This morning I woke up and found myself yet again amidst my Estate.

I've spent my whole life here, trapped in glamour.

There was once a time when I would exit my room, and catch a glimpse of the wall just outside it, gaping in awe at the elaborate scene.

The mirrors were trimmed with gold.

The walls were painted in a smooth white color.

The floors were polished to a blinding sheen.

And I found beauty in it.

I used to take pride in the fact that I lived in such a beautiful place.

Live such a beautiful life.

Now I look at the walls, and all I see is confinement.

My inability to live my life freely, how I want to live it.

I was stuck in an inescapable trap.

Doomed by the constraints of the society I lived in.

I was unable to leave Estate grounds, unless I was traveling to another Estate, where I would be caught in the same continuous loop of pleasing others before myself.

This way of life was suffocating.

But of course it wouldn't look it.

I had beautiful gowns.

Elaborate jewelry.

All the suitors I could ask for.

But all I longed for was to live my life in love and freedom.

Not wealth.

-Brianna Cecille Blades