheek by accident! I was even pushing others myself, involuntarily, and we fell to the ground repeatedly! If I didn't get out with the paper in hand, I'd die under their feet without them noticing. And if I got out with the paper intact in my hand and alive, I'd be grateful! I cried out in annoyance and irritation: "Excuse me, step aside a little, would you mind? Hey, you... watch it! Sir, you're stepping on my foot... Please, move your hand! Get your hand off my bag!" The place was extremely crowded. The situation seemed as if we were in a shopping center with a discount sale, not a yard for handing out training results to students held captive by fear and anxiety of discovering their grades. I appreciate the students' enthusiasm, but they shouldn't act with such chaos and savagery! My mood has been foul for a whole week because of that scum, and I have no energy left to tolerate any provocative behavior from anyone... Those employees... They should have been more organized and orderly, instead of having all the final-year students present at the same time! If we were in our first year, the situation wouldn't have been like this. But... because we've been studying nursing all these years, here we are waiting for result papers after this harsh, vile, pleasure-destroying field caused us to be isolated from life, our mental health destroyed, and agitated like beasts! My turn finally came, I received the paper, and hurried to get out of this crowd, raising my hand high holding the paper lest any harm befall it, as if I were raising a golden cup. I finally got out, bent my back to lean on my knees, panting in annoyance, whispering: "I almost suffocated!" I straightened up, taking a deep breath, and fixed my hair and appearance which the crowd had ruined. Then I smiled, looking at the paper warily... I was afraid to read it and be shocked, but I would do it eventually—there was no escape! My attention was caught by the screams of one of the girls in sadness and displeasure, and her friend calming her down, saying: "It's okay, sweetie, there's always another chance..." But she denied with sadness and anxiety: "You don't understand anything! Everyone in my family is an elite of the best doctors, and I would be a disgrace to them if they found out!" And a young man kicked the trash can hard, yelling bitterly: "Damn the efforts that went to waste..." His friend supported him: "There must be a mistake. Maybe that professor you argued with holds a grudge against you and took advantage of the opportunity to teach you a lesson in the evaluation... But look at you, if you were taken to work in the hospital, souls would be extinguished and the sky would be crowded with them... You even broke a record among the students who lost consciousness the most whenever they saw an emergency case!" His comment ended by greatly provoking the other: "One more word and I will actually send your soul to the sky and curse you for life..." I sighed sadly for their state, then quickly ignored them and wondered: What would my evaluation for the previous training be like, I wonder? If my performance was good, I would be accepted for the job I applied for previously, and I would have secured my job immediately even before I graduated! All that's left for me is the final exams... I worked hard in the training as a nurse at the institute, and I can't imagine failing after all this! And frankly, I wouldn't accept a weak evaluation after two months of hardship. If that person kicked a trash can, I wouldn't stop myself from kicking the evaluator's backside! I exerted my effort and dedicated my time and life just to get an excellent grade! I didn't even have time to scratch my head... My father and mother were always annoyed by my isolation in my room, sitting in front of papers and the computer all the time! Then Sam comes to annoy me and tries to provoke me and ruin my study atmosphere, and Ethan, who makes me want to tear up books and papers and throw them in his face with force.